Right from the heydays of the classic Honda XLs and Yamaha Enduros, auto enthusiasts have relied on the school of Dual Sports and Enduro motorcycles to get them anywhere and every­where, regardless of the quality of the roads. Generally, dual sport motorcycles are made to help riders traverse treacher­ous off-road terrain while main­taining composure on smooth tarmac. This makes them adept at tackling the botched city roads, the smoother highways, as well as the terrain beyond when the asphalt ends.The newest entrant to the dual sport segment is Honda’s new XR 190L. Placing itself in the 200cc segment, the 190L slots itself smack dab in the middle of the commute friend­ly XR150L and the quarter liter CRFs. Read on to find how it fares in test ride.

Design and Styling

Simply put, in terms of appearance, the XR 190L is the XR 150L with fancier clothes. But that just goes to show how much of a difference the decals can make. The classic red and white paint scheme looks impressive. All in all, it is a sleekly designed machine that has most things you’d want from a dual sport: super light to flick around, large spoked rims, a confident ground clear­ance of 245mm and a comfy seat that will have you perched up for a high vantage point.

Performance

You can tell that the XR190L is more at home on the tarmac than on the dirt just by looking at it. This mainly comes down to the skinny front suspensions. Although there is plenty of travel in them, they don’t look strong enough to take brutal off-road punishment. However, it is by no means reluctant to sling a little dirt. It was more than capable of scampering through rough patches with great enthusiasm and prowess. Until you’re planning on doing some serious off-roading, the 190L should do just fine. On the tarmac, the refined engine setup and ergonomics made it a joy to ride.

Thanks to its light weight, the 15.6bhp does not make the motorcycle feel underpow­ered. In fact, it is the same engine that powers the CBR 190R. However, while the CBR 190R weighs in at 140kgs (dry weight), the XR 190R is a much slimmer 123kgs (dry weight) which gives it a much better power-to-weight ratio.

Although it is a splendidly fun motorcycle to ride, it does miss a few features such as ABS and rear-disc brakes. On the plus side, it gets a 12-liter fuel tank with three liters in reserve, which will give it a tentative range of over 360kms considering its claimed mile­age of 30kmpl-35kmpl (again, depending on your riding style and terrain). Since dual sport motorcycles have notoriously low range, these numbers are pretty good.

You will notice that this 12ltr tank has the letters PGM-FI on them. This stands for Programmed Fuel Injection. What this does is it uses the sensors in the Engine Control Unit (ECU) to measure the tem­peratures of the engine, cool­ant, oil, and outside air as well as sensors to monitor oil and barometric pressure. Based on these readings and the location of the throttle, the ECU calcu­lates how much oxygen and fuel should be mixed for opti­mal and efficient performance. In turn, this aids cold starts and better mileage with consistent power delivery.

The verdict

Overall, the Honda XR190L is a very capable dual sport motorcycle. It has a refined engine, it is good to look at, and it will get you pretty much anywhere your heart desires. However, the Rs 570,000 price tag might just be its Achilles’ heels. This makes it harder to overlook shortcomings like the absence of ABS and rear discs and lack of beefier front sus­pension. What you do get is the famed reliability of the Hon­da brand and an unbelievable resale value.