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Interesting thread.

1) What was the price of the bike? Was it costlier then the other HH bikes? If yes then that might be one of the reasons.

2) All show no go, after all the bike just had the same CD 100 engine.

Thanks MG!
@bprags: Hmm, I will have to check for pricing. Thanks bro!

Guys, more info please. Thanks again.

my cousin has a sleek a long time back,he used to say the bike was very unstable in the rear,he himself met with accident two times.Maybe it was the chassis or the tyres can't clarify.

From what I can recall...

HH sleek was targeted towards youth. Back then the technology awareness about the bikes were very less. People didnt know the difference between 2 stroke and 4 strokes. What they knew was comparing the bikes on PICK UP front. "Yeh bhaagti nahi hai"

Fuel efficiency I believe was not much of concern for bike users.. Also the direct comparison of the bike was RX100 which was a potent machine back then. those were the days of Petrol at 7-10Rs liter.

Also the SOUND factor was missing for people.. who found RX100 sound to be better. (I have personally hated RX100 always).

Also the point was.. The plastic panels on bike for people back then was.. like they are having a TOY.

Aditonally Hero Honda was a new brand for them. So everyone was skeptical about the brand too.

When redesigned Sleek was launched as Splendor which was marketed as High fuel efficiency bike... which caught attention of people.. who then started paying interest in fuel efficient bikes.

too skinny to compliment the nice design. too high rear , skinny tyres

Thanks a ton guys!
@Inflammable: Great info bro!

the reason was very clear, ALL SHOW AND NO GO...

it looked flashy, but performance was nowhere near teh RX100, which was the success story of those years. and nobody cared much about average/mileage at that time.

wrong timing of product.

I was 8 years old back then, much younger than those credible ones who preach first hand information here

Anyway, I have a friend who had done some presentation on this, let me try ask her about it

thanks guys! You've been of great help.
@Satyen: check ur inbox.

God bless!

sleek - Too radically styled for the masses.

The plastic side panes going all around the side of the seats, were an issue with breaking after overloading. ( it was one of the first bikes to have a plastic tail, rather than just a utilitarian seat with a rear grab rail.

They wanted to capitalize on the RX100 mania, but offering good fuel economy in the mix. The performance was lack lustre, and like said before, with low fuel prices, the average dint really matter.

It was slightly ahead for its time in terms of styling, and the masses were not ready for it. In comparision, the conventional looking CD100, with the same chassis and engine, did well.

It came in 1989. and fuel was around 17 rs a litre IIRC in 1991.

Heres a link for confirmation -

Frankly, if you look at HH launches than one can see SLEEK was a experimental model launched, thought it was a good bike but those times were like ruled by the Mighty RD350, Suzuki AX 100, Suzuki shogun, KB100 and Rx 100, those days people didn't bothered about the mileage.

Frankly the strategy that HH played was, In 1985 launched First motorcycle "CD 100" which was catching good market with regards to the mileage and all but the company wanted to come out something in performance segment which was ruled in neck to neck competition by shogun and Rx 100. so the sleek in 1989 was born, which had better looks and was a fresh face but in performance segment it was hitted badly, bad handling, comfort, reliability, control was not upto the level at which its competitors were. The company took a big setback as sleek dint appeal the masses as those were the era of performance bikes not mileage ones.The sleek market picked slowly and gradually but it was too late as by that time in the year 1991 the CD100 SS was launched. but by that time the sleek had captured a decent followers and that effected the CD100 SS sales so the company stopped production in India but continued selling in Argentina and some other countries which was then replaced by the splendor launch in 1995 which was a major attraction during world cup.

And as we all know in 1995 the year was called the death of RX 100 followed by the shogun, thats where the HH splendor started dominating with Yamaha and other two wheeler giants failing miserably.