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First Impressions
Hello Impulse owners (congrats Naren
) and people who have booked it and are waiting for it's delivery impatiently! I booked mine last sunday and have been told that they'll hand it over by second week of January or if possible, sooner.
Today I went for a test ride which lasted for about 10 mins but was fun, none the less. Before I lay down my thoughts, it'd be beneficial to mention that I am 6 feet tall and have been riding RE Thunderbird for quite some time now.
Lets get started! So I raise my right leg to sit on the bike and immediately realize that the seat indeed is higher, but that's no hurdle as my feet are comfortably resting on the ground. Self started the bike (no kicking yay!), it just whispers that it's on and am just hoping that it performs well as there's no thumping sound which evokes this feeling of raw power even when stationary. The guy from the dealership instantly hops onto the pillion seat, about which am not really happy. Well, I put the bike in 1st gear and get off the footpath and onto the road. Revved hard as soon as I'm on the road and see this lady, approaching me trying to cross the road. I hit the brakes, hard. The bike stops almost instantly like in the CEAT ad, oh wait, it's because of the tires (joking). Moving ahead in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I decide to take a U turn. Pulling my right hand and pushing the left one forward, I nervously turn 180 degrees. Probably this nervousness arises from the fact that I have a really huge handlebar on the Thunderbird and this one is just too small. Waiting at the signal ahead, am preparing myself to try out two things. Firstly to cut through traffic like zip, zoom, fly! And secondly to go as fast as possible. Hitting the accelerator hard, the RPM touches 5-6k in almost no time and the torque is nicely spread across the range. I try to cut through the traffic but it just wasn't happening. And am wondering what could be wrong as it's a piece of cake on RE TB. Now I've ridden more than half a dozen bikes and have never faced any difficulty while cutting through, but with Impulse, it just wasn't happening fluently.
Soon enough I reach a left turn that leads to a long stretch of almost zero traffic road and I take it, off-course. Hoping to take a deep high speed turn, this biker comes out of nowhere just to slow me down. I then rev really hard, as if there's no stopping now! The dealership guy starts screaming (he was shitting in his pants) "Sir, thoda dheere, please. The wind is hurting my ears.". I kept going and put the bike in 5th gear when the RPM kissed 8k mark. A split second after that the odometer read "94" and am still going on, only to be bothered by the guy again, "Sir, please slow down, we are going way too fast!". There's still about 70-100 meters left and am looking for the left turn. I just trusted the brakes and went for whatever that was left of the long stretch. I was paying attention as to whose approaching fast through the rear view mirror. Luckily no one was, and I slow down to take the turn. Again trying to bend the bike on the curved slope but not quite confident as it just wasn't happening effectively! I had roughly covered about a kilometer long stretch, but couldn't see the top speed in a jiffy, also that's not the most important thing for me! I was looking for ride quality and stability, both of which scored pretty high.
Heading back towards the dealership at about 40kmph the guy after breathing a sigh of relief, tells me that "Sir, we touched 100!". Now am not sure of that. Waiting at the signal again, I convey him that the center of gravity of this bike isn't good. And he replies, "This bike is perfect", haha. I got to admit this is my first time ever on an Off road specific bike, with a ground clearance of 245mm. Maybe due to its tall stance and small handlebar it becomes difficult to slap it to left and go right, but its just what I feel. Might develop more confidence once am getting used to it. On the last 100-150 meters I started looking for potholes. I know its funny but that stretch hardly had any. Just before the dealership, there were a couple of potholes and bumps and I deliberately went on top of them. As others have been pointing out, didn't feel a thing! Only time will tell if they have the same softness and dampening effect when the "Trip" reaches 5 digit mark.
Verdict: Now this bike is no match for the agility of the Enfields, RX, Unicorn, Pulsar and the likes, maybe due to the high ground clearance. But provides an amazingly sturdy, quality ride. Super silent though! I didn't get a chance to actually test it off-road but am expecting it'll perform well as the torque is thoughtfully spread across the whole RPM range and average sized potholes and bumps are absorbed gracefully. I mainly ride solo for long rides with my luggage on the rear seat and excess on the Ladakh carrier. This one has limited scope for carrying luggage for longer rides (which is good in a way). Saddle bags could be required as the tail has max load capacity of 7 kgs. That is if your traveling with a pillion rider, else you can utilize the pillion seat as well. It's not at all a powerful bike but has got enough power to awaken the kid in you who wants to conquer mountains and rough terrains, without bulky machines, leaking engines, terrain specific tires, avoiding all the spares for what might go wrong situations, skipping the technicalities of the machine etc. This one for me is a hop-on-bike, where I'd be gone for the weekend, to some closest state with a few off road adventures on the way and arrive home safely. It's a real value-for-money bike for me.
Hello Impulse owners (congrats Naren
) and people who have booked it and are waiting for it's delivery impatiently! I booked mine last sunday and have been told that they'll hand it over by second week of January or if possible, sooner.Today I went for a test ride which lasted for about 10 mins but was fun, none the less. Before I lay down my thoughts, it'd be beneficial to mention that I am 6 feet tall and have been riding RE Thunderbird for quite some time now.
Lets get started! So I raise my right leg to sit on the bike and immediately realize that the seat indeed is higher, but that's no hurdle as my feet are comfortably resting on the ground. Self started the bike (no kicking yay!), it just whispers that it's on and am just hoping that it performs well as there's no thumping sound which evokes this feeling of raw power even when stationary. The guy from the dealership instantly hops onto the pillion seat, about which am not really happy. Well, I put the bike in 1st gear and get off the footpath and onto the road. Revved hard as soon as I'm on the road and see this lady, approaching me trying to cross the road. I hit the brakes, hard. The bike stops almost instantly like in the CEAT ad, oh wait, it's because of the tires (joking). Moving ahead in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I decide to take a U turn. Pulling my right hand and pushing the left one forward, I nervously turn 180 degrees. Probably this nervousness arises from the fact that I have a really huge handlebar on the Thunderbird and this one is just too small. Waiting at the signal ahead, am preparing myself to try out two things. Firstly to cut through traffic like zip, zoom, fly! And secondly to go as fast as possible. Hitting the accelerator hard, the RPM touches 5-6k in almost no time and the torque is nicely spread across the range. I try to cut through the traffic but it just wasn't happening. And am wondering what could be wrong as it's a piece of cake on RE TB. Now I've ridden more than half a dozen bikes and have never faced any difficulty while cutting through, but with Impulse, it just wasn't happening fluently.
Soon enough I reach a left turn that leads to a long stretch of almost zero traffic road and I take it, off-course. Hoping to take a deep high speed turn, this biker comes out of nowhere just to slow me down. I then rev really hard, as if there's no stopping now! The dealership guy starts screaming (he was shitting in his pants) "Sir, thoda dheere, please. The wind is hurting my ears.". I kept going and put the bike in 5th gear when the RPM kissed 8k mark. A split second after that the odometer read "94" and am still going on, only to be bothered by the guy again, "Sir, please slow down, we are going way too fast!". There's still about 70-100 meters left and am looking for the left turn. I just trusted the brakes and went for whatever that was left of the long stretch. I was paying attention as to whose approaching fast through the rear view mirror. Luckily no one was, and I slow down to take the turn. Again trying to bend the bike on the curved slope but not quite confident as it just wasn't happening effectively! I had roughly covered about a kilometer long stretch, but couldn't see the top speed in a jiffy, also that's not the most important thing for me! I was looking for ride quality and stability, both of which scored pretty high.
Heading back towards the dealership at about 40kmph the guy after breathing a sigh of relief, tells me that "Sir, we touched 100!". Now am not sure of that. Waiting at the signal again, I convey him that the center of gravity of this bike isn't good. And he replies, "This bike is perfect", haha. I got to admit this is my first time ever on an Off road specific bike, with a ground clearance of 245mm. Maybe due to its tall stance and small handlebar it becomes difficult to slap it to left and go right, but its just what I feel. Might develop more confidence once am getting used to it. On the last 100-150 meters I started looking for potholes. I know its funny but that stretch hardly had any. Just before the dealership, there were a couple of potholes and bumps and I deliberately went on top of them. As others have been pointing out, didn't feel a thing! Only time will tell if they have the same softness and dampening effect when the "Trip" reaches 5 digit mark.
Verdict: Now this bike is no match for the agility of the Enfields, RX, Unicorn, Pulsar and the likes, maybe due to the high ground clearance. But provides an amazingly sturdy, quality ride. Super silent though! I didn't get a chance to actually test it off-road but am expecting it'll perform well as the torque is thoughtfully spread across the whole RPM range and average sized potholes and bumps are absorbed gracefully. I mainly ride solo for long rides with my luggage on the rear seat and excess on the Ladakh carrier. This one has limited scope for carrying luggage for longer rides (which is good in a way). Saddle bags could be required as the tail has max load capacity of 7 kgs. That is if your traveling with a pillion rider, else you can utilize the pillion seat as well. It's not at all a powerful bike but has got enough power to awaken the kid in you who wants to conquer mountains and rough terrains, without bulky machines, leaking engines, terrain specific tires, avoiding all the spares for what might go wrong situations, skipping the technicalities of the machine etc. This one for me is a hop-on-bike, where I'd be gone for the weekend, to some closest state with a few off road adventures on the way and arrive home safely. It's a real value-for-money bike for me.
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