Soon after Hero and Honda parted ways from its 25 year old alliance, the former soon found solace with Erik Buell Racing (EBR) and the influence has been quite evident in the concepts and upcoming products unveiled this year at the Auto Expo (check out the HX250R and Hastur). Hero Motorcorp showcased EBR’s flagship product the EBR 1190 superbike at the 2014 Auto Expo.
There are two models of the EBR 1190 namely the RX and RS versions. The styling on the flagship EBR 1190 RX is aggressive showing its motorsport credentials. The superbike gets single headlight unit with M shaped Daytime running LED lights. The nose-down tail-up design is visible on the side profile, while the fully faired body completes the superbike stance. The 1190 gets light-weight star-shaped alloys, high rising exhaust and a chunky tank that compliment the fully faired body of the bike.
The EBR 1190 RX model featured a strike yellow paint job. The motorcycle is powered by the 1190cc, liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, V-Twin engine capable of producing 185 BHP of power at 10,600 RPM and 137.8 Nm of torque. The bike gets an aluminium frame with a Showa inverted big piston front forks and single shock without linkage at the rear. Braking power comes from an 8-piston, 386 mm disc in front and 220 mm disc with 2-pistons brakes calliper at the rear sourced from Hayes Performance.
The EBR 1190 RS on the other hand retains the primary styling cues from the RX, but is noticeably different. The bike gets a twin-headlamp vertically mounted unit with turn indicators integrated in the wing mirrors. There are no Daytime running LED lights on the RS. The 1190 RS also gets a high rising twin-exhaust and was showcased with a single seat. The bike gets the star shaped alloy wheels on the 1190 RS and featured a red and white paint job that looked stunning.
Powering the bike is the same 1190cc V-Twin engine, however tuned to produce 175 BHP of power at 9750 RPM and 131.5 Nm of torque at 9400 RPM. The aluminium frame is carried on the 1190 RS as well, while the front suspension gets an Ohlins inverted fork with adjustable compression damping and the rear TTX coil over monoshock. Both the versions are mated a 6-speed transmission and run on 17-inch Pirelli Diablo Rossa Corsa tyres. The bikes also get a fully digital instrument console.
Hero Motocorp has said nothing about bringing the bike to the country anytime soon, but we do expect the EBR 1190 to come to the Indian shores in the future. The bike is priced at around $ 18,999 (approx. Rs. 12 lakhs) in the U.S., so expect a pricing of Rs. 14 – 17 lakhs (ex-showroom) when launched in the country.
