Alright hold it, don’t laugh… You don’t need to get freaky on this. It’s a Hero Honda launch and you can expect silly names like that. After Xtreme, Passion, Ambition, Glamour etc, rumors say that HH shall be naming its new bike ‘HUNK’. Absolute Crap, what dearth of names has haunted HH. Imagine you say to someone “I ride a Hunk”. LOL!!

I would still believe this to be a rumor, as no concrete proof of the bike’s launch is known. The Economic Times though has carried a report on the bike, but then they aren’t mentioning any company officials name to justify the news. Yes the same typical “sources said” stuff. But these media guys do have the contacts and thus so the reason to hope for a new bike for all you HH fans, esp CBZX ones.

For the tech stuff on the bike details are slightly etched on the ET report,

A source close to the company revealed: “The Hunk is likely to have a 150 cc engine. In terms of design it is a fantastic looking bike.” The new bike will probably sport an all black 156 cc engine.

Other than a torquier mill, the Hunk is touted to have Honda CBR 125 type headlamps, twin discs, split seats and an analog yellow speedo. But when contacted this is all a Hero Honda spokesperson said: “We don’t comment on future launches.”

The bike shall be sporting a 156cc engine and supposedly ‘fantastic’ looking bike. You know how good the recent Hero Honda bikes (read Xtreme) look right?? More, the bike shall have CBR 125 like headlights, twin discs, split seats and an analog yellow speedo. But what about the feature that we’ve longing to see on HH bike for long – Mono shock. No commitment on that. May/may not feature, depends on Honda right??. Not to mention I’d expect useless crap stickers slapped on the bike to give a jazzy look.

The ET report though does confuse you a bit, if you know a thing or two about bikes. Read these excerpts,

According to industry sources, there are two theories as to why Hero Honda (HH) would be launching the Hunk. Firstly, the company would want to have a presence in the premium bike segment (125cc and above) because the traffic is slowly moving in that direction.

Therefore, the Hunk might be Hero Honda’s trump card to lure away customers from its rivals by offering a bigger capacity bike at the price of a 125 cc.

…

Secondly, the Hunk could also be used to gain market share in the 150 cc segment, which is the stronghold of bikes such as the Bajaj Pulsar.

Either is the case that the 156 engine is slated in premium segment or the engine specs are wrong and it may end up a 125cc engine possible with the same specs as the Honda CBR 125, which is highly unlikely else it’s another mileage conscious 125cc bike.

While there are no confirmed reports on this, I still call the news a Rumor as even ET does not have confirmed stuff (rather confusing). Check in the blog for updates if any. Imagine if the bike is termed a ‘successor’ to the CBZ Xtreme, would it be called ‘Xtreme Hunk’.

Update: (17/10/2007)
The Hero Honda Hunk has been launched officially, Read  here.