Hero Xpulse 200 Vs Impulse – What changed?

Hero MotorCorp has been setting the benchmark by bringing affordable adventure machines. The Hero Impulse and its successor the Hero Xpulse 200 are very well appreciated by the adventure motorcycle enthusiasts. So what has Hero changes over the bike? How has it improved it from the feedback from customers? And what has made the Hero Xpulse a far capable bike than the Impulse?

Drastic Engine Change

Lets first see what engines these bikes are or were equipped. The Hero Impulse was equipped with the 149 cc single-cylinder, carbureted, air-cooled engine. It produced about 13 bhp at 7,500 rpm and 13.4 Nm of peak torque at 5,000 rpm. So we can say that the engine was torquey indeed compared to the 150cc bikes present at the time. The same engine was shared with the previous Hero CBZ with a different state of tune. Nevertheless, the engine was mated with a 5-speed gearbox.

Coming towards the latest Xpulse 200, it features a bigger engine than Impulse. The bike comes equipped with a 199.6 cc single-cylinder, fuel-injected, oil-cooled engine which comes mated with a 5-speed gearbox. It produces about 17.8 bhp max power at 8,500 rpm and 16.45 Nm of peak torque at 6,500 rpm. So with the Xpulse 200, it had gone a serious improvement in terms of power.

Solid Chassis

Both the bikes do possess the hardware bits that are well suited for rough or off-road use. The Hero Impulse was equipped with telescopic suspension at the front with 180 mm travel and a Showa linked nitrox mono-shock at the rear. The braking duty was done with the help of the 240 mm disc at the front and 110 mm drum at the rear. The bike sits on 19-inch spoke wheel at the front and 17-inch spoke wheel at the rear. The tyres on the bike were from Ceat, 90-section and 110-section for front and the rear respectively, of course, they were tubed.

On the other hand, the Hero Xpulse 200 comes with 37 mm telescopic suspension at the front with 190 mm travel and a 10-step adjustable mono-shock at the rear.

With the improved suspension travel, the bike also features improved braking. It now comes with 276 mm petal disc at the front and 220 mm petal disc at the rear. The wheel size is also increased, the front is now a 21-inch spoke wheel and rear is an 18-inch spoke wheel. The tyres are from the same manufacturer, the Ceat, however, these tyres are now 90 and 120 section for front and rear respectively with improved rubber quality.

Also read: BS6 Hero XPulse 200 pre-bookings now open

Modern Features

With the improved engine and the hardware, the Hero Xpulse gets lots of new upmarket features. It features the fully-digital instrument cluster with smartphone connectivity as opposed to the basic semi-digital cluster of the Impulse.

The Xpulse 200 gets LED headlamps which were missing on the Impulse.

Nonetheless, we have to say that Hero Xpulse 200 is significantly better than the Hero Impulse. But still, Hero Impulse will be the one who started it all and might have a significant value in the history of adventure motorcycles of India. Even the five years old Hero Impulse has a resale value of more than 60% which is we believe a tremendous success for any motorcycle.

Price

The last noted price of the Hero Impulse was at Rs 72,651 (ex-showroom). While the Hero Xpulse 200 BS6 costs approx 1.12 lakhs (ex-showroom) (BS6 price is yet to be revealed). The competition includes Royal Enfield Himalayan, KTM 390 Adventure and BMW G310GS.