Hero Xpulse 210 first ride review | Everything the Xpulse 200 wasn’t?

The Hero Impulse is credited with the birth of the Indian ADV in the modern, four-stroke era and my god, what a revolution it has been since. While it was a flawed bike, it gave us a taste of the sort of bike that India requires and pushed other companies to spawn adventure bikes of various shapes and sizes. Hero brought in the successor to the Impulse, the Xpulse 200 in 2019 and soon after rectified some of the power issues that model had with the four-valve Xpulse a little later. But with more powerful adventure motorcycles in the market, the Xpulse 200 started to feel a little dated and experienced riders felt the need for something with more oomph. This is exactly what Hero hopes to rectify with the all-new Xpulse 210. Is the new bike just one where the engine has been bumped up in displacement by 10cc or is there more than meets the eye? Let’s find out!

Hero Xpulse 210 design

The Hero Xpulse 210 is an all-new bike. It gets a new chassis, a new engine, updated ergonomics, and the whole shebang. But on the design front, Hero has decided to keep things in line with the 200 with a styling approach that makes it look like a proper successor to the existing bike. It has grown in size but it maintains the demeanour of a slim and slender bike and for the most part it is. It has the iconic round headlight but with different internals with new H-shaped DRLs and twin projector headlights. Around the headlight you’ll see a new bar which isn’t meant to be a crash guard but instead a bar with which you can pull the bike out, in case you have a fall in a place where picking up the bike immediately isn’t an option – a very handy feature. Then there's a new taller windscreen in the ‘Top’ variant, behind which is the new 4.2-inch colour TFT screen. The handlebar is wide and placed ideally to accommodate seated and standing riding alike. It can also be rotated up by turning the mounting brackets to make for a more aggressive attack riding stance. The bar also gets the new switch cubes to make full use of the new screen. While quality is good, the buttons could have more tactility to make using them with gloves a better experience. Looking below the handlebar, you have the fuel tank which holds up to 13-litres of fuel. From the rider’s POV, the bike feels wider and larger courtesy of the reprofiled fuel tank and the radiator shrouds that add to the visual mass. The tank has been made shorter by 50mm and pushed forward to allow the rider to come all the way to the front when the riding demands that.

Looking below the handlebar, you have the fuel tank which holds up to 13-litres of fuel. From the rider’s POV, the bike feels wider and larger courtesy of the reprofiled fuel tank and the radiator shrouds that add to the visual mass. The tank has been made shorter by 50mm and pushed forward to allow the rider to come all the way to the front when the riding demands that. The seat is also new and Hero claims that the profile is flatter and should enable better rider and pillion comfort. That being said, I was not particularly fond of the scoop that separates the rider and pillion seat. From the rear, the tail section has been made a little sharper with a stronger luggage rack and a tail light that resembles that on the Xtreme 125R. Looking at the bike from the side, the first thing to grab your attention will be the new 210cc, liquid-cooled engine and the redesigned exhaust that is significantly smaller than before and lends the Xpulse a proper dual-sport look. The colours on offer are nice and also add a sense of freshness to the motorcycle.

Hero Xpulse 210 engine and performance

Powering the new Xpulse 210 is the same engine that does duties on the Powering the new Xpulse 210 is the same engine that does duties on the Karizma XMR 210. When this was announced, I was not particularly happy, considering that the Karizma made most of its power up high and you really needed to rev it out to get going – not exactly an engine trait you want from an adventure bike that will be spending a lot of time on slow and technical trails. But the engineers at Hero have been hard at work behind the scenes to make sure that the engine feels at home, nestled in the ADV’s new semi double-cradle frame. The 210cc, liquid-cooled, DOHC, four-valve engine has gotten revised cam timing, a completely different engine map than the one on the supersport and to give it that extra low and mid range grunt, a larger 46-tooth rear sprocket instead of the 42-tooth sprocket that does duties on the Karizma. In terms of power outputs, the motor is good for 24.2bhp at 9250rpm and 20.2Nm at 7250rpm. While the torque output is the same, power has gone down by close to a bhp as against the XMR 210 – 0.8bhp to be precise. Now, this all sounds promising, but what is the engine actually like when you ride?

Thumb the starter and you’re instantly greeted by a very peppy sounding exhaust, one that will immediately remind you of some more powerful Japanese dual-sports. It has a lot of character and sounds even better while on the go. All without sounding loud, obnoxious or exhausting (see what I did there?). Set off and the first thing you will realise is how light the clutch lever is, courtesy of the slip and assist clutch on the new 210 engine. Right from the get go, the engine seems like it has more grunt than before. Hero claims that the motorcycle is on average around 25kmph faster than before and that it is a much better highway machine than ever before. To a large extent, this is true.

Out on the road, the motor feels more poised to do higher speeds in each gear and in general, the pace has gone up. Out on the highway, though, the bike still isn’t one that will sit at 100kmph all day long. Don’t get me wrong, getting to 100kmph is a much better affair than before and in fact you can even go to speeds north of 130kmph. But the problem is that the engine is already past 7000rpm by the time the speedo is reading 100kmph, and while the bike is fairly refined at this point and the chassis can cope, the engine feels like it is screaming and it honestly doesn't have much left to give by way of headroom for quick overtakes. 85-95kmph, basis roads and elevation is the sweet spot for the 210 and in my opinion that is more than acceptable. It’s unrealistic and unfair to expect the sort of cruising speeds we are accustomed to from 400-450cc bikes from a 210cc ADV. But nevertheless, the engine performance has taken a huge step forward and the gains feel that much more apparent when you turn off the highway and find yourself on a beautiful trail.

Off the road, the engine on the Xpulse really shines. The torque curve is very similar to that of the 200 but there is more torque to play with across the range. The sprocketing and the gear ratios makes the engine very tractable and that in turn makes the bike very easy to ride off-road. It retains the easy riding ability that made the 200 special and has added more performance to the mix. While slow-speed riding is something the 210 manages very well, the extra performance makes the bike that much quicker, allowing more experienced riders to have a ball of a time as well. Refinement wise too, there aren’t many vibrations to complain of, some when accelerating hard or when trying to settle into a high-speed cruise. But otherwise, great. The liquid-cooled motor manages heat well and even when really pushing off-road, apart from having the radiator fan come on every now and then, there wasn’t any drop in performance, or increase in the motor’s ability to fry my legs. All-in-all, Hero has taken great strides with the engine of the Xpulse and it feels like a worthy successor to the very loveable 200.

Hero Xpulse 210 chassis, ride and handling

Underpinning the Xpulse 210 is an all-new semi double-cradle frame to account for all the extra performance from the new engine. Along with that, the engineers have also beefed up the suspension components to make the bike that much more capable. The front forks have gone up in diameter from 37mm units to 41mm units and the rear monoshock now uses a linking arm between it and the swingarm. In terms of travel, the front travel has gone up to 210mm while the rear travel has gone up to 205mm. Along with that the ground clearance has gone up to a staggering 220mm as well. All this with the seat height having gone up only 5mm to 830mm.

In terms of ergonomics, the Xpulse has become even more comfortable thanks to the revised handlebar and the reprofiled tank. The seating position is great and keeps you comfortable and the footpegs are mid-mounted and placed in such a way that you don’t need to move or change angles in any way to stand up. You can stand up on the spot and that aids with keeping fatigue in check very well. The increased saddle height is really not an issue in my opinion because the bike has been made narrow around the waist and that allows you to better get your legs down. The bike has grown in all ways, aside from just the engine and the beefier suspension, it also has a slightly longer 1446mm wheelbase to aid with stability both on and off the road.

Out on the road, the Xpulse 210 feels as easy as ever to ride and is a stellar bike to commute on. Narrow, easy to manoeuvre and very light on its feet. The bike feels very planted and even with all the extra grunt from the engine when chasing triple digit highway speeds, it shows no signs of instability. The suspension setup, especially the rear link type monoshock have transformed the ride quality and it now feels so plush over all sorts of roads. There was a common section on the rides of the Xtreme 250R and the Xpulse 210 where we were riding on washboard for a few kilometres and I know it’s not a fair comparison, but the Xpulse just glided over the surface without upsetting me in any way. I could open the throttle and go much faster than on the Xtreme, in great comfort. I didn't even feel the need to stand up. Testament to why ADVs are becoming the preferred means of getting around. Even on the twisties, the Xpulse handles adequately and the tractable engine allows you to carry a gear higher and the chassis complies. It’s not the sharpest handler, but it’s not meant to be either.

Like with the engine, off-road is where the chassis really shines. Very, very capable without demanding a lot of skill on your part. Despite weighing nearly 10kg more at 170kg than the 200, it feels just as manageable. Maybe even better because of the optimised weight distribution. The stand up riding position is great and Hero will sell you handlebar risers if you need the handlebar to be a little taller. The updated chassis feels a lot more robust and eager to take on more abuse. It feels very well equipped to deal with all the extra power from the engine. The 21-18 wheel setup remains unchanged and on the whole, the bike feels faster and better in nearly every regard. It proudly wears the ‘Developed by Hero MotoSports’ badge, as it rightly should. Even the brakes work very well and with the updated ABS maps, you have the ability to turn off ABS at both wheels, something that the experienced riders will appreciate. That along with the bike on the whole. Those who were a part of the development of this bike, take a bow.

Hero Xpulse 210 features and variants

There are two variants on the Xpulse 210 – Base and Top. The ‘Top’ gets a dual-channel ABS system with three modes, a tall windscreen, knuckle guards, a 4.1-inch colour TFT screen and a rear luggage rack. The ‘Base’ misses out on these and gets a single-channel ABS system with three modes and a 4.1-inch LCD screen like the Karizma, instead. We rode the top-end variant with all the bells and whistles and it is fairly well equipped. The TFT screen has a nice layout and is easy to use, but the matte-finish reduces visibility when the sun is right above you and even the buttons to operate the screen could stand to be more tactile. The bike gets connectivity features, turn-by-turn navigation and everything else that has now become the norm. The dual-channel ABS system is well calibrated and gets three modes – road, trail and offroad. In road mode, it works as a dual-channel setup, trail disengages ABS at the rear and off-road switches off ABS altogether. The best part is that the system remembers the setting even when the ignition is turned off and back on.

Hero Xpulse 210 verdict

At ₹1.85 lakh, ex-showroom, for the top variant that I rode, the bike is more expensive than the standard 200 4V by around ₹30,000. This in my opinion is more than justified for all the extra ‘bike’ you are getting. The Xpulse 210 is by all means a significantly better bike than its predecessor in all regards and is a step in the right direction. I’d go as far to say that it is a good upgrade from the 200, if you aren’t looking to get into the 40bhp territory just yet. Yes, the bike doesn’t have the highway ability that we all hoped for but as aforementioned, you can’t expect this to be a beginner friendly dual-sport machine, if it can keep pace on the highway with the Himalyans and the KTM 390 Adventures of the world. And for those still happy with the 200, Hero will happily sell it to you. As to whether the bike feels like just a 10cc bump? The answer, if not already clear, is no. It feels like the ground up new bike that it is, one that is going to make a lot of riders very happy.