Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Pvt.Ltd. (HMSI) unveiled the all-new X-Blade at the 2018 Auto Expo. It is powered by a 160cc engine and, as per Honda, it will be competitively priced in India. As of now, there has been no official announcement as to what the price of this motorcycle would be. But before that we’ve something for you. We list out five things you need to know about Honda’s new 160cc X-Blade.
Design
Honda has positioned the X-Blade to attract youngsters, and for this purpose, it has adopted a very unique and aggressive design language. The basic silhouette is similar like we’ve seen on the Honda CB Hornet 160R, but the designers have given it sharper panels to increase its visual appearance. The motorcycle also features a taller fly screen, an underbelly cowl, chunky grab rails and a redesigned LED tail-lamp. The overall styling of the Honda X-Blade is impressive and appeal to youngsters as well. The X-blade also has the twin-outlet muffler that doesn’t go well with the overall design but we somehow managed with it.
Power and other mechanics
The X-Blade is powered by the same 162.7cc, air-cooled motor, that powers the CB Hornet 160R too. However, on the X-Blade, the engine produces 13.9hp at 8,500rpm and 13.9Nm of torque at 6,000rpm, which is lower than the CB Hornet’s 15hp and 14.76Nm. The engine is mated to a five-speed gearbox, like we’ve seen on the Hornet. Honda has equipped the X-Blade with smaller tyres – 80/110 R17 and 130/70 R17 at the front and rear, respectively. While, the Hornet gets 100/80 R17 front and 140/70 R17 rear tyres. Braking jobs are carried out by a disc brake at the front and a drum unit at the back. What’s surprising is that a rear disc brake neither have the option of CBS nor of the ABS.
Also read-Â 2018 Suzuki Burgman Street: 6 things you need to know.
Bookings open
Honda has started accepting the bookings for the new X-Blade. Honda has said that the two-wheeler will be priced below Rs 79,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi) and will release the official pricing in the first week of March. While, deliveries will begin around in the mid of March. At this price range, that the Honda X-Blade will be positioned between CB Unicorn 160 and the Hornet. The Honda X-Blade will be available in five different colour options – Matte Marvel Blue Metallic, Pearl Igneous Black, Matte Frozen Silver, Pearl Spartan Red and Matte Marshal Green Metallic.
Features
Honda has termed the X-Blade as ‘Robo-face’. May be because of bike’s edgy headlight, which is all-LED unit, and makes it a segment-first. The motorcycle also gets a full-digital console, like the one found on the CB-Hornet, but the X-Blade offers something more than that. In addition to the full-digital console, it has a gear position indicator, service indicator, hazard lights and a white backlight.
There’s also a kit called the ‘adventure’
The Honda X-Blade also has a kit called the Honda X-Blade Adventure. It features a more pronounced windscreen, hand guards and a carrier at the rear. Honda says they might launch the adventure kit for the Honda X-Blade if they receive good response at the motor show. Other additions on the Honda X-Blade Adventure include matte grey paint and camouflage graphics on fuel tank extensions.
However, all the changes made on the Honda X-Blade Adventure are purely cosmetic and there’s nothing in the way of chassis, engines, spoked wheels and knobby tyres to improve its off-road credentials.
Honda will probably launch the new X-Blade in India by March 2018 and whether this adventure variant will be made available is something which is not upto us.
