Hero Xtreme 250R First Ride Review - India’s Fastest 250cc Bike?

Hero claims that the new Xtreme 250R is the fastest 250cc bike in India. Now while we will verify that claim once we get the bike in Pune for a proper road test, on our first ride on the lovely roads around Udaipur, we explored whether the Xtreme 250R is more than just a quick bike in a straight line.

Engine & Performance

Hero says that the Xtreme 250R can go from 0 to 60kmph in 3.2 seconds and 0 to 100kmph in 8.5 seconds. To achieve these performance numbers, the Xtreme gets a 249.03cc, liquid-cooled, single-cylinder motor that puts out 30PS of peak power and 25Nm of peak torque. This motor is derived from the 210cc motor from the Karizma XMR 210, but has been stroked out to give it more displacement. Thanks to a longer stroke and larger displacement, this 250cc motor isn’t as peaky as the one Karizma, and offers much better bottom and mid-range grunt. Now where we feel skeptical about Hero’s claims of the Xtreme 250R being the fastest 250cc bike in India is the fact that it makes 1PS less than the KTM 250 Duke and at 167.7kg it weighs about 6 kilos more.

But while we can’t verify Hero’s claims without a VBOX test, what I can tell you about this motor today is just how good it feels in the real world. It's got a great bottom end response which means it can carry fairly low speeds in high gears. So speeds of even 25kmph in fourth gear and 30kmph in fifth don't feel like a stress for this motor at all. Which means in the city it's an absolute breeze to ride. The only concern I have though is the gearbox which feels a little bit vague when shifting, especially if you're wearing riding boots.

Once you're on the highway, 100kmph in sixth gear comes at a little over 6,000rpm. At this point the bike feels absolutely calm and in its element. It’s not the most refined motor in the world - you will feel a slight buzz in the foot pegs and the tank at this RPM. But these mild vibes don’t feel like a bother at all. They just more or less remind you that you're sitting on top of a living breathing engine. But the best part is that at this RPM, you're right in the middle of this motor’s meaty mid-range which means if you want to overtake traffic on the highway at 100kmph, just open the gas and the bike picks up pace rapidly in sixth gear. It's as easy to ride on the highway as it is in the city. 

Comfort

Now while Xtreme 250R looks like a very aggressive Street Fighter it's actually quite comfortable and easy to use every day. With a seat height of 806mm, I had no issues getting both my feet flat on the ground. But that was for my height of 5’9”. The only concern here is while the bike is slim in the middle, the seat and the tank are quite wide which push your thighs a little further out. Which means if you're shorter than 5’7”, you might not be able to get both your feet flat on the ground very easily.

Now the handle bar is a bit low so you have a slight lean towards the bars and that makes the riding position a little sporty, in keeping with the Xtreme 250R’s sporty streetfighter character. But the best part is that if you want to ride upright and comfortably in the city you can always push forward in the seat, hug the tank and sit more upright. And if you find a set of corners you want to go around and have fun, the seat is long enough which means you can shift back and that gives you more room to move around the bike. Overall, the riding position can be classified as sporty, but comfortable. And even the pillion seat - while it can be a bit of a pain to climb on, it’s actually quite comfortable once you’re settled on it.

Handling

This Xtreme 250 is built on a new trellis frame which has been derived from the one from the Karizma XMR 210. Of course, this frame has been modified to go with the beefier components and it makes this bike really stable in a straight line at high speeds. It's also got a fairly beefy 43mm inverted fork and wide tyres (110/70-17 front & 150/60 R17 rear) that helps this stability as well. Yes, the front tyre isn’t a radial, which feels like a big miss considering that you have great, affordable radial tyres available in these sizes. 

While it's super stable in a straight line, if you want to go into corners, it requires very little effort on the bars to get the bike to change direction. On our first ride, we rode through some narrow winding roads, where the Xtreme felt completely at home, inspiring confidence to push harder into turns. The only thing that would hold back expert riders from pushing the Xtreme harder though, is the feel from the brakes. The Xtreme 250R is running a 320mm front disc and 230mm rear disc brake, and while these brakes have plenty of stopping power once you pull the lever hard, there’s a distinct lack of initial bite. So precise trail braking into turns remains a bit of a challenge. But I guess this would work better for newer riders, who would otherwise get intimidated by a super-responsive front brake.

The Xtreme 250 loves fast corners though. On our first ride, we encountered plenty of fast, sweeping bends which the bike was easily able to take at 100+ kmph. The bike feels really stable though such fast corners and even minor mid-corner bumps and undulations don’t seem to upset the bike at all.

Ride Quality

A big part of the way the Xtreme handles mid-corner bumps and stays absolutely stable is thanks to its suspension. Suspension tuning is something Hero has been nailing for the last few years, and it's no different on the Xtreme 250 as well. Now when tackling bad roads, the ride does feel “sporty firm”, but the way it handles larger bumps and potholes is actually fantastic. Of course you will feel the bump or pothole, but the bike remains completely settled after going through them. The only thing that does seem to unsettle the bike a bit though is if you're riding on wavy concrete. On such roads, the bike does keep bobbing around a bit, and that can feel unpleasant. But given how well the Xtreme 250R handles, that's something I'm happy to put up with. But if you live in places like Pune and Mumbai with a lot of concrete roads, I’d recommend you take a test ride before you check whether this works for you or not.

Design & Build Quality

Where the Xtreme 250R really stands out though, is in the way it looks. The sleek, low slung headlight over the chunky inverted fork, the wide tank extensions, the tall fuel tank, and the sleek and minimal tail really makes the bike look like an aggressive streetfighter. While it does look good to us, if you’re a fan of more conservative designs, you might find the design of the Xtreme to be a bit… extreme!

While the bike does look good, there are small quality issues in some places. Some of the weld lines are a bit of an eyesore, and on our bike, at high rpm, we could hear some buzzing from some of the plastic panels as well. Apart from that though, things like the switchgear feel quite good to use.

Features

When it comes to features, the Xtreme 250R isn’t really doing anything out of the ordinary for this segment.  It’s got the same monochrome LCD screen from the Karizma XMR 210, which features smartphone connectivity for call & message alerts, music control and turn by turn navigation. It’s also got a lap and drag race timer. That said, this console looks really cluttered and feels rather dated already. Plus, it’s an absolute pain to read under direct sunlight.

In terms of safety, the Xtreme 250R does feature dual-channel ABS with two modes - Track and Road. These modes are supposed to change how intrusively the ABS and rear wheel lift mitigation behave. But for the life of us, we couldn’t figure out how to change these ABS modes on our first ride. So we’ll reserve our judgement on how they work for our proper road test review.

Is the Hero Xtreme 250R right for you?

If you want the fastest 250cc bike in India, we still can't say at this point for sure whether the Xtreme 250R will check that box. What we can say is just how much fun the bike is no matter where you're riding - it's good in the city,  it's calm and composed on the highway and it just loves going around corners. It's a proper do-it-all bike that does everything you ask of it really really well. But the best part is the pricing, which Hero has just nailed. 

At Rs 1,79,990 (ex-showroom Delhi), it's about Rs 18,000 cheaper than the Gixxer 250 and almost Rs 48,000 cheaper than the KTM 250 Duke, which makes this great value for money as well. So if you're someone who’s looking to upgrade from a 150cc or a 160cc bike to something more powerful yet easy to manage, the Xtreme 250R is the easiest bike to recommend.