Honda has not yet updated the CB Hornet to BS6 compliance but had filed a patent for the CBF190R last year which leads us to speculate if the latter could be brought to India dressed as the new CB Hornet.
Honda has been updating their lineup for BS6 compliance over the last few weeks but there are still some important absentees like the CB Hornet and the X-Blade. That’s particularly unusual as Honda has always been ahead when it comes to compliance with local legislation. They were the first two-wheeler manufacturer to come out with a BS4 two-wheeler, the first to introduce CBS and also the first to launch a BS6 complaint two-wheeler in India. Its also unusual as both the CB Hornet and the X-Balde are popular motorcycles.
Its still unclear when both these motorcycles will receive their BS6 update or is there a major change coming along? Interestingly, Honda had filed a patent for the CBF190R back in June 2019 and that leads us to beleive that the CBF190R could be the new Hornet for India. The CBF190R is a naked motorcycle sold by Sundiro Honda for the Chinese market. Sundiro is essentially Honda’s Chinese partner, like Hero was once in India.
Honda has been selling this 190cc series of motorcycles in China for a while now and it includes the CBF190TR, CBF190X and the above mentioned CBF190R. Hond has filed a patent only for the naked CBF190R in India. It is powered by a 184cc single-cylinder air-cooled motor that produces a humble 16.86PS and 16.3Nm. There are two possible outcomes from this scenerio. Let us explain.
Firstly, Honda could be bringing the CBF190R to India as the new Hornet and position it in between the 160cc to 200cc motorcycle segment in India. It could possibly see some improvement in performance over the China-spec model. The China-spec CBF190R currently produces power that is similar to the TVS Apache RTR 160 4V in India. In this case, the X-Blade will then take over the 160cc segment where it will compete with the likes of the Apache RTR 160 4V, the Suzuki Gixxer or the Bajaj Pulsar NS160.
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The other possibility is that Honda could carry forward the design and few other components too from the CBF190R to the BS6 CB Hornet. The Hornet’s design, although quite youthful, has started to show its age a little and some fresh new body panels could give it a whole new appeal. The CBF190R also gets some premium features such as aluminium clip-on bars, an upside-down fork, petal discs at both ends and single-channel ABS. The USK forks are a novel feature in this segment and that could set the Honda above its competition.
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In this second case, the Hornet will continue with the same 160cc engine but tuned for better performance while the X-Blade runs the same tune as the BS6 Unicorn. All this is still speculation and there’s no clear indication from Honda about the BS6 CB Hornet or the X-Blade. It has so happened earlier that Honda has patented some global products here in India but never really launched them. Nevertheless, we do hope that the CB Hornet and X-Xblade are up for a tasteful upgrade.
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