Here Are Our 5 Favourite Bikes From EICMA 2022- Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650, Ducati Scrambler 800, Honda Transalp & More!

From BIG ADVs to Royal Enfield’s new 650cc cruiser, here are the coolest India bound bikes to watch out for!

EICMA is arguably the most awaited global motor show for biking enthusiasts. With brands from all over participating and presenting their vision for the future of two wheels! And in customary fashion, the first day of EICMA ’22 has been nothing but exciting. From BIG ADVs to the Super Meteor 650, Royal Enfield's stylish new big-boy cruiser, the lineup was colourful. So, here’s our list of five India-bound bikes which impressed us the most. 

Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650

Oo La la… the Super Meteor 650 is a looker, isn’t it? The Meteor 350 itself is a handsome motorcycle, but the Super Meteor really hits the spot with its big and burly cruiser look. The big cruiser borrows its super torquey 650cc engine from its siblings – Continental GT 650 and Interceptor 650 – which sure does visual justice to its cruiser look. That said, with a kerb weight of 241kg, we wonder if 47.6PS and 52.3Nm will be enough performance on the road? 

What’s clearly working in the favour of the Super Meteor is its new chassis and upside-down fork, a first for Royal Enfield. Even the braking hardware has been revised to anchor its higher kerb weight better. It’s been a long wait for this bike and the first contact has been worth the wait. We’re expecting to be unveiled at Rider Mania 2022.

Honda CL500

The CL500 scrambler will be the fifth 500cc bike to slot into Honda’s middleweight lineup and boy oh boy does it look cool! It’s built using the Rebel 500 as a reference, but has been revised considerably to look (and hopefully ride) like a scrambler. It features the familiar 471cc liquid-cooled parallel twin engine from the Honda CB500X, producing an expected 46.6PS and 43.4Nm, though it may be a bit lighter, at around 192kg (kerb). Yeah, it’s a bit more powerful than Duke 390 and a little chubbier too, but that twin-cylinder experience will be oh so sweet!

Two years ago Honda expressed desire to bring its 500cc range of bikes to India. The innings began well and we got the CB500X, and everyone was super impressed with the motorcycle’s manners but hated its initial price tag. Later, Covid-19 put a hold on Honda’s planning but recently news of a Honda CB500F being displayed across select BigWing showrooms in India suggests that the train is catching momentum again.  

Suzuki V-Strom 800DE

Twin-cylinders seems to be the theme of the season, and Suzuki wants in on the celebration. It has unveiled the new V-Strom 800DE at EICMA this year and the ADV is built on an all-new platform. While the bike retains that familiar V-strom look, the new headlight with vertically stacked LED projectors look way more menacing.

It’s powered by an all new 776cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin engine making  84.3PS and 78Nm. This engine gets a counterbalancer for better refinement and a 270-degree firing order for a raspy exhaust note mimicking the feel and power characteristics of a V-twin engine.

The new middleweight ADV gets an all-new frame, fully adjustable Showa suspension with 220mm travel at the front, a bunch of electronic rider aids and a new 5-inch TFT display. While the launch timelines for the ADV are yet to be revealed, the likelihood of it coming to India is high, but not any time soon!   

Honda XL750 Transalp

You thought Suzuki was the only Japanese bikemaker to offer a parallel-twin middleweight ADV? Honda has decided to join the party too! For how long have we been asking for a middleweight ADV from Honda? Give us an 800cc Africa Twin we prayed, and the lord of motorcycles said, “I bring to thee, the Transalp!” 

This one too gets a parallel-twin heart – a 755cc liquid-cooled one to be precise – making roughly 93PS and 75Nm. Yes, this is the same engine as the new Hornet 750, but Honda has given the Transalp a new fuel map to suit its ADV nature better.

The Transalp is a proper ADV, standing tall on its 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wire-spoke rims. It even weighs an impressive 208kg kerb, but it does miss out on fully adjustable suspension. Nevertheless, this should be a pretty capable motorcycle on and off the road. It too gets a bunch of rider aids and a TFT display with Bluetooth connectivity.

Given the success of the Africa Twin in India, we wouldn't be too surprised to see Honda launching the Transalp here in the future. We are hoping that bikes like the Suzuki VStrom 800DE and Transalp will liven up a segment currently dominated by the Triumph Tiger 900 and BMW F850GS.

Ducati Scrambler 800

Ducati’s highest selling motorcycle has been updated for 2023 and the new Scrambler 800 looks pretty funky fresh, it will be available in three trims – Icon, Nightshift and Full Throttle. This time around, Ducati wanted to offer more than just “new styling” and it threw in the option to swap body panels like the new tank case which are available in a plethora of colours.

There’s a bunch of electronic updates like lean sensitive traction control among other new rider aids, but the thing that stood out the most was its new 4.3-inch colour TFT display with smartphone connectivity, which gives the bike a modern touch. 

Ducati has also revised the subframe and redesigned the swingarm to reposition the monoshock to the centre. Ducati says this has improved the ergonomics on the new scrambler marginally.  

So, those were our top picks from EICMA 2022 and we really hope these bikes make it to India soon, as we are itching to have a go on all of these motorcycles.