Hero Xpulse adventure bike concept unveiled at EICMA 2017; all you need to know

Hero MotoCorp has taken the wraps off an adventure motorcycle concept titled Xpulse at EICMA show in Milan on Tuesday. The Xpulse will be a spiritual successor to the Impulse dual-purpose bike which the manufacturer launched In India six years ago. Being an early bird, Impulse found fewer takers while the Xpulse is set to enter the market in late 2018. The growing craze for adventure motorcycles in India would be at its peak by then.

The XPulse concept has been designed and engineered after the Dakar Rally experience of Hero MotoSports in 2016. During the presentation, Hero officials also said that the key pillars of this concept are usability and ability to go beyond the road.

The showcased model comes with ideal off-road bike bits such as the long travel telescopic front forks on 19-inch front wheels, Metzeler rubber and disc brakes at the front and the rear. The concept also comes with LED headlight, engine bash plate and spoke-wheeled off-road tyres. Accessories such as pannier boxes on either side are also part of the concept.

Though the specs of the concept have not revealed yet, reports claim the Xpulse will draw power from a single-cylinder air-cooled engine with a displacement between 200cc-300cc. We believe the motorcycle may use the engine currently under development for the upcoming XTreme 200S while the tuning will be different. This engine is likely to be tuned to churn out 18.5bhp at 8,500rpm and peak torque of 17.2Nm at 6,000rpm and will get two riding mode options - City and Sport.

A report in Autocar Professional claims the company plans to launch the Xpulse, which is developed at its Jaipur-based R&D centre, not only in India but also across a number of its export markets.