Hey hey hey everyone! I saw this really extensive thread a while ago (before I got the Xpulse) and some of y'all inputs were suuuper helpful with making a decision. So, I decided to say hi to all of you!
You can call me Jayman, I am 26 years old and have been riding motorcycles since '17. In the duration of 4 years, I've raced 3 off road rallies (SJOBA 2019, SJOBA 2020, Rally of Chamba 2021) and a few local events comprising of motocross, enduro and flat tracks. My friend, Neel also mentioned me on this thread a while back and there's many of you here that I know or know of, so hello to all of you.
This post is an extensive-ish review of the how I got to the Xpulse, so feel free to ask me anything - I am basically a monkey with tools and anything that's not related to riding, but I'll try my best to answer.
I started riding on the Bullet 350 CI (left side brakes) for a few months then moved onto a new Himalayan that I got after graduating from college, I got the REH because my father got one and I rode it and absolutely fell in love with it, he also got the REH because the off road bug bit him, and watching him, I got bit too.
(Picture from a trip to Spiti)
As we started riding every weekend, we found ourselves leaving the road more often - we wanted to go off road, sweat it out and do something fun. So we started pushing the Himalayans (in 2017, we used to have a huge group of REH riders - and like any other, it slowly dissolved). As I got faster on the REH, I realized it was never the right bike for my weight - with me weighing only 60kgs (and 5 feet 5 inches tall) then, I couldn't deploy the basics of weight shifting on this hunkering 411cc moto. But that doesn't mean I didn't send it, I had good jumps on the bike, and I got two podiums on this bike as well - in local events.
But like I said, as I got faster, the bike got harder to control - the riding started to exceed the bike's desired function. After removing 15kgs of stuff from the bike, and still having the same feedback from the moto, I decided to move onto my dad's old Impulse, called Rage. Moving onto the Impulse made me realize just how many bad things I picked up trying to make the REH go faster; early braking (to account for the front heaviness and laggy brakes), pushing the moto in one gear/not shifting in time (because of my personal fear of too much power) and the weight distribution.
(Picture from the SJOBA Rally 2020)
The Impulse, even though not a perfect bike, had one thing right, which was it's build. The Japanese inspired build, saw the weight of the engine being in line with the rider - maintaining a good center of gravity. The Impulse too had it's problems, the biggest one being the amount of tinkering it asked for - jeez, it was like every evening of the day you ride, you get to it and start sorting the moto. And I just couldn't give it that time. I raced one rally, got 5th position in my category, rode it for maybe 9-10 more months and decided to buy something that's new, all mine and with good suspensions - both the Himalayan and Impulse had suspensions I didn't enjoy; the stock on Himalayan were too strong for my weight, the Zedlings on the Impulse were earlier tune for dad then before the Rally I got my own rear mono, the front was still soft.
So I started thinking about the Xpulse while also looking for people to sell my Himalayan too. The Xpulses I tried didn't impress me (I think they were all BS6s). The ergos felt wonky, the gearing felt odd - at this point I was not impressed but I still wanted to try a carbureted Xpulse (BS4) and I got a call from a friend who owns a Hero dealership, letting me know that there's a demo bike, with 150 odd kilometers on the odo, that he'll sell to me for 95k with insurance and all.
And, man did I feel a connection with this one. It just felt different, I don't know what it was but this one felt like no other Xpulse I've ridden before. I was still not happy with the ergos, but everything else was just a charm. So I kept the bike for 3-4 days, and meanwhile sold my Himalayan. With the money I got for the REH, I bought the Xpulse and I've not looked back since. The bike was developed as a rally variant first, which was then adapted into a road model, which is why the road variant out of the showroom feels kinda stunted. So I swapped the seat with a flat seat, slapped an off road handlebar, removed the ginormous tail and swapped it with something cleaner - and I got myself a beautiful dual sport that is incredibly fun to ride off road and in cities as well.
(Pictures from the Rally of Chamba)
Before you ask, here are some questions which I am pretty sure are answered here a million times, but still - my 2 cents:
Is the highway riding underwhelming?
Yes, highway riding is meh.
With your use, do you need a rally kit set up?
No, I didn't feel the need to get the rally suspension with my weight (now 58).
Does the bike feel underpowered?
A bigger sprocket helps, I haven't found a need for it yet though. To me, the bike has ample power in it's power band.