Top 7 Two-Wheelers We Can't Wait To Ride After COVID-19 Lockdown Lifts

Trust us, it is not easy, getting through the coronavirus lockdown, staying cooped up in our houses. Between work-from-home and daily household chores, life seems to have come to a standstill. Although there is hope that one day we all get to ride our motorcycles, drive our cars when things go back to normal. One lesson that we all have learnt is to never take even the smallest of things for granted, even if it includes riding your scooter or motorcycle to work. Here is a list of six motorcycles and one scooter that we are itching to ride, once the COVID-19 lockdown lifts.

Aprilia SXR 160

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(Piaggio India CEO & MD Diego Graffi with the Aprilia SXR 160 at Auto Expo 2020)

We are hoping Aprilia launches the SXR 160 once things go back to normal. After the Suzuki Burgman Street, it will only be the second maxi-scooter to be on sale in India. It looks good, gets a nice sporty 'Crossmax' design and we would hazard a guess and figure it will be a hoot to ride as well. It gets the same 160 cc 3-valve engine from the Aprilia SR 160 which makes 10.8 bhp and is paired to CVT gearbox. Aprilia will launch the SXR in a 125 cc variant as well, which will get the SR 125's engine as is. It makes 9.4 bhp and 9.9 Nm of peak torque and gets the same CVT setup as well.

Hero XPulse 200 Rally Kit

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(We can't wait to take the Hero XPulse 200 Rally Kit and go trail-riding)

Ohh boy! We are very excited to ride the Hero XPulse 200 Rally Kit to our heart's content after Preetam had a brief taste of the motorcycle a couple months ago. The Hero XPulse Rally kit can be fitted to any Xpulse at a cost of Rs. 38,000. The Rally Kit for the Hero XPulse 200 includes long travel suspension, handlebar risers, a flat rally seat, off-road tyres and a re-designed gear lever and brake pedal for use with off-road boots. The Rally Kit offers full adjustability on the suspension, with 250 mm travel on the front, and 220 mm travel on the rear monoshock. The ground clearance has also gone up to 275 mm, up from 220 mm on the stock XPulse 200. The raised handlebar offers more leverage for riding off-road and standing up on the footpegs, and the flatter and taller seat (110 mm taller) offers a comfortable perch and a tall stance, for off-road riding. Also included are the full knobby rally-spec tyres from Maxxis. We mean, aren't all these reasons good enough to go trail-riding on the XPulse. The additions definitely give it teeth and enhance its off-road credentials.

Also Read: Hero Xpulse 200 Rally Kit First Ride Review

Hero Xtreme 160R

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(The Hero Xtreme 160R is ready to be launched. It looks good and will enable Hero to get a share in the 150-160 cc motorcycle segment)

The 150-160 cc motorcycle segment is very lucrative and Hero hasn't had a solid model in that area for a while now. But the Hero XTreme 160R holds a lot of promise. The Xtreme 160R motorcycle will be powered by a BS6-compliant 160 cc, single-cylinder engine with fuel-injection. The unit is tuned to make out 15 bhp of maximum power against 14 Nm of peak torque. The company claims that the motorcycle can hit 0-60 kmph in just 4.7 seconds. Preetam rode it briefly a couple of months ago and believed so. Sharp design, chiselled lines, refined engine and precise handling make it a worthy rival to the Suzuki Gixxer 155 and the TVS Apache RTR 160 4V. Ohh and that's a story idea there as well.

Also Read: 2020 Hero Xtreme 106R First Ride Review

Triumph Street Triple RS

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(The new Street Triple RS is one of the most entertaining and engaging roadsters and is easily one of the very best bikes out there)

The Triumph Street Triple RS has been a favourite of ours as far as naked middleweight motorcycles are concerned. It is powerful, agile, gets a bunch of electronics and offers grin-inducing performance. The new 2020 Triumph Street Triple RS gets updated with an engine which meets the latest Euro 5 and Bharat Stage VI (BS6) emission regulations, but also gets a meatier mid-range performance, with a wider power band in the mid-range, which translates to 9 per cent more peak torque, and 9 per cent extra power between 6,000 and 8,000 rpm. Power output is 121 bhp at 11,750 rpm, while peak torque is 79 Nm at 9,350 rpm. We had the opportunity to ride the updated Street Triple last year. In fact, it was supposed to be launched in India last month, but the Coronavirus Lockdown forced Triumph Motorcycles India to postpone the launch indefinitely, much to our dismay. But it was the right thing to do.

Also Read: 2020 Triumph Street Triple RS First Ride Review

Triumph Tiger 900

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(The Tiger 900 will be launched in India once the lockdown lifts and things get back to normal)

The new Triumph Tiger 900! It is such a massive improvement on the Tiger 800 and that too on so many fronts! It is lighter, looks better, has an elaborate electronics suite and has punchier performance too! It gets a completely new look, the engine is new too and there are more features on offer as well. The new Tiger 900 gets a slight bump in displacement (from 799 cc to 888 cc) and it now offers up to 10 per cent more torque which is 87 Nm at 7,250 rpm (up from 79 Nm at 8,050 rpm). The mid-range itself gets a 12 per cent boost. The peak power output stays the same which is 93.9 bhp at 8,750 rpm. The off-road prowess of the Tiger 900 is also leaps and bounds more than that of the Tiger 800. You really need to ride it to believe the improvements. We rode the new Triumph ADV in Morocco earlier this year and we still think about it every other day.

2020 Honda CRF1100L Africa Twin

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(The 2020 Honda CRF1100L Africa Twin is offered in a standard variant, as well as an Adventure Sports variant)

Talking about ADVs, Honda has launched the 2020 Africa Twin in India, with prices starting at Rs. 15.35 lakh. The new model comes with a new, bigger, parallel-twin engine displacing 1,084 cc but looks slimmer and is heavily loaded with more technology and new connectivity features. The key difference between the standard Honda Africa Twin and the Adventure Sports version is in the protective bodywork on the Adventure Sports model, height-adjustable windscreen, and a standard engine bash plate. The power to weight ratio has also improved by 10 per cent. The basic architecture of the engine has been retained, but the parallel-twin mill now gets a longer stroke, up from 75.1 mm to 81.5 mm, and has the same 92 mm bore. It has a compression ratio of 10.1:1 and puts out 101 bhp at 7,500 rpm and 105 Nm of peak torque at 6,250 rpm. We are salivating at the prospect of doing a comparison review of the new Triumph Tiger 900 and the new Honda Africa Twin 1100.

Also Read: 2020 Honda Africa CRF1100L Africa Twin Launched In India

Harley-Davidson Low Rider S

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(The 2020 BS6 Harley-Davidson Low Rider S is priced at Rs. 14.69 lakh)

There had to be a cruiser motorcycle to round this list up! We are waiting to ride the Harley-Davidson Low Rider S. It was recently launched in India at a price of Rs. 14.69 lakh. In fact, the company had scheduled a media ride in April 2020 as well. But the Coronavirus lockdown threw a spanner in the works. Harley-Davidson calls it a 'performance cruiser'. The Low Rider S comes with the Milwaukee-Eight 114, 1,868 cc, V-twin engine with more punch, more torque, putting out 155 Nm at 3,000 rpm, and 92.5 bhp at 5,020 rpm. The engine gets dual counter-balancers, which reduce the vibrations and increase smoothness. We can definitely do with riding the H-D Low Rider S and beat the lockdown blues, once the lockdown lifts of course.

Also Read: BS6 Harley-Davidson Low Rider S: All You Need To Know



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