Italian motorcycle manufacturer FB Mondial could be the next international motorcycle brand to be introduced in India. The FB Mondial HPS 125 was recently spotted near the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), indicating that the bike may have been brought in to India for a homologation process, and could well be launched in India. So far, no further details are available, and the news is just that - one bike spotted in Pune.
The FB Mondial HPS 125 Hipster was launched last year, more than five decades after the Italian brand's heydays and 15 years since a new motorcycle model. The first new model in the resurrected Italian brand is a 125 cc scrambler powered by a liquid-cooled single-cylinder engine sourced from the Piaggio group. The fuel-injected single with double overhead cams produces 15 bhp of power. But it's the design and components that makes the Hipster stand out.
FB Mondial HPS125 Hipster is powered by a liquid-cooled, single-cylinder engine
Up front, the Hipster gets 41 mm inverted forks and a four-piston radial caliper, while at the rear, there is a pair of shocks hinting at old-school scrambler design. Wheels are wire-spoked with an 18-inch front and a 17-inch rear. The Hipster tips the scales at 130 kg and has a fuel tank capacity of 14 litres.
FB Mondial HPS125 Hipster spotted in Pune
So far, we don't have any information on what the bike is doing in Pune. But we can take a guess that some established automotive brand may be planning to launch the FB Mondial brand in India, if it is actually undergoing homologation. Considering it's in Pune, and the Italian connection, our guess is that rather than being an independent two-wheeler brand, FB Mondial could well turn out to be yet another Italian brand under the Kinetic Group-owned Motoroyale brand, or even the DSK group may be involved. All that, however, is pure conjecture at this point, and what matters now is that the HPS 125 certainly is an attractive motorcycle. A lightweight, 125 cc scrambler-style bike could well turn out to be a very good gamble in the rapidly expanding Indian motorcycle market. We can't wait to hear more about it!
