Upcoming Honda ADV will take up the fight against the Himalayan and other motorcycles in the simple air-cooled 400cc Adventure space..
So quite clearly, Honda has been eyeing the humongous 90ish percent market share that Royal Enfield holds in the retro classic motorcycle segment in India. It created India-specific CB350 platform which had so far spawned three motorcycles – all targeted at this very segment.
The response has been decent and this is not where the company is stopping. In what comes as a big surprise, Honda has patented an Adventure motorcycle that has its roots based on the CB350s. Another bit that you will clearly notice is the uncanny resemblance with the Himalayan – again the very basis of Honda’s strategy.
It is evidently clear that Honda is impressed by the kind of name, fame and market share the Himalayan has garnered in the Indian (and some international) market, in the entry level adventure segment. The CB350-based ADV looks to have a very similar silhouette with a round headlamp, straight visor, semi-fairing and even visible tank brackets.
The motorcycle looks very simple with a fuel tank and side panels as the main body parts. You won’t notice a lot of flashy stuff there – only the bare basic minimalistic design – the same philosophy Royal Enfield followed for the Himalayan (okay, at least the original one).
We can also see spoke wheels and dual shock absorbers at the rear, along with fork gaiters at the front to round up the overall motorcycle.
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Power will definitely come from the same 348.3cc, single cylinder, air cooled engine but it will be interesting to see if those figures of 15.5 kw and 29.4 Nm are retained as well. What is almost a certainty is that the tuning, sprockets may be different for the new application. Additionally, the tyre sizes and their widths will, most likely, be altered along with the suspension that are likely to get more travel.
Nobody has any clue on what stage has the motorcycle reached and when will it come. However, since we have the initial sketches out, a lot has already cooked at Honda’s headquarters and we may have something concrete on this towards the second half of this year, or early next year.
