After experiencing Hero Mavrick 440 for over 1,000 km, we think it is very underrated and deserves a lot more attention
Ever since the Mavrick 440 was launched, Hero MotorCorp had a big bike for the first time. This is a brand-engineered product between Hero MotoCorp and Harley-Davidson and is positioned on a new 440cc platform. Price starts from Rs 1.99 lakh (Ex-sh) and one can buy it starting from Rs 1.82 lakh from e-Commerce website Flipkart. At that price, Mavrick 440 significantly undercuts Royal Enfield Classic 350 that starts from Rs 1.99 lakh (Ex-sh).
One would be inclined to go with Mavrick 440 and get a superior product on paper. But this emotion doesn’t reflect in sales charts and it always bugged me to know the reason. Hero MotoCorp provided Rushlane with a review sample of Mavrick 440 and I experienced this motorcycle in the city, peak Pune traffic and even took it for a 1,000 km highway run to understand just how underrated this motorcycle is.
Hero Mavrick 440 1000 Km Review
Mavrick 440 is a stylish cruiser motorcycle that turned a lot of heads. It is offered in three variants – Base, Mid and Top. Prices range between Rs 1.99 lakh (Ex-sh) and Rs 2.24 lakh (Ex-sh) or Rs 1.82 lakh (Ex-sh) and Rs 2.07 lakh (Ex-sh) on Flipkart. Top-spec variant of Mavrick 440 costs Rs 72K less than Harley-Davidson’s top-spec X440, if bought via Flipkart!
Colour options are variant specific. The ‘Top’ variant Hero provided Rushlane only comes with Phantom Black and Enigma Black shades with DT Brown seat and a few Copper highlights. I wish that wasn’t the case as I would have loved a ‘Top’ variant with Arctic White shade that only ‘Base’ variant gets. Even the Celestial Blue and Fearless Red shades look very good and stand out. But those are not offered with ‘Top’ variant and vice-versa. Design and colours is an area which I believe is hindering the immense sales potential Mavrick 440 has.
Design & Appearance
Speaking of design, Hero went with an interesting mix of Street Fighter, Retro and Commuter with Mavrick 440. From the front, Mavrick 440 looks like a neo-retro bike with round LED headlights and turn indicators. Side profile reveals muscular street fighter appeal and rear section just looks like a normal commuter. Exhaust-side is the best angle of this motorcycle as it shows large disc brakes at both end, DT finish on alloy wheels and blackened engine bay.
However, side profile ticks you off because the angle of Mavrick 440’s exhaust doesn’t align with angle of rear subframe. It doesn’t feel significant in pictures, but it does when you look at it in person. If it was me, I would remove that pillion grab rail immediately. Despite the motorcycle being more than a year old, it still grabs a lot of eyeballs. At multiple occasions people enquired me about this motorcycle.
I just wished Hero had made this a proper Neo-Retro motorcycle for maximum appeal instead of a mixture of multiple genres. Even the instrument cluster shape is not exactly round. In fact, the actual instrument cluster is a horizontal reverse LCD screen and tell-tale lights are arranged across the circular shape. This panel is not visible under direct sunlight and I wish there was an anti reflective coating on top to cut down on reflections.
Ergonomics & Specs
Hero Mavrick 440 is a cruiser with an upright and relaxed riding position. It has an overall length of 2,100 mm with a 1,388 mm wheelbase. The ground clearance is 175 mm and a seat height of 803 mm. Me being a 182 cm tall individual, I could easily swing my leg over the saddle and flat foot on both sides. Even shorter riders will find this motorcycle manageable. Handlebar position ensures rider to sit upright and even the rider footpegs are quite neutral.
Fuel tank has knee recesses too. For my height, I wished they were a tad higher, but for majority of Indian riders, these knee recesses will be perfect. One thing that caught me off-guard is just how wide Mavrick 440’s handlebar is. It might easily be the widest in segment and provide a lot of leverage while turning the bike. One has to be mindful of these handlebars when zipping through city traffic. At 187 kg, it is very manageable too.
Even after prolonged hours on the saddle, there was very minimal fatigue in my body. The seat cushioning is slightly softer for my liking, but did not induce any major discomfort. There’s a lot of room to wiggle around for both rider and pillion. I embarked on a two day long highway ride on Mavrick 440 and I was thoroughly impressed with the comfort factor of this machine. Long-distance touring is definitely a strength of this machine.
Performance
What also contributes to long-distance cruising is the engine. Displacing 440cc, Maverick 440 is capable of generating 27 bhp of peak power and 36 Nm of peak torque. This engine has a 2V/cylinder head and an SOHC architecture. It is an oil-cooled engine with a tall radiator mounted at the left side. This engine is mated to a 6-speed gearbox, a smooth one at that. There’s a lot of character in this powertrain with bassy exhaust note.
Even riding Mavrick 440 in peak Pune traffic, I found that the clutch lever was not exorbitantly heavy like its immediate 450cc rival. Nor did Mavrick 440 show any signs of abnormal heating. There’s a light buzz from the engine to show its character, but not bothersome up to speeds of 110 km/h. This engine has a low-revving nature and there’s oodles of torque reserves waiting for you to flick the throttle for impressive thrust.
Overall impressions of this engine is that it is calm and relaxed and blows a punch if you need it to. The sweet spot is to place it below 110 km/h, around 4,000 RPM on the tacho. There’s more performance beyond these speeds, but the engine feels strained at higher RPMs and vibrations get more violent. Another appreciable nature of this engine is that it is very happy to hold 110 km/h speed as long as it can and will not show any resistance.
Fuel Effeciency
Where fuel efficiency is concerned, we have posted a thorough mileage report before, extracting around 42 km/l of fuel efficiency on the highway with 10% city ride and maintaining speeds between 90 km/h and 100 km/h. This is an impressive figure and in the city I managed to get between 25 km/l and 30 km/l. I just wished the fuel tank was larger for better tank range and the fuel guage on cluster to be more precise. Okay, a lot more precise than it currently is.
Handling – Light on its feet!
The most surprising element of Mavrick 440 has to be its handling. It is surprisingly light on its feet and induces a lot of confidence to attack corners at higher speeds. The wide handlebar provides a lot of leverage. Mavrick 440 weighs 187 kg and masks its weight quite well. Even when moving it around in parking lot is surprisingly easy. For context, the 160 kg Xpulse 200 Pro I reviewed before, felt noticeably heavier while manoeuvring.
Suspension is tuned for comfort and it still offers commendable corner carving headroom. Bump absorption is commendable and it makes light work of bad patches. While the handling characteristics are already so good, I wonder how much better they can be once the USD forks variant showcased at EICMA is launched.
Braking is one area where Hero Mavrick 440 needs improvement. During my ride, there was an incident where I bumped into another motorcycle on the highway because the bike just couldn’t stop on time. There was no damage as the bike’s front tyre slightly banged into the other bike’s rear exhaust and I apologised to that rider. Also, rear ABS intervention needs to be worked on as the rear brake locked on multiple occasions.
Some Reservations & Conclusion
You must have observed that I didn’t speak anything about Bluetooth connectivity or turn-by-turn navigation. That’s because the system never connected, despite following the correct steps and filling in accurate engine and chassis number during setup. One Hero MotoCorp personnel mentioned that it can be connected only if the number is registered in Hero’s database. I just wished the connection process was more seamless and less complicated.
Other than Instrument cluster and braking power, there are not a lot of things to complain about on Mavrick 440. Even the LED headlights provided sufficient illumination, intensity, throw and spread. If I really had to pick a stick, it would be with ORVMs on Mavrick 440. They were loose and yanked out across the 1,000 km I tested this motorcycle, despite manually tightening them multiple times. Also, these ORVM stalks were severely rusted despite this review sample being new with just 350 km on Odo when I first received it.
In conclusion, Maverick 440 has a lot of potential and has impressed us beyond expectations. It is filled with character and offers more performance and better handling than any of the 350cc neo-retro motorcycles sold in India. If it was my money, I would choose the Mavrick 440 over its 350cc rivals. I’m the kind of guy who bought a Blackberry Z10 when the world was buying an iPhone 5S. If you’re like me and want to stand out from the common and popular, you won’t go wrong with Hero Mavrick 440. I just wish Hero would bring more design panache with Mavrick 440.
