(INDIA-MADE) KAWASAKI KLX 230 VS G HERO XPULSE 210

For those with mud in their blood but traffic on their minds

- WORDS CHRISTOPHER CHAVES

There are motorcycles you look at and immediately know what they want from you. Some want you to dress nicely, adjust your hair in the mirror finish of their chrome bits, and cruise into sunsets with your pillion lovingly squeezing your ribs every now and then. And then there are motorcycles that want to fling muck directly into your face.

Enter: the 'India-made' Kawasaki KLX 230. When Kawasaki first dropped the globally-spec (read CKD) KLX 230 at the tail end of 2024, the off-road community acted like someone had dropped free biryani at a riding meet—only to look up at the price tag (₹3.5 lakh, ex-showroom) and suddenly discover that their plates were already full. But 2025 Kawasaki India decided to un-Kawasaki the pricing. By making the KLX in India and localising 90% of the parts, Big Green somehow sliced the price almost in half, landing it roughly at ₹1.8 lakh. Suddenly the bike wasn't an exotic unicorn anymore—it was a real contender. And the moment the price dropped into that ballpark, one bulky figure slowly turned around, flexing its dual-purpose muscles like some WWE villain about to enter the ring – the Hero Xpulse 210. So which one should you pick if your heart wants dirt, your brain wants sense, and your wallet just wants to survive? Time to find out.

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