Honda X-Blade 160 (based on CB Hornet) sporty commuter motorcycle launched in India

Honda Scooters and Motorcycles India (HSMI) has just launched the X-Blade 160, a brand new sporty commuter motorcycle, in India. The X-Blade was first shown at the 2018 Auto Expo, and the crowd response to this motorcycle has impressed Honda enough to launch it a few weeks ahead of schedule. Previously, Honda planned to launch the X-Blade in March 2018. The 160cc bike will be priced at under Rs. 79,000, ex-showroom Delhi, says Honda, and bookings are now open across all its dealerships in India. Deliveries of the motorcycle will start from the middle of March.

Yadvinder Singh Guleria, the Senior Vice-President for Sales and Marketing at Honda said,

We are indeed excited to receive unprecedented response from Generation Z. We are happy to open the bookings for all-new Honda X-Blade today. Delighting Young Indian trendsetters with revolutionary segment first features, Honda’s ultimate head turner X-Blade will surprise Indian youth with its aggressive price of Rs 79,000 (Ex-showroom, Delhi). The X-Blade deliveries will start from the middle of March on first-come-first-serve basis.

Based on the CB Hornet 160, the X-Blade is much cheaper, and also features a lower state of tune than the Hornet. The 162.7 cc, air cooled four stroke single cylinder engine produces 13.93 Bhp of peak power and 13.9 Nm of peak torque on the X-Blade, down from 15.04 Bhp-14.76 Nm on the Hornet. Moreover, the X-Blade comes with a disc brake at front and a drum brake at the rear. The higher priced CB-Hornet on the other hand, offers disc brakes on both wheels, and also optional single channel ABS on the front wheel. A 5 speed gearbox is standard on the new bike.

The X-Blade does receive fresh styling though. Aggressive styling features on the X-Blade include a sharp-looking LED headlamp, tank extensions, a sporty dual outlet port silencer, split grab rails, a hugger fender and funky graphics. The bike also gets a fully digital instrumentation, with a Service Due Indicator and gear position indicator. It’s available in five colours: Matte Marvel Blue Metallic / Matte Frozen Silver Metallic/Pearl Spartan Red/Pearl Igneous Black and Matte Marshal Green Metallic.