RE Himalayan owner buys a Hero XPulse 200 4V: Shares first impressions

Although the engine sounds so puny, compared to other small motorcycles I ride, its very confidence inspiring when off the pavement.

BHPian Ketan recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I've recently got the XPulse 200 4V. Decided not to wait for the bigger XPulse but enjoy the current edition that is VFM and decently refined in recent times.

I've thought of using this motorcycle for riding backcountry roads, The Great Indian Trails routes, some dirt roads and trails close to my place in the outskirts of Bangalore, my frequent visits to farmland through country roads.

I wasn't so sure about the touring part. However, after riding this for a week, its more or less clear that its not for touring. It may work out for a very lightly loaded, solo rides to some interiors though.

I own Machismo 500 (2008) and an RE Himalayan BS4 (2018). I decided to do something different with the motorcycles rather than just sitting on the saddle and twisting the accelerator, this time. I thought this would be a fun motorcycle to take off the pavement and learn some new skills. Starting with the skills around riding tall motorcycles, and its fun!

I read the thread about 'Xpulse 200 4v rally edition, not a fun bike' and some part of it felt like a challenge. I decided to take a test ride, the graphics of the Pro edition is such a beauty! I ended up riding one home that day.

The dealership experience was okay, I was not expecting great things so did not disappoint me except that they broke their screw driver head and leaving debris in the screw groves while trying to open the screws on windshield (they wanted to get a tag off of that place which sales guy dropped in there). I asked them to leave it and not fight it out to break something in the process. They promised me to replace the two broken screws at the time when I visit to get the registration plate.

I rode around a 300+ kms in the outskirts during last 3-4 days. Although the engine sounds so puny, compared to other small motorcycles I ride, its very confidence inspiring when off the pavement. I feel it's a good motorcycle even for regular commuting in the city like Bangalore with bad road conditions in certain areas. One may have to get used to the seat height and learn needed skills on how to handle it in the stop and go traffic, mounting, dismounting and few more. However, those are something that can be learned and it'd be fun learning those new skills.

Front suspensions were not adjusted to Std settings per the manual, compression was 15 and rebound was 19 or so. I've set them to 14 clicks today and going to try for a few days before I start making any further changes and understand how they work in various conditions. Rear suspension feels a bit stiffer, going to take a look at it later, not tried to adjust it yet. Do you folks do that adjustment on your own or rely on service center to help you with that!?

The Store manager /dealership was telling me that for the new lot of the motorcycle the service interval has now been set to 6K kms and not the 3K kms as it was earlier. I asked service advisor in the service center of the same dealership and he told me that the service interval is still 3K kms. I see the manual too suggests its 3K kms. If any of you have any updates on this, please share. I believe the oil change is every 4th service (except the first one), that means every 12k kms!?

I found the brakes to be decently okay, I feel the front brakes have good bite though it does it with some weird feeling, guess I need to give it some time to break-in before making these comments.

Engine response is pretty nice, 1st and 2nd gears are short, 3rd sounds very good for some decent speeds on dirt track. top end is not that great, it runs out of horses at lower speeds than I expected. I'm running it really hard, in dragging it all the way to high RPMs in all the gears. I'd take a look at the response later post 1K kms. However, not expecting things to change much and that's fine since I did not have any expectations of doing high speed touring on this one.

]I'm 173-176cms. However, decent inseam height and dont find much issues handling it(tip-toe on both the sides). Many folks keep talking about its height and people under certain height should not consider it etc.. I think that's a wrong mindset, not the height but inseam is what would make the difference. Also, quickly jumping over either sides would let you handle it just fine, with the low/manageable weight of the motorcycle, it wont be a difficult thing.

I was thinking of getting footpegs from KTM 390 Adv, but then I see Motourenn rally footpegs and thinking of getting that to replace the stock one. If anyone is using, please share your experience. If there are other options, please feel free to share. I'd love to get something on the tank so that I can grip the tank better.

Do you guys feel the footpegs are slightly towards the front wheel than right under the bums? I see Himalayan footpegs are slightly behind when compared to this one and seems to have better position when standing up, allows you to leave slightly more space between the core and handlebar, giving more flexibility and room to do things.

I'm planning to see if I can get better brake and clutch levers, if I can get adjustable ones, better!? Please suggest if you guys have been using an option that is tried and tested on xpulse. I feel that would really help learning new skills on clutch and throttle control. Also, would love to replace the knuckle guards with the plain metal ones if I can find something in the market, along with better mirrors (and a waterproof seat cover). That's about it, rest of the things, I'm planning to keep stock and not in a mood to make much changes to already great looking motorcycle.

I assume many of the owners use this thread to share their experiences, I'd keep going over this as and when I get time. Thanks.

Edit: I'd like to add that its a looker! I see many folks checking it out, asking about it, wherever I park, I feel I'm checking it out more than others! I was riding besides a Maruti car, not sure if it was alto or zen, I could see only the passenger (I was riding at passenger side) and can't see anything of driver, felt like a horseback ride. I saw another rider with xpulse 200 4v Pro zooming pass other vehicles while I was waiting to get on the main road, all the other vehicles looked quite short, more than I imagined, surprisingly.

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