My last few months with the Xpulse 210 have been fun to the point that I am now convinced that this was my favourite bike of 2025. Not the fastest/most exciting, not the best value, not even the best off-roader, but still my favourite, and that’s because it comes across as an honest, characterful and thoroughly enjoyable motorcycle.
The plush suspension irons out my irritation with the appalling state of our roads, and the comfy riding position only amplifies that. Then there’s the fizzy little engine that constantly cheers me up, not only with its crisp sound and throttle connection but also its zippy performance. Super short gearing also makes it easy to ride through crawling traffic in second and even third gear with no issues, and that flexibility again helps ease the frustrations of Indian big-city traffic.
The downside with the short gearing is that the engine will be screaming away if you like holding triple-digit speeds on the highway. While most of my riding has been over my daily commute of 60km, I did take it out for a weekend ride to Pune, and that was another fun experience as well. Rather than forcing it into a pace it didn’t like, we settled into a cruise at the upper limit of its sweet spot – around or just below 100kph – and the Xpulse was a happy camper.
There was plenty of room for me to be seated comfortably, even with a tail bag mounted on the back, and I like how there are plenty of mounting points for luggage. The bike’s dual-sport roots were also channeled when we arrived at the inevitable weekend traffic jam near Lonavala and found some creative ways to get around it.
The Xpulse returned a decent 34kpl on that ride, and I get anything between 27 and 30kpl in the city, depending on how quick the pace is. Weirdly, even though this is a 13-litre tank, I never manage to get more than 10 litres into it, even when I’ve ridden well past the point that the low-fuel light blinked on.
Things I don’t like are that there’s a steady hit of hot air that your left leg needs to endure from the radiator fan. It doesn’t get burning hot, but it’s well beyond what I’d term ‘warm’, and I could see this being an issue for some.
The Xpulse 210 has also seemingly had a fair few engine reliability issues, as shared by owners online. So far, the only problem we’ve had is that the check engine light has come on three times now. The first time, it was cleared by the workshop, whose scanner told them that it was some error thrown up by the O2 sensor. The second and third time, it went away by itself in a couple of days. This is an issue that we’ve seen in another Xpulse 210 that is owned by a colleague in our office as well.
Aside from that, I’m continuing to enjoy life on the 210. It’s proving to be a beauty on my daily commute, was great fun off road when we compared it with the KLX a few months ago, and I enjoyed it over a semi-long-distance ride as well. Simple, capable, enjoyable and characterful – just how I like my bikes.
Soham Thakur
Autocar India News Desk
Azaman Chothia
Dinshaw Magol
