From afar, the Splendor Pro Classic looks striking and conforms the whole café racer design. The massive headlight in front with round rear-view mirrors, a chrome-plated mudguard and twin round analogue instrument consoles lend a very classic look to the motorcycle. As you come closer, you’ll notice that the fuel-tank and the side panels are exactly the same as those seen on a normal Splendor, the exception being that they now get vintage styled stickers. The long single seat, plastic rear hump and chromed rear indicators and mudguard complete the overall café racer design.
Once you get astride the motorcycle, you’ll notice one flaw in the Splendor Pro Classic: the handlebar-seat-footpeg relation is awkward for a café racer design. Although the low-slung Clubman handlebar and the long single seat are in keeping with a café racer design, the foot-pegs are in the wrong place. Café racers predominantly have rear-set foot-pegs so that the rider’s legs grip the bike better and it is more comfortable to ride at high speeds. But then again someone who buys the Splendor Pro Classic might not be riding at high speeds. Which brings us to the engine. The Splendor Pro Classic gets the same engine as the Splendor Pro, which produces 8.36 PS at 8,000 RPM and 8.05 Nm of torque at 5,000 RPM. Thus basically the performance of the Splendor Pro and the Splendor Pro Classic is the same, but due to its café racer style design, it just feels as if you are going faster. On the handling front, the motorcycle is extremely easy to use in the city as it weighs just 109 kg and the front and rear shocks work well in combination with the tyres. Whether you are going round corners or tackling a rough road, the motorcycle remains stable and keeps your mind at ease. Bringing the motorcycle to a stop is accomplished with drum brakes both in the front and at the rear.
We had the motorcycle for a week and I have to say that it seems to be quite popular. Almost every third person doubled back to take a closer look at the Splendor Pro Classic. Every time I parked the bike, there would be at least two people who would walk up and ask about it. Hero MotoCorp have done a decent job of making a budget café racer motorcycle, and for just Rs 56,000 (OTR, Pune) it’s very affordable. With this motorcycle you’ll get vintage style with modern technology and, of course, great fuel economy.
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