Hero XPulse 200 BS6: Living With The XPulse 200 - Part 2

Getting the entire kit obviously has its advantages. You can keep on upgrading the bits as your skill set improves. For the less serious and weekend thrill seekers, you can get away with spending on just two parts, which in total will cost you Rs 3,000. Which ones? Read on.

World Of A Difference

The handlebar risers and the flat bench seat instantly convert the riding experience of the XPulse from a road-going bike with off-road intentions to something far more adept at it. The stance is a lot more favourable for off-road riding for three very distinct reasons. Firstly, with the higher set bars, you aren’t slouching and putting any unnecessary weight over the front. I found the controls to be closer to my torso now and hence, I am not overextending myself while taking U-turns.

Secondly, the rally seat raises the saddle height by a good 20-something millimetres (could be more), when seated. So my legs do not feel as cramped as they did with the stock, slightly scooped-out seat. Average built riders needn’t worry about their feet reaching the floor with the taller seat either. I never felt myself tip-toeing or struggling to find my footing in tricky spots. For shorter riders who might find the seat height a bit intimidating, you would benefit from learning the off-road way to manage the bike at standstill, one foot on the ground and the other on the peg.

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Lastly and most importantly, the shape of the rally seat allows you to grip the bike better. Earlier, you would end up gripping either the tank or the side panels, both of which were slightly awkward and uncomfortable. You can now firmly grip the seat, giving you better control over the motorcycle when taking it over treacherous terrain.

DiY Conversion

Changing the seat was child’s play, so there’s nothing much to speak about here. To affix the risers, it is a 15-minute job but might require two people. The process is relatively simple. Remove the allen head bolt covers using a flat screwdriver. Then, with the help of a 6mm allen key, remove all four bolts in an orderly fashion. Make sure you are sitting on the saddle when removing the bolts with your friend holding the bars in place.

Next, you need to place those risers in the correct position below the bar and then clamp the handlebar in place lightly with the longer bolts provided with the risers. Have your friend help you out in getting the right position for the bars, rotating it towards or away from you if need be. Once you do find the sweet spot, tighten the bolts in a diagonal order, to properly clamp the bars in place. You want to avoid having an uneven gap between the risers and the clamp, which could be harmful on the bolts in the long run.

Commanding View

If you are going to spend the majority of your time on tarmac (Just like you did, Jehan - ed), these two bits improve your commutes by a great extent. You aren’t taxing your upper body as much, lesser steering effort is required while zipping through traffic and with the rally seat, it is a more natural city bike riding posture.

With the old seat, I found myself sinking right to the seat pan during highway stints. This meant that I wasn’t completely isolated when riding over sharp bumps and imperfections. The extra foam on the rally seat makes highway riding a plush affair. It has the right level of firmness to soak up bumps without fatiguing the rider in any manner whatsoever.

Next On The Agenda?

Knobbies! The decision between going for the tyres rather than suspension is simple: I need to get my butt off-road. Whatever I have heard, and little that I have experienced on friends’ Impulses, tells me the knobby tyres really kick things up a notch, giving you more traction and confidence in the dirt, but make road riding a noisy affair. By switching to the Maxxis knobbies, I would certainly limit my commuting to a bare minimum and hit those trails more often. More on this in the next report in 2021.