Motorcraft, a custom motorcycle house from Bengaluru
has transformed the humble Hero Impulse into a potent adventure motorcycle
called ‘XRE160’.
Motorcraft chose an old Hero Impulse frame so that
the bike isn’t prohibitively expensive, and is still fun to ride. They then
shoehorned a Honda CB Hornet 160R engine into the frame and tweaked the
transmission in a way that doesn’t demand to shift often off the road. The
custom house also used a custom exhaust with black powder coating, and
re-jetted the carburettor to make it compatible with the new exhaust.
Motorcraft tinkered the front suspension of the Hero
Impulse to suit the modifications. The rear monoshock is a stock unit. The
front and rear spoke wheels are shod with Timsun dual purpose tube-type tyres.
They swapped the stock headlight assembly with custom sheet metal unit. The
rear rack and the saddle stays are of 2 mm gauge steel. Tail light mount, front
tyre hugger, DRL are all custom made.
The stock Hornet mill is a 162.71 cc single cylinder
unit that is good for 15.2 PS at 8,500 rpm; and 14.76 Nm at 6,500 rpm. The
powerplant works in tandem with a 5-speed gearbox. They have upgraded the front
disc brake, and the rear is a drum setup. Longer footpegs, aluminium bash
plate, and handlebar guards further improve the bike’s go-anywhere capability.
