My guess is you’ve never heard of this brand of motorcycle before this. Well that’s alright because Brixton is a fairly new brand and hasn’t even been around for a decade. Owned by the Austrian KSR group that also owns multiple motorcycle companies including the old Italian marque Malaguti. Brixton is a brand created by the KSR group that has its motorcycles manufactured in China.
They’ve partnered up with Kolhapur based KAW Veloce Motors who will be assembling these motorcycles here in India. While internationally Brixton sells 125cc to 1200cc motorcycles, they’ve been rather bold with launching their 500cc and 1200cc motorcycles here in India.
This was a very quick ride and we were only given 20 minutes on each motorcycle around the parking area of a hotel in Kolhapur.
Brixton Cromwell 1200: Performance and handling
So this will be more of a first look rather than a review. On paper the Cromwell 1200 seems quite qualified to take on the competition. It has a 1222cc in-line twin cylinder motor that produces 83hp at 6,550rpm and 108Nm at 3,100rpm. This motor is mated to a 6-speed gearbox and a 16 litre fuel tank capacity. It tips the scales at 235kg. Brixton has also been quite generous and added features like traction control, ABS and even cruise control.
From the moment I began, this motor felt surprisingly engaging and the short space allotted to experience this motorcycle didn’t quite do justice to it. The strong surge of torque propels you off the line with incredible ferocity and I never had the chance to experience what any of the higher gears felt like. That aside, refinement levels were pretty decent and despite packing so much performance, the vibrations were reasonably well contained.
Unlike its smaller capacity siblings that come equipped with J.Juan brakes, the Cromwell 1200 gets a set of Nissin callipers that performed surprisingly well and the brakes provided good feedback for the speeds I did.
While there is no hiding the heft of this motorcycle, its Pirelli Phantom Sportscomp tyres performed adequately well and I found myself scraping the pegs more often than not. Unfortunately I can’t quite comment on the ride quality and outright handling since the location had but one low speed turn.
Brixton Cromwell 1200: Design and features
The speedo is a circular TFT that isn’t all too bright and hard to read under direct sunlight. It can also be a little slow to respond at times and the animations aren’t as smooth as I would have liked. You also get an Eco Mode and Sport mode that can be controlled via a mode button. Weirdly enough this isn’t a simple tap to change modes sort off setup but instead you’re forced to hold the button for at least five seconds before it changes modes.
I tried changing the modes on the move but the button wouldn’t respond. Switchgear quality seems adequate but doesn't match the quality levels we’ve come to expect from other premium offerings.
In terms of design, the Cromwell 1200 could carries a typical silhouette of a modern retro motorcycle and it’s a good looking machine. Currently the Cromwell 1200 is only available in this shade of Timberwolf Grey and looks quite sombre.
At a closer look the Cromwell 1200 does have some nice looking details sprinkled around. Design elements like the beautiful looking LED headlamp and a knurled finish on the fuel tap cap looked exceptional and are sure to catch your attention.
Brixton Cromwell 1200: Verdict
For a price of Rs 7.84 lakh (ex-showroom, India) the Cromwell 1200 makes quite a case for itself and undercuts its closest rival from Triumph by nearly 4 lakhs! It packs punchy performance and a timeless design at a price that’s hard to resist for buyers looking for a large capacity motorcycle on a relatively tight budget. The issue is one of multiple unknowns.
There is no brand awareness and we also have no way of knowing what the long term quality and reliability will be like. Moreover availability will be very limited with two cities currently and 6 cities planned by the end of the year. The company intends to address this and hopes to have a considerable footprint across the nation but it remains to be seen how long that may take. All these are concerns that only time will answer.
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