Hits And Misses Of 2019 EICMA: KTM, Kawasaki, Hero & More!

This year’s EICMA has been a mixed bag and here’s what was promising and what wasn’t

This year’s EICMA evoked mixed reactions from us enthusiasts. While some of us went gaga over stunning concepts and adventure bikes, others were disappointed over the lack of any eye-catching/India-relevant offerings. Here’s what made this year’s show interesting and what didn’t:

Hits:

KTM finally showed us the bike we were longing for!

The KTM 390 Adventure was the cynosure of us Desi eyes mainly because of two reasons. A - It was coming to India. B - It was the long-awaited answer for all the touring enthusiasts who desired a reasonably priced powerful sub-400cc ADV: something the 390 Duke had the potential to do, with the right kind of underpinnings. So, with the 390 Adventure, KTM went all-out and offered long-travel adjustable (compression and rebound) inverted front fork and a rear monoshock that’s adjustable for preload and rebound. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Granted, we were a little disappointed that KTM hasn’t really done much in terms of the powertrain’s output but KTM has made up for it with the addition of traction control. Overall, it  looks pretty promising. That’s especially considering that it doesn’t really have any worthy immediate rivals. Sure, you have the Royal Enfield Himalayan but it isn’t exactly well-known to have a stellar reputation as far as quality and reliability are concerned. Then you have the XPulse further down the budget, but it’s too anaemic to do spirited highway runs. If you’re looking at something more premium, the BMW G 310 GS and the Kawasaki Versys-X 300 are the only options. But both bikes don’t offer much in terms of features or dynamics for the kind of money they command. So the 390 Adventure aims to exploit this void between the Himalayan and the G 310 GS and we believe it could work well for the brand. In essence, it will be a do-it-all kind of motorcycle rather than have more off-road focus and us Indians love versatility, don’t we?

Kawasaki’s lineup updates and the revelation of its EV project:

Kawasaki finally updated the Z900 with cleaner emissions and more importantly, the Japanese brand finally gave a whole load of electronics for the bike. The Jap manufacturer didn’t just stop with the Z900. It also updated the Z650 with a TFT console, LED headlight, fatter, bigger pillion seat and new tyres. In addition, the brand also updated the Ninja 1000 (named Ninja 1000SX) to comply with Euro 5 emission norms. 

Kawasaki also finally showed us a prototype model of its upcoming Ninja electric, which promises to set the tone for future Kawasaki motorcycles. With its EICMA lineup, it is pretty apparent that Kawasaki is reasonably well-prepared for the upcoming Euro 5 - BS 6 norms and this means, it wouldn’t be long before the manufacturer launches the BS6 iterations of its lineup in India.

Aprilia goes global with the 660cc platform:

After unveiling the RS660 concept at the 2018 EICMA, Aprilia promptly took the wraps off its production iteration at this year’s edition. An interesting fact is that the bike’s platform is designed to be versatile enough to spawn multiple, different bikes. With this, Aprilia plans to enter not only developed markets such as Europe and the US, but also Asian markets, including India. 

Not surprisingly, the Italian brand unveiled the Tuono 660 Concept at the show and Aprilia also gave us a sneak-peek of its upcoming middleweight adventure, the Tuareg 660. The production version of this bike (likely to be unveiled at next year’s EICMA) will be Aprilia’s second coming into the lucrative middleweight ADV segment. That should shake up the segment currently dominated by the Kawasaki Versys 650 and the Suzuki V-Strom 650 XT. . 

Misses:

Yamaha failed to rev our hearts:

Yamaha went a step ahead and revealed its 2020 lineup a day before the EICMA. But it was pretty much a disappointment to us enthusiasts as there was absolutely no India-relevant two-wheeler. 

Sure, the 2020 Tracer 700 looks mean as hell but Yamaha is highly unlikely to bring the bike to India. The Japanese brand has been very conservative when it comes to big bikes in Indian markets. Even the current big-bike lineup in India is pretty sparse, with no product in the middleweight category. That said, we will be getting the updated MT-03 and YZF-R1 in our country in the future but they were updated much before EICMA. Even at this year’s Tokyo motor show, Yamaha barely had anything worth noticing. . 

No sign of Suzuki Hayabusa, not even a hint! 

Suzuki is another brand, which failed to live up to our expectations. We were keenly waiting for the brand to unveil a concept of the next-generation Hayabusa or at least make an announcement regarding the upcoming model but alas, there was nothing. But Suzuki did unveil the new 2020 V-Strom 1050 at the show. 

It comes with all-new styling and gets a Euro 5 compliant engine too. That means, the bike will definitely make it to India but it shoulders the responsibility of making a name for itself among other well-established bikes such as the Honda Africa Twin, Triumph Tiger 800 and the likes. But this segment itself is pretty niche and it isn’t something most of us enthusiasts are excited about..

Only one concept from Hero MotoCorp:

At this year’s EICMA, Hero showed only one new bike, the Xtreme 1.R Concept. While the brand has a history of showing concept bikes at EICMA, they looked more or less production-ready. But this time around, the Xtreme 1.R Concept has too many features such as inverted forks, slick tyres, aggressive design language that are unlikely to make it to production. 

Even if Hero decided to bring out a production model of the Xtreme 1.R Concept, we feel the move is too little too late for the brand as our market is already swamped with a number of 150-160cc nakeds. Sure, the XPulse 200 with Rally Kit was unveiled but this kit isn't road-legal either. We’d have loved it if Hero had showcased a production version of one of the four custom XPulse 200T bikes shown at last year’s EICMA..

Overall verdict:

All in all, we feel the 2019 EICMA has been better than 2018 but it promises to be exciting only if you’re looking forward to performance-oriented big bikes. However, even in this segment, many manufacturers failed to show any Euro 5-compliant motorcycles and that means the future for most of the big bikes could be uncertain in India, at least until the end of next year. 

We hope next year’s EICMA is a lot more interesting as the deadline for the Euro 5 norms would be closing-in. Apart from conventional motorcycles, we expect major brands to shake things up in the EV segment too..