2017’s discontinued motorcycles: From Royal Enfield Continental GT 535 to Yamaha R3

Last year in April, the government introduced Bharat Stage IV emission norms which asked all the two wheeler manufacturers in India to retune the engines as per the new rule. Some manufacturers took this as an opportunity to stop production of some of the lowest selling, outdated, not so good looking bikes. Here are 13 such bikes.

Splendor Pro Classic

Hero Splendor Pro Classic was the most affordable cafe racer available in the country (Rs. 51,660 ex showroom Delhi). It came with a 100 cc engine which produced 8 Bhp of peak power and 8.05 Nm of torque. For a lot of Indians, Splendor was always the name of their favourite commuter bike, but when they saw the new cafe racer avatar in 2014, they found it difficult to digest and that was reflecting on sales as well. along with Splendor Pro Classic, hero also discontinued Splendor iSmart (51,910 ex showroom delhi), HF Dawn(39,700 ex showroom delhi) from the 100 cc segment.

Hero Hunk

Hero Hunk was definitely a good looking bike. Launched in 2007, it had a 150 CC engine which produced 15.6 hp and 13.5 Nm of torque. Muscular tank shrouds gave it a unique identity and road presence that no other bike at that point of time had. Apart from adding a rear disc, no major makeover was done to this bike.

Hero Xtreme

Hero Launched Xtreme as a successor to CBZ which was launched in 1999. It also came with the same engine that was seen on Hunk . Even though Hero tried updating this boy on a regular interval it seemed like customers were losing interest in this model.

Hero Impulse

Impulse was Hero’s first dual purpose bike built by Hero Motocorp. As per the agreement, Hero was not allowed to make any changes to this model. It came with a 150 cc engine producing 12 hp and 13.4 Nm torque.

Karizma ZMR

Karizma ZMR was never a good looking bike in comparison to the first generation Karizma. This was the most powerful bike ever produced by Hero. It had a 223 cc engine producing roughly 20 Bhp and 19 Nm torque. The falling sales and new emission norms gave Hero an excuse to discontinue this bike.

Honda CBR150R & 250R

 

Honda’s fully faired motorcycle CBR250 launched in India was inspired by the VFR1200F, their flagship tourer. It came with a 249 CC engine producing 26 hp. later Honda introduced a 150 CC version of CBR which produced 16 hp. When competition increased in this segment, the CBR started feeling old and outdated which made Honda discontinue both bikes.

Bajaj Pulsar AS200 & AS150

Bajaj had introduced two bikes into Pulsar series, AS200 and AS150. This was an experiment of Bajaj into the Adventure Sports segment. The AS 150 Produced 16.8 hp whereas AS200 produced 23 Bhp. This was also introduced as a replacement to the NS 200 but failed to convince customers.

TVS Phoenix

 

TVS discontinued the production of Phoenix in April for Indian Market. Phoenix was powered by a 125 cc engine producing 11 Bhp. The bike lost its popularity when TVS relaunched the Victor into market in 2017.

Yamaha FZ-16 (Carbureted)

The Japanese bike maker removed carbureted Yamaha FZ-16 from their offering because of the Bharat Stage IV Emission Norms. It was powered by a 153 CC engine producing 13.8 hp. The FI model is Still Available in the market

Yamaha YZF R3

Yamaha Motors delisted this bad boy from their Website in 2017 as it was not fulfilling BS IV emission norms. Lack of features and Pricing was another factor that led to discontinuation of this bike. Power comes from a 321 cc engine that produces 42 hp. It is said that Yamaha will come up with an updated version of R3 in 2018.

Royal Enfield Continental GT 535

Royal Enfield has pulled the Continental GT 535 off production. Leftover stock of the poorly selling bike at dealerships are still being sold but no fresh bookings are being taken. The GT 535 will be replaced by a twin cylinder GT 650 by the middle of 2018.