Hero XPulse 200 BS6: Living With The XPulse 200 Part 4 - Goodbye… For Now

Extremely versatile. That’s how I would describe the Hero XPulse 200. In the past twelve months (a few more weeks), the adventure motorcycle became my daily runner and having put it through every possible scenario, I can’t help but feel sad that it had to go back. It literally became the perfect bike for a variety of riding scenarios with a handful of flaws. So, here’s my final report with the XPulse 200, until the next one arrives.

Total distance covered: 5,391km
Distance covered since last report: 900km
Time since last report: 4-months (1.5 considering the second wave)
Repairs & Maintenance costs since last report: Rs 1,100
Fuel efficiency returned: 34kmpl

The Daily Hustle, Reignited
After I filed my last report, the second wave of COVID-19 struck the country. Going on rides became out of the question. The longest duration I rode in those months was a mere couple of minutes to get groceries. And as the pandemic situation improved, the usual testing and reviewing process kicked into top gear, thus, limiting my time with the XPulse once again. However, after jumping from the test vehicle to the XPulse, it always felt comforting and welcoming.

• Living With The XPulse 200 Part 3 - Dealing With Altitude Sickness
• Living With The XPulse 200 Part 2 - The Rally Kit Basics
• Living With The XPulse 200 Part 1 - A New Adventure

Having fitted the adjustable-suspension, getting to grips with it for tarmac-based activities took hardly any time. Lockdown rustiness was solved on the first couple of commutes to our testing spot and I even managed to utilise the bike to ferry some of my luggage during my moving-out period. What did take a bit of a beating was the longer side-stand.

The Rally Kit side stand is quite flimsy. Getting on the bike adventure style (when the bike is parked and you hop onto the peg to swing your leg over) was quickly ruled out as the stand buckled. You could say that I weigh quite a bit but I have found multiple XPulse owners, who are way lighter than me, facing the same issue. In the final few weeks, the stand was fortified by welding a few triangular gussets, which seemed to have done the job.

Welcome To The Jungle
While I had extensively ridden the XPulse on road, I hadn’t done much off-roading on it. You would call me out for being lethargic, and rightly so. But the thing is you cannot go off-roading alone. Unlike touring or sport riding, off-roading is best enjoyed when you have a buddy with you. My plans never seemed to have synced up until one fine Sunday morning when Arjun (our chief DoP) cursed me if I didn’t ride with him and another friend on the day. Having dodged him for a long time, I joined them. Now the two of them, Arjun and Suraj Giri (one crazy off-roding nutter), were astride their Impulses, which had been heavily modified and were running knobbies.

Suraj, being the avid trails explorer, said that since I was joining them on the XPulse, which was running the stock Ceat tyres, we would go for a slightly enduro-ish trail. Following these two, or at least Arjun, on the XPulse up the gnarly trail was a piece of cake for the XPulse. Stick to the right gear, lightly modulate the clutch and go easy with the throttle was the mantra. Given the extra abilities, the XPulse managed to remain settled over the largest of rocks.

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What let it down was the rider. I had a couple of spills, one of which was quite spectacular, tumbling me down a cliff for a while (check out my Instagram for the reel). But through the process, neither did my spirit, or my bones, break nor did any parts on the XPulse. And as I recall on our first ever off-road shoot with the BS6 bike, where we pitted it against the Mahindra Thar with noob off-roaders piloting the vehicles, the only real damage that took place was the front brake lever getting a bit deformed. The cost to repair it? Rs 93 only.

Adios
Hero was eager to have the bike back. There was some internal company policy that required the bike to be returned, bringing my time with the XPulse to a close. For now. Hero has promised us a new long-term XPulse and with the Rally Kit components still with me, I am eager to really make more use of the kit. And I have some modifications in mind, which should allow me to run a road and knobby tyre setup quite effectively. But until the new bike arrives, this is goodbye, my dear friend. Thank you for an awesome time.