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1 year of riding my Hero XPulse in city & highway; Ownership Review

4th December 2024, 15:32 by Rahul Nagaraj

There is nothing that one needs to add to this machine. It is perfect just the way it comes off the showroom floor.

BHPian 2StrokeJunkie recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

You are right, I will have to get aluminum rims to make it tubeless, I wonder if retro fitting the RE's tubeless spoked rims would work. Will wait for someone else to try it out

On the graphics bit, I'm fine with the way it is. I preferred the graphics on the standard xpulse - blue was my favorite, but the graphics on the Pro is similar to the graphics of Hero's race machines making it feel like it has race-derived lineage

I have not carried out a single mod on the motorcycle so far and for the moment, I don't plan on any either. The only addition to it is a mobile phone holder. It's been over a year of ownership, my WFH days of chillin' are over, and getting the Xpulse couldn't have been a better decision for me.

My route to work is through some pretty bad roads with too many speedbreakers, troughs and potholes to count + some patches of gravel and sludge thrown in for good measure. I thank this forum, TeamBHP members' suggestions and my decision to pick up the Xpulse from Hero, every day I ride to work.

In fact, Hero's reputation has improved a lot in my eyes. The Xpulse chassis seems to be very capable, making commuting when I am racing against the clock to make it for a meeting a great experience. The motorcycle does exactly what I want it to do and I seem to be learning new techniques of riding and moving my weight around while saddling.

I've completed 5-6 free services in the last year and they have been done without any hiccups.

To say service and maintenance over the last year has been dirt cheap would be an understatement. My last service cost me all of Rs.238/- !!!

In terms of plans for mods, honestly, for my use case of commuting, there is nothing that one needs to add to this machine. It is perfect just the way it comes off the showroom floor.

I did do a ride recently about a month back to Kailasagiri - posted a video of it on my YouTube channel. I also used the ride to break-in my new ADV boots and my body was in a lot of pain after the ride.

My feet were killing me, the stock seat killed my butt, the speed on the highway was just too slow and I needed the entire weekend to recover from the pain. Once the tarmac ends the Xpulse came alive, as expected. I will think twice now before gearing up and heading out on a long ride on the Xpulse

I would much rather use the Interceptor for long rides. However, it is on the nasty roads during my commute where the Xpulse really does its thing for me and I have ZERO complaints about it (touch wood).

Sharing some pics from my ride on the Xpulse. I found a few nice spots and trails at Kailasagiri, which I might explore when I feel brave enough to ride there again This is where the need for the Himalayan 450 comes in - to do the long highway rides that get you to your trail riding destination.

https://youtu.be/-U0gEHhE8QQ?si=QgPHOLKy5Xsgh_MZ

https://youtu.be/p50bY5BSdLQ?si=Q7x9wlTlR7JdDXT5