[drt_rdr]

Originally Posted by madhavgpai

this Christmas, I hope that Yamaha comes up with their own dual sport for India. Santa, make it happen please. :P

I've been hoping for the wr250r being brought to india since 2011. I'd settle for a xt250 too. But I doubt either of those are gonna happen for us.

On the other hand, I get the feeling we might see something from TVS soon.

And there's the rumours of Hero also working on a bigger capacity xpulse, hopefully for a 2020 release.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by madhavgpai

After 4 attempts of contacting the Hero customer care, I still don’t see any eagerness from the so called “authorised dealer” near me to provide me with a test ride for the FI variant. Now, I have been choosing the same dealer when given a choice again and again. I feel that they don’t want to get an FI test ride vehicle because BS6 is around the corner. But they won’t admit it. Nor will the customer care. I’m giving up on the Xpulse also because I have been seeing a number of quality issues from owners online.

On this Christmas, I hope that Yamaha comes up with their own dual sport for India. Santa, make it happen please. :P

Which is the dealership in question? I too would suggest you wait till Hero sorts out the quality issues and finetunes the ABS as well. If it means that the bike is a BS6 one, so be it. The current ABS system is scary as per the feedback from several owners. Some have just disconnected it and now ride with full peace of mind.

[zaks]

I have an Xpulse, I bought it 3months back after taking 3 test rides, unlike the comments here the showroom person was more than happy to give test ride anytime I asked.

Now, coming to the bike- it is total VFM bike if you want something with off-roading credentials. No where you will get a bike for 1lakh odd with this setup. Yes, the power is low, its more like 150cc bike so not good for long rides on tarmac. But in dirt/off road, it shines and the power is adequate. It also quite good in city, what will all pot holes and speed breakers, it is a breeze to ride and having less weight easy to control.


I have not faced any serious quality issues apart from minor rusting on spokes and the headlights suck.

[Romins]

Originally Posted by madhavgpai

After 4 attempts of contacting the Hero customer care, I still don’t see any eagerness from the so called “authorised dealer” near me to provide me with a test ride for the FI variant.
On this Christmas, I hope that Yamaha comes up with their own dual sport for India. Santa, make it happen please. :P

That's really bad! Which dealer is this? There is a new showroom near ECity, in case it is not far for you.

I am a member of that prayer group. Fingers crossed! I hope it gets the engine from FZ25.

[ac 427]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

A precursor to the following post, I hope the mature audience wouldn't take offence to the following as I'm just trying to share some facts with a potential motorcyclist that I wish someone had told me when I started riding.

Presuming that you're still in your teens, I'd suggest you not let the uncles imprint their opinions on you.

More Power, More Torque, Fuel Injection, Idle Assist, Palm/Ass Warmers etc etc... are to keep the older motorcyclists still interested in motorcycling and at the same time for manufactures to squeeze some pennies out of their supposedly fat wallets.

Can't say stuff that is going to offend, and then mention - I told you pls dont get offended.

Anways - you comments are personal and hence subjective, I can only say that what you have done is 'generalized' and generalization means putting a group under one large bucket.

I did a Mumbai - Ladakh - Mumbai road trip on my C5 when I was 30. - Longest riding day was Udaipur - Mumbai approx - 800 km. Well am no 'youngster', didn't have any slipper clutch assist, or seat warmers.

Also, when we were planning our Mumbai - London trip, we had a gentleman amongst us, he was 54 at that time, but he told us of a story of 20 years ago, where he on his Bajaj cb100, used to do Mumbai - Baroda - Mumbai every weekend. Mind you 20 years ago, Mumbai - Baroda - Mumbai was a single lane highway.
So again, an 'uncle' who was munching away the miles.

Stop having such misconceptions, that riding aids are for uncles to be in the riding circuit.

Riding aids are for better/safer/fun and at time to make riding more comfortable and they aren't aimed at only the 'uncles'.

cheers,
ac

[ashwinprakas]

Originally Posted by ac 427

Can't say stuff that is going to offend, and then mention - I told you pls dont get offended.

See my friend this being an Indian forum I'm not supposed to say stuff or use words that'd make a category of people feel offended, but then facts are facts and facts don't care about anyone's feelings, hence my previous post was the cleanest I could go without offending anyone.

As for long rides, I myself am close to 30 and am currently on a 1300+ ride from one end of Kerala to the other and back, that's 650+ km's a day on Kerala Roads on my 100cc motorcycle, you ask me what motorcycle is the best motorcycle I could be doing this ride on and I'll still say it's the same motorcycle, as this is something fuelled by passion, and the "Type" of motorcycle is insignificant in this equation.

I know and have ridden along with quite a few senior enthusiasts who whack miles like it's nothing but at the same time I also accep that there are several folks who reach some kind of crisis and try to set a bar for riding to force themselves into the pack and mostly cover their insecurities, some of the usuals being,

"you need this to ride"

"you need that to ride"

"if you're not riding this then you can't call yourself a biker"

I was merely trying to warn a potential motorcyclists from falling for any of those, as i myself have fallen for one too many in my earlier days.

Cheers,
A.P.

[ac 427]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

See my friend this being an Indian forum I'm not supposed to say stuff or use words that'd make a category of people feel offended, but then facts are facts and facts don't care about anyone's feelings, hence my previous post was the cleanest I could go without offending anyone.

As for long rides, I myself am close to 30 and am currently on a 1300+ ride from one end of Kerala to the other and back, that's 650+ km's a day on Kerala Roads on my 100cc motorcycle, you ask me what motorcycle is the best motorcycle I could be doing this ride on and I'll still say it's the same motorcycle, as this is something fuelled by passion, and the "Type" of motorcycle is insignificant in this equation.

Cheers,
A.P.

Thank god, you are not creating the segments for bikes or else the bike segments would read.
For less than 18 years old
Between 18-24,
24-30
30 and above

Anyways, which are you fav roads to ride in on?

The xpulse 200 sounds like a really fun bike, if you put on a sporty exhaust note, maybe slightly reduce the front springers and you will have a fun little bike.

cheers,
ac

[drt_rdr]

Originally Posted by ac 427

Thank god, you are not creating the segments for bikes or else the bike segments would read.
For less than 18 years old
Between 18-24,
24-30
30 and above

Yikes, the man seems to be saying no such thing. The point he's making comes across more like:

The rider's ability and capacity to use the bike are more important than what bike he's on. "What bike?" is a subjective thing, and he may get 100 answers from 100 people, or even a single answer, though none of them may necessarily turn out to be the best suited for the asker. The onus is on him to not be swayed by opinions, but make an informed choice after knowing certain facts and possibilities, at least on paper, if not by experience.

Correct me if I'm wrong though.

Personally, I don't think I can enjoy a regular old roadbike like a splendor (or a bullet or even a big sportsbike) to the same degree as my impulse after I've spent years knowing the possibilities on this kind of a dual sport type bike. Even though it has shortcomings compared to a basic roadbike, I would choose to live with the cons. But this is a individual thing and the next guy might feel very differently.

[Frankenstein]

Has anybody installed the rally kit provided by the company, any reviews?

Hope they come out with a powerful engine , may be a long stroke high compression 250cc .

[VR/46_Chet]

Got to know from a dealer in Nagpur that the XPulse is no more in production. Makes sense given the numbers and BSVI deadline? The dealer also said that Hero has no plans of producing it at least for the next 6 months but I'm not sure if that's going to be the case. Do we get to see the BSVI XPulse 200 now or is it going to be a bigger capacity one that almost everyone here seems to want? I won't mind either although I think they will just do a BSVI iteration first, whenever they do.



As for the rally kit, I was told that it was not being made available to anyone that this dealer knows of and that Hero has not shared any information about it.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by VR/46_Chet

Got to know from a dealer in Nagpur that the XPulse is no more in production. Makes sense given the numbers and BSVI deadline? The dealer also said that Hero has no plans of producing it at least for the next 6 months but I'm not sure if that's going to be the case. Do we get to see the BSVI XPulse 200 now or is it going to be a bigger capacity one that almost everyone here seems to want? I won't mind either although I think they will just do a BSVI iteration first, whenever they do. .

I wouldn’t buy too much into this. That engine powers an entire platform. No way that it won’t be bs6 ready. I understand that the bs4 is not in production. Why would it?

We have a bhpian here who also runs a hero dealership. He will be better placed to explain. A bigger capacity is highly doubtful however.

[petrolhead_neel]

Originally Posted by VR/46_Chet

Got to know from a dealer in Nagpur that the XPulse is no more in production. Makes sense given the numbers and BSVI deadline? The dealer also said that Hero has no plans of producing it at least for the next 6 months but I'm not sure if that's going to be the case. Do we get to see the BSVI XPulse 200 now or is it going to be a bigger capacity one that almost everyone here seems to want? I won't mind either although I think they will just do a BSVI iteration first, whenever they do.

That is really, really strange. The numbers are quite fine, actually! Hero is also marketing the XPulse very aggressively, with Xtracks events in almost all major cities.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

We have a bhpian here who also runs a hero dealership. He will be better placed to explain. A bigger capacity is highly doubtful however.

This would be great. I have finalised on getting the XPulse, and would really value some clarification on this. @Red Liner, can you please help out? I can wait if the BS6 model is significantly different or better, but given the already VFM price, they'll probably just update it to meet the norms, and that's fine. And if that's the case, the BS4 model makes more sense. Paying more for a lesser-performing bike (which is already being called underpowered ) is not a very smart idea.

I had asked Mr. Sanjay Tripathi, VP at Hero and very involved with the XPulse, about the BS4 vs BS6 bike over social media. He had asked me to go ahead with the BS4 model. I had also asked about the ABS issue, to which he said that it will be a software update if required, but there's no issue in the first place.

Neel

Edit: My local Hero dealership has no clue and is asking me to get the XPulse 200T instead. "But Saar, it's the same model and we have one in stock. Are you sure you want the off road variant?"

[VR/46_Chet]

Originally Posted by petrolhead_neel

That is really, really strange. The numbers are quite fine, actually! Hero is also marketing the XPulse very aggressively, with Xtracks events in almost all major cities.

Yes, the numbers are fine but as they cannot sell the BSIV variant after March, they must have produced a specific number of units before halting production. As for dealer allocations, it's sold out at a couple of dealers here in Nagpur and they aren't even accepting new bookings. I'm aware of the Xtracks events and hoping that they have one here as well.

I have finalised on getting the XPulse,

That's great! I'd say go ahead with the BSIV FI.

I had also asked about the ABS issue, to which he said that it will be a software update if required, but there's no issue in the first place.

Oh there is, as mentioned in this thread by a few members and the same issue exists in other X siblings as well.

[Red Liner]

@neel, there is a bhpian named navpreet, roll back a few pages. PM him and i hope he can help you with some information for you to make a decision about the xpulse. Good luck!

May i also suggest you look for a used xpulse?

[petrolhead_neel]

So this happened yesterday. Meet Paula, named after the legendary Paulo Goncalves, who rode a certain white Hero as well.



The last week has been full of phone-calls and emails. The XPulse 200 has been sold out all throughout the country, and production for the BS4 model has stopped indeed. We had decided to bring the bike down from Dehradun courtesy Mr. Navpreet Singh, who owns a Hero dealership there. Saturday, we got a call from someone at the local dealership stating that there's this one white FI in all of West Bengal, in Durgapur, about 50-60kms from our place. My father booked it right away, and went to Durgapur and rode the bike home yesterday.

She's not the colour that we originally wanted, but trust me, she looks stunning. I had never seen the white in person before, but now that I have, I wouldn't want it any other away. The pictures simply don't do any justice whatsoever.

Have waited for this for a long time, so happy that it all worked out at the end. Thank you Red Liner. Thank you Mr. Navpreet Singh (@navpreet318), sorry that I disturbed you so much! I will reply to the the other posts in future and explain why we got this bike. But what I can say to you right now, is that she seems to be all the bike that I had ever dreamt of.

I will pen down a story after I properly get to take her off road. No riding now (almost), with board exams till 16th March.

As Doc ebonho says, "A bike always searches out its rider."

Neel