[Urban_Nomad]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

Now something I'd like to point out is that when using a motorcycle at its limits its best to revise your drain intervals to more practical ones, cause even in then case of my 100 if I ride it the way I do and then change oil at the factory recommended 5k km's then I'm pretty sure it wouldn't last out of warranty mileage. Again this is personal preference, hence just saying.

All said, do hope to see you clock more miles on the motorcycle and as the Doc pointed out a bottom end rebuild is not like a top end rebuild, the number of things that can go wrong increases exponentially considering the quality of workmanship available in India.

Ride Safe,
A.P.

Agree with you 100 percent here. My oil change interval is around once every month. That's about 8 rides, in which she's at or near redline nearly 70 to 80 percent of the time. The approach road to the trails is mostly expressway and that rear sprocket upsize to 40 from 38 doesnt help matters. In terms of kms interval it's at best 1K kms per oil change

Even the clutch had to be replaced recently. Within 24 hours of clutch replacement, the plates burned up again. The same was replaced FOC again

Parts quality on the X is rather sub par. Rims turn egg shaped rather easily and are almost impossible to balance, rusted exhaust pipes, rusted rims, handlebars that go snake shaped with minor falls in SAND, have seen multiple top end replacements, ETC. We're all aware of the ABS issues. Even common replacement parts like filters arent exactly readily available

For the money I paid and the amount of fun this bike is, I'm not really complaining. She surprisingly can take a lot of abuse. Things like frame, swingarm, suspension are very robust and showed no sign of damage even after the bike did a literal somersault on the asphalt at 60 plus kph

I'd happily paid even Upto 2 lakh for a bike with better qc, 250 cc / 25 bhp. This would literally be the perfect bike for india. Alas, hero with its babu attitude never had the balls to go all the way and leaves a whole lot of us wanting for more. Stock bike is seeing so many issues, I'm afraid to go for any performance mods. That.. and the 5 year warranty that will be nullified if I did that. For now, that warranty and hero's attitude towards honoring warranty claims is the biggest peace of mind I have wrt this bike's ownership

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

For now, that warranty and hero's attitude towards honoring warranty claims is the biggest peace of mind I have wrt this bike's ownership

Those parts Hero replaces in Warranty claims are dirt cheap mass production parts, and a much better and cheaper alternative for them that would not even put a dent in their legal or QC or PR cost centers, forget the giant production line one.

So Hero is happy. And the customers are not angry for the first 5 years.

After that these bikes will be sold for 10k or gifted to the mechanics or gardeners to see if they can keep them running.

Cheers, Doc

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

Even the clutch had to be replaced recently. Within 24 hours of clutch replacement, the plates burned up again. The same was replaced FOC again

Parts quality on the X is rather sub par. Rims turn egg shaped rather easily and are almost impossible to balance, rusted exhaust pipes, rusted rims, handlebars that go snake shaped with minor falls in SAND, have seen multiple top end replacements, ETC. We're all aware of the ABS issues. Even common replacement parts like filters arent exactly readily available

Urban_Nomad, this is pretty sad to read but it does mirror some of the poor long term ownership feedback on the Xpulse that I had heard from fellow riders and posted here on the forum. Doc is absolutely right when he says that the resale value of these bikes will be rock bottom from the day the warranty expires of the first batch of bikes.

Hero was onto a promising formula with the Xpulse. I just wish they priced it 10-15% higher from day 1 but had invested in better parts and gave us a more reliable product. This sort of poor engineering does not bode well for its upcoming bigger sibling. Everyone goes gaga about Hero's R&D centers with thousands of crores in investments as well as hiring decisions at top executive levels that are supposed to change the game. But the reality on the ground is appalling.

The Xpulse will soon live in it's own shadow, a story that the first gen Himalayan is all too familiar with.

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

So the only obvious reason here is below par QC, which I also have personal reasons to believe as once I'd purchased a Lumax HL unit from Hero and the thing miserably failed and had to be replaced whereas a unit from Bajaj made by the same supplier i.e Lumax is still working fine on my motorcycle.

The Xpulses problems dont seem to stem from quality control. Instead as Urban_Nomad mentioned, it seems to have been engineered and built with substandard parts.

Any components manufacturer can make products built to a price that the motorcycle manufacturer is targeting. If the motorcycle manufacturer wants the components manufacturer to provide the cheapest possible rims, owners will end up with ones that turn egg shaped and are impossible to balance.

The same holds true for your example as well.

[ast.ggn]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

So the only obvious reason here is below par QC

It isn't poor QC Ashwin if bike gives up every time you make it do tasks which are so proudly advertised by Hero. They should have promoted it as regular commuter at best, what's the point in making CS Santosh do all the tricks and lure us folks.

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

For the money I paid and the amount of fun this bike is, I'm not really complaining. She surprisingly can take a lot of abuse. Things like frame, swingarm, suspension are very robust and showed no sign of damage even after the bike did a literal somersault on the asphalt at 60 plus kph

I'd happily paid even Upto 2 lakh for a bike with better qc, 250 cc / 25 bhp.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

The Xpulses problems dont seem to stem from quality control. Instead as Urban_Nomad mentioned, it seems to have been engineered and built with substandard parts.

^ and ^^ +1.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

The Xpulses problems dont seem to stem from quality control. Instead as Urban_Nomad mentioned, it seems to have been engineered and built with substandard parts.

Any components manufacturer can make products built to a price that the motorcycle manufacturer is targeting. If the motorcycle manufacturer wants the components manufacturer to provide the cheapest possible rims, owners will end up with ones that turn egg shaped and are impossible to balance.

The same holds true for your example as well.

Agree 500%.

Any cyclist will tell you of the difference between a cycle made by Hero and one made by TI Cycles.

Both brand new. And how both age.

It's a company mindset and DNA thing. That will permeate through everything they do.

Cheers, Doc

[ast.ggn]

Time to update the thread after a long time. In last 6 months, bike has seen very less roads. I met an unfortunate accident at home in April and was immobilized for quite sometime due to elbow dislocation. Any more trail rides are out of question as I cannot risk injuring myself again.

Front tyre of the bike has worn out unevenly at random places and hence I decided to replace it with regular road tyres - Apollo Actigrip. Total cost - Rs. 2600. Comes with unlimited kms 3 year warranty.

Outgoing Ralco:




Stock size from Apollo - 90/90-21


The Odo/ MID display has developed brown colour on it's own in last 6 months, Hero says it is covered under warranty. Still thinking about getting it replaced or not unless it gets too bad.


Odo stands at 24000 kms.

[ast.ggn]

Time to say Hello to Hero service again. Looks like a leaking head gasket to me.