The Secrets Of Hero Motosport Team Rally’s Enduro Bike

Race machines are something that you seldom get to see, especially when you are not visiting a motorsport event. The bigger the sport the less are one’s chances to get close to the race machine it uses. Be it a Formula 1 car or your favourite MotoGP bike, it is very hard to visit the machine in person. The reason for obscuring the machine from the outside world is simple: the highly competitive nature of racing brings the risk of rivals spying on each other. However, every now and then racing teams bring about their race machines to the notice of the enthusiasts. And one such team is the Hero Motorsport Team Rally, who showcased its Dakar rally motorcycle, the Speedbrain 450 Rally, at Hero MotoCorp’s research and development centre near Jaipur.

For the unversed, Dakar rally is an off-road rally which lasts for two weeks and covers a mind-boggling distance of approximately 9000 kilometres. The event, which is considered as one of the toughest rallies on earth, started originally as Paris-Dakar, but was eventually shifted to South America and renamed as Dakar.

The different stages of the rally demand participants and their machines to cover gruesome terrain through the adversities of weather. In some stages, the temperatures could be sub-zero, while in some it could be in excess of 40-degree Celsius. Each year, more than 230 teams participate in Dakar in different categories for bikes, quad bikes, cars and trucks. However, not all are able to finish because of a high technical failure rate.

Well, back to the Hero Motosport Team Rally Sport’s enduro bike. The Speedbrain 450 Rally will be competing in Dakar next year and is developed by German off-road racing expert Speedbrain. We got the chance to meet Speedbrain’s managing director Wolfgang Fischer along with its chief mechanic Felipe Barbosa, who explained the significant details about the bike and what makes it special.

Design

Since race machines are made for a purpose, they are quite unusual in terms of exterior looks. A lot of it is down to the purpose they are going to serve, which in the case of Hero/Speedbrain’s enduro bike is off-road racing. The tall front and rear suspensions of the bike with a massive ground clearance are indicative of its purpose. The suspension carries a massive travel of 300mm up front and 320mm out back -- just to give you an idea the Royal Enfield Himalayan has 200mm and 180mm travel for front and back, respectively.

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The front features a tall windscreen with rally LED lights that will not only provide adequate wind protection but will also house the navigation book of Dakar. A high set handlebar with hand guards; a sleek and long seat made of buckskin; a bulging middle-rear section, housing the 29-litre fuel tank. In the pictures, one can also notice the block tyres wrapped on fork wheels; the front tyre being a 21-inch 90/90 cross section, whereas, the rear gets an 18-inch 140/80 cross section. The front suspensions are 52mm inverted telescopic forks, whereas the rear gets a mono shock with trailing link joint, just like we see in the Himalayan.

Construction

Just like any other race machine, Hero’s Dakar bike uses lightweight and strong components for the construction of the bike. The bodywork is made up of a carbon-Kevlar composite, while the chassis is a chromium-molybdenum steel frame made by Speedbrain. Courtesy of these, Speedbrain has managed to keep the bike’s weight less than 140 kg without fuel.

Engine

The maximum engine capacity that can be used by a bike competing in Dakar is 500cc. It is because of this cap that Hero’s enduro bike uses a 449.5cc single-cylinder engine. The liquid and oil cooled unit use dual overhead cams, electronic intake pipe injection and digital engine management to make the most of itself. Further, the drivetrain comprises of a hydraulically activated clutch, a six-speed gearbox and O-ring chainset. The motor runs on ordinary 98 octane fuel without any additives.

In our conversation with the chief mechanic Felipe Barbosa, he did give us an idea that the engine produces power in the ballpark of 55PS and has a rev limit of around 12500rpm. Now, it isn’t a very insane rev limit, when considering the MotoGP bikes, which have the limits north of 14000rpm! But, since the bike is being tuned to race through a very vast distance the rev limit seems justified. Imagine just how robust and reliable a motorcycle has to be when it has to be ridden for over 9000kms with the rev counter clocking over 8000rpms through the majority of the race.

Navigation System

While racing in Dakar, the last thing that a rider/driver would want to is to get lost in the deserted terrains that they pass through. The bikes are filled with calculated amounts of fuel for each stage and refills can only be made at pre-set filling stations. In case a rider/driver fails to comply to this he/she will face termination from the race. So, to finish the stage timely is of utmost importance in order to stay in the competition. To do so, the rider’s road book or navigation system is the only lifeline that they have to successfully reach rally points at the end of each day.

The navigation system or the road book is the series of instructions and waypoints that help the riders to keep themselves on the right path in the wilderness of South America. The system is mounted on the navigation tower, or the place where your and my bikes have its instrument cluster. The system is controlled via a stock on the left side of the handlebar (see picture below) and has a bunch of red buttons to do so.

The navigation system is also a test of the rider as, there are many numbers and directions that have to be kept in mind to effectively follow it. Moreover, the reading has to be done while the bike is in motion as halting for reading the instructions will cost valuable time.

Other Specifications

The Speedbrain 450 Rally gets Akrapovic titanium exhaust made specifically for rallying -- it not only looks cool, but also sounds insane. It also gets 52mm cone valve front forks, Trax rear shock, 298mm Moto Master oversized front brake system, 220mm rear disc with floating piston callipers, Supersprox stealth sprocket set, electric Dakar rally tower, factory racing main wiring and so on.

Special Features

Apart from the features mentioned above, the Speedbrain 450 Rally also has a couple of special features to take on the Dakar.

Emergency water reservoir - Mounted on the left side of the front bash plate is a little black tank. The approximately 1-litre tank houses water, which the rider can use in case he/she is stranded with the bike until help arrives.

Primary and secondary fuel tanks - In a bike that weighs only 140 kilos dry, having two fuel tanks is quite strange, but the concept of having these is to keep an appropriate weight balance, as the 29-litre tank is mounted behind the engine, rather than above it. This shifts the centre of mass away from the engine, so, to minimise the effect of this weight shift there’s a smaller tank connecting the engine to the large tank. Once the small tank gets empty it automatically takes fuel from the bigger tank.

The Speedbrain 450 Rally surely is a masterpiece and the Dakar will be the best and ultimate place to test its mettle. Let's see if the bike performs and brings some laurels to Hero MotoCorp. Stay tuned for all the latest action from Dakar.