New Hyosung GV250

Revised look coming for miniature V-twin cruiser

GIVEN that most traditional V-twin cruisers these days have a capacity on the far side of 1500cc, the tiny Hyosung GV250 is never likely to be taken terribly seriously by the patches-and-tassles crowd.

But it’s clearly doing well enough to earn the revamp it will need to remain on sale under the next raft of European homologation regulations, and these pictures reveal it’s set to get a new look as well as the soon-to-be-mandatory ABS brakes and Euro 4 emissions gubbins.

While the current GV250 – nee Aquila 250 – is very much in the traditional cruiser mould, with long fenders and the sort of saddle that takes the ‘iron horse’ metaphor to its logical extreme and looks like it’s been taken straight from Dobbin’s back, the new version has a more slimmed-down look.

Revealed in CAD-CAM images on a new patent, it’s less faux-Fat Boy and more simulated-Sportster, with what appears to be a 19-inch front wheel instead of the current model’s 16-incher, plus skimpier mudguards and a headlight that’s set well back between the forks. We’d be surprised if the designer didn’t have the picture of a Harley 883 Iron on the wall when he got his pens out, since even the wheels and the rubber fork gaiters are similar to those used on the Harley.

The engine looks largely similar to the existing GV250s, although in these images it’s missing its cooling fins. They’re likely to simply be an omission on images, set to return in real life, as the tiny radiator looks more like an oil cooler than a water rad.

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