The Hero Impulse is a machine that we truly loved. It was that one machine in India that appealed to a lot of the enthusiasts. A lot of enthusiasts looked at the Hero Impulse as a good comfortable machine to tour on, it probably had the most comfortable ride and could remain comfortable whatever terrain it was on. As much as people loved it, there was one major drawback, the engine. The 149.2 cc engine making just about 13 horses never could do any real speeds. Topping out at about 105 kmph made it very slow on the highways, also it took forever to reach those speeds and of course the engine was super stressed at anything above 70 kmph. Add a average rider and minimal luggage and now you are on a machine that will struggle to pull you around.
However, Hero Motocorp has been getting this same feedback ever since the Impulse was introduced. And now finally we have confirmation from Hero Motocorp via our contact in the company, who shall remain anonymous for obvious reasons, that Hero Motocorp has in fact plonked in the Karizma engine on the new Impulse in an attempt to make it a more appealing motorcycle powerwise. Now the Karizma engine makes 20 horses of power and 19.7 Nm of torque. That should make the Impulse a machine that can sustain a 80 kmph cruise speed comfortably. That should also make it more fun off road. Along with this changes we seriously hope the Hero gives the new Impulse a bigger tank capacity, the older Impulse had a tiny 11.1 litre tank.
Apart from the new Impulse expect to see some big announcements from Hero Motocorp this year. The HX250R will be their new flagship production bike and will see a launch mid 2015. And then comes the big 150cc scooter named the ZIR along with another sporty 125cc scooter called the Dare. These machines will see Hero Motorcorp raise the benchmark in the segments involved. Especially since the HX250R is expected at an ex-showroom price of 1.4 – 1.5 lakh and the ZIR scooter at about 75k ex-showroom.
