Hero Xpulse 200 BS6 Long Term Report: Touring

Luggage carrying capabilities

The Xpulse 200 got two additions for this trip – top rack plate and USB charging. The top rack took care of the Rynox Magnapod which had some expensive cargo like laptop and cameras. The USB charging was a must because I had plans to swarm my social media with photos of the bike along with the road updates of the under-construction old Mumbai-Goa highway. And as you can see from these pictures, I had two additional luggage – a compact Rynox Navigator tank bag and a large tail bag. I also managed to squeeze in a yoga mat.

I have to admit that I was a bit surprised that the Xpulse 200 could take so much luggage at one go. While the narrower and flatter rally seat didn’t provide enough contact patch for the tail bag, it did manage to keep it stable.

The ride

The old Mumbai-Goa highway is notorious for its bad roads and lots of turns. So it was the perfect playground for the rally Xpulse. The ride started with clean curvy roads but the sun was yet to rise. So the LED headlight was doing the job of keeping me safe on the road. While the intensity of the light was pretty good, the spread was just fine, especially for a four lane highway. It works well on a two-lane road as the roads aren’t wider and the light spread reaches easily.

Things started getting a bit adventurous as I started to approach Khed. There were plenty of diversions and the roads started to get from bad to worse. Due to ongoing road construction activities, the Xpulse had to be ridden on dirt and no roads for plenty of time. And to be honest, I was extremely impressed with the way the bike tackled these conditions. Firstly, the huge ground clearance made it easy for me to jump from concretised road to bad ones. This had to be done in order to avoid getting stuck behind slow moving vehicles. So even with a heavy rider like me and plenty of luggage, the bash plate didn’t have to overwork that day.

The suspension kit comes with full adjustability – for compression and rebound. I reached a setting that was comfortable for road as well as off-road use. So I did behave a bit reckless when the roads were terrible. I didn’t slow down and glad I didn’t because to be honest, there’s no need to do that. This rally suspension is meant to perform in extreme conditions and it did so perfectly. There must have been countless times I just stood up on the pegs and kept that throttle constant. The motorcycle just went over the bad patches. The bike was stable and there was no drama as such during such encounters.

Now let us come to the road touring manners. Well, with all the weight of the luggage, the Xpulse can do a comfortable 80kmph all day long, without stressing the engine or the rider. While the 80kmph touring speed isn’t much, it works well for highways like the old Mumbai-Goa one as it is home to lots of curvy roads. So the average speed is considerably less. But yes, for roads like the Golden Quadrilateral, the Xpulse 200 is definitely going to feel under powered.

Fuel efficiency

The Xpulse 200 with all the luggage returned a fuel-efficiency of around 30kmpl throughout the 1500km journey. I didn’t go extremely aggressive on the throttle and was seen doing 80kmph most of the time.

Bike Stats

Km this month: 700kms

Fuel efficiency: 30kmpl