Dirt and Trail MAY 2021

HERO x Pulse 200
Hero is a massive brand. The largest two wheel
manufacturers on the planet. They produce
nearly 9,500 two-wheelers a day with 7
motorcycles rolling off the production line every
minute. In 2017, Hero MotoCorp surpassed the
landmark seven million units in cumulative sales
in a calendar year. The company sold a record
7,207,363 units of two-wheelers in the calendar
year in 2017. That’s a crapload of bikes!
Hero MotoCorp continues to be the world’s
largest manufacturer of two-wheelers, in terms
of unit volumes sold by a single company in a
calendar year, for 19 years in a row. Earlier this
year they hit the 100-million landmark in Hero
MotoCorp’s production record comes with the
last 50-million units being sold in the last seven
years.
All in, this bike delivers a very impressive ride for its class. Pretty
soon we needed to head for home, the sun was setting and it was
getting quite cold.
We found the nearest road, hooked our phone via Bluetooth to
the X-Pulses nav system punched in our address and followed the
directional arrows home again with the headlamp cutting a swathe
into the surrounding darkness. Incidentally, the Xpulse also has a
secure cubby under the seat with a USB charging port for your
smart phone. Turn by turn navigation on a bike in this price bracket
is unheard of and industry leading, we can’t understand why all
bikes don’t come out standard with this feature.
What a cool way to spend a sunny autumn day!
A really great little adventure bike at a price that really makes sense,
and it comes standard with a 5 Year / 100 000 km warranty.
And the bikes are making their way to SA.
They asked us to take the X-Pulse 200 for a li’l
ride and to share our thoughts, so that’s what
we did… The good looking little bike made its
way to our offices and each of us took a turn at
a quick flip around the dirt track out the back
here. Impressive! Everyone came back nodding
and looking wise.
It actually feels very good! Quality. No shakes,
rattles and rolls. “How much did you say?”
We popped a friend out back and took off
to see what this little bike could do. The bike
is comfortable and quite roomy. Whilst the
passenger was tiny, the pilot is something of
a big oaf and they fitted quite comfortably on
the well-padded seat. Pointing the bike out
on the streets, the power through the smooth
gearbox is good, she’s no slouch at all. Out
on the longer road we saw a top speed of 115
KPH 2-up quite happily and the bike wasn’t
revving its brains out. Not too bad for a little
fuel injected 200.
We soon turned off onto the dirt and crossed a
little stream, no problem, the ground clearance
is good and we barely got our feet wet. Stefan
our Photog shouted from the other bike “Do
you reckon it’ll make it over that koppie?” Well
if you don’t try you’ll never know… we scouted
about for a footpath, found one, turned the
bike and headed up and over. The bottom
end torque is smooth, constant and very user
friendly, which is exactly what you need when
the trail is strewn with loose rocks and pebbles.
To be fair there were a few moments when our
passenger was quite convinced that we’d end
up sprawled unceremoniously on the side of
the trail with Stefan laughing his ass off, but
the little Hero was … well really forgiving and
just so easy to ride. Any squirly moments were
saved by a quick dab from the rider. Kudo’s to
the low saddle height!
We soon trickled our way out along the footpaths
and into the farmlands. Quite comfortable
with the suspension offering a smooth ride.
Only when we hit giant unexpected lurkers
did we feel the rear shock letting us know
that it’s there. To be absolutely fair the combined
weight of the passenger and rider sits
at around 155KG’s so there was absolutely no
cause for complaint.
32 DIRT AND TRAIL MAGAZINE MAY 2021
WHATSAPP 078 182 7101
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1222 PRETORIOUS STREET DIRT AND TRAIL HATFIELD MAGAZINE MAY 2021 PTA. 33