Hero Splendor Classic – Why did it fail?

The Hero Splendor Classic has been a single-seater bike that was developed to be a low-cost cafe racer. It had a unique design and was meant to attract the young crowd. Sadly, the bike had some faults and did not manage to get a proper start. The bike finally got discontinued in 2018. The Splendor Plus has continued to sell without any hurdles like these. We look at the reasons why the Hero Splendor Classic turned out to be a failure for the company.

Hero Splendor Classic riding Position

The riding position of the motorcycle is very different from that of the normal conventional motorcycle. Since it is a cafe racer styled motorcycle, the seat position is set in such a manner that the rider would have to lean forward to stretch the hands and grab hold on the handlebars. This might be pretty difficult for a taller rider to ride the motorcycle. The overall height of the vehicle is also thus reduced which might be uncomfortable for tall riders. Even during rains or muddy surfaces, the low ride height tends to be a big problem.

Single Seat 

The next disadvantage is that the bike does not have any place for a pillion. Therefore the bike loses a lot of its practicality.

The customers who are looking for a single-seater in the market are few. For the Indian market, the single-seat bike does not make sense at this price point. It is neither premium nor something like a collectable bike.

Hero Splendor Classic Build Quality

Though the motorcycle uses lightweight components and simple body panel materials, the build quality of the vehicle cannot be analysed as an exceptional one. The semi-plastic and metal contents in the motorcycle make it lighter but the overall durability may be affected. Even though some of its parts of the motorcycle are said to be made of chrome, the quality of those parts too are unmeasured. It looked like the bike was trying to be something that it wasn’t. The bike shared a lot of its parts with the usual splendour which was a letdown for many.

No Tubeless Tyres and Alloys

Although the tubed tyres for the bike on a cafe racer work for cosmetics but offering an alloy will bring in some amount of the convenience. Like all the things on the vehicle every the tyres were trying to be premium but the slim profile made the bike look undertyred.

Underpowered Engine 

Since the motorcycle is an entry-level cafe racer variant, the engine capacity was less and it felt underpowered. The motorcycle was powered by a 97.6cc single-cylinder DOHC engine which only produced 8.2 bhp. The maximum power produced is equal to that of the Suzuki Access or Honda Activa. It should have got at least a 150cc engine to fall into the league of Cafe Racer bikes. The bike would have made for a good competition for the Bajaj Pulsar 150 which was the hot selling bike of the vehicle. The underpowered engine was directly from the Splendour and that was something people did not like either.

The underpowered engine of this bike meant that there wasn’t a performance for the bike either. Since the body of the motorcycle is made of lightweight materials and components the stability and balance of the motorcycle during the higher volume of power and performance are lost. This also made the bike to be unstable at higher speeds.

Will there be a Classic 200?

Overall the vehicle was a good concept on paper but till the time it came to production it was diluted due to mechanical obstacle. The bike would make a clear hit if they relaunch it with a bigger engine and better features and parts. We hope Hero gets an all-new Cafe-Racer based on the new 200cc engine they use on the Xpulse.