Bumblebee! That’s the first name that pops up in my head the moment I see the golden-yellow Pulsar 200 NS. The resemblance doesn’t end with the colour. If you look at the bike head on, the headlight looks very similar to the face of the Transformer’s character by the same name.
I had been itching to test this offering from the Bajaj Auto team since it’s been launched. So, I pounced at the opportunity the moment my friend Talha, requested me to get his Pulsar 200 NS from Calcutta to Jamshedpur. His bike, which he christened as Zaira, had clocked around 3000 kms and just out of routine servicing when it got dropped at my end two days before the trip. I wanted to ride it around town to get used to the riding posture and also check the bike for any issues before the trip.
I have had a Pulsar 180 Classic, round head lights, steel rims, and the first model. I loved that bike a lot; however I was very disappointed with what Bajaj Auto had to offer all these years. When Bajaj launched the Pulsar 200 NS, I liked the fresh look and feel, however wasn’t really sure if the engine had much changes. On further probing found a lot of similarities between the 200 KTM Duke and the 200 NS. Even though the company officials might give you a twisted answer, we all could see where the lineage comes from. This link got me interested, had the Bajaj Auto guys managed to find a way to offer the 200 Duke package in a cost-effective way. There is a difference of a little over 50K INR between the prices of the two.
Coming back on track, the first thing you would notice apart from the striking looks is the height of the bike. The rider seat is pretty high and I, at 5.8 feet, had just managed to keep both my feet on the ground while sitting on the bike. The seat is very comfy, both for the pillion and the rider. High seating is very similar to that of the Duke and also provides a good view of what’s ahead, especially in stop and go traffic. Really helps finding gaps to squeeze through. That brings me to the point of control. The upright seating and ergonomics make the bike very flick-able and cutting through traffic is a breeze. The bike is light weight at just 145 kgs, which is evident from a lot of fibre and plastics used for the cosmetics of the bike. It would also make it cheaper to replace in case of accidents.
Riding around Calcutta traffic was fun with good amount of torque at the twist of the throttle. Initially though I made the engine knock at low speeds, I noticed that the low-end torque was less compared to my regular bike. After some trial and error I found that the power delivery is evident post 4K on the RPM. So, the trick was to keep the engine running above that to avoid knocks. The gear shifts are smooth, short and sweet. The clank and false neutrals of the primitive range of Pulsars’ are nowhere to be seen. Due to the traffic I really didn’t get the opportunity to open the throttle to get a feel of how fast it could go. That had to wait, till I hit the highways. I was still trying to figure where the 23.52 PS were hidden.
The digital meter console had the usual tell-tale lights and also a clock additionally. I found this a very useful feature. The ‘low fuel’ indicator is on the face scaring you to fill the tank with around 2 litres left in the tank. All the switch gears are highlighted with blue backlight, which makes it visible, even in the day. Apart from being functional, it sure is eye candy.
Till now the bike had kept me interested, with only a couple of things nagging me. The rear view mirrors are useless. It’s small, cumbersome to adjust for adequate rear view. In fact you can see everything, except the rear of the bike. The way it’s positioned, it’s honestly of no use. You have to adjust your head to get a hang of what’s behind you. The tires … Bajaj Auto, I’m disappointed. I really wish you guys had given the MRF Revz at least. Sure, the tires are beefy at 100/80 -17 & 130/70 -17 at the front and the rear respectively. But it sure lacks the chipkoo feel of the Revz which come standard on the R15s. It’s like you have given the massive breaks to stop the bike, but what’s the use if you don’t have the tires to complement. ABS would have been a plus point in such cases though. I hope they at least add it as an option soon.
So, the next day I gear up and leave Calcutta at 4 AM. It’s dark and the head light is good, not great, mind you. It was good but not good enough. You can’t blame me when Bajaj has spoilt us with the projectors on the 220. I wonder why they chose to keep away from projectors on this offering.
The roads till Kharagpur (NH6) are amazing, part of the Golden Quadrilateral. I was trying to do this stretch of 130kms at the earliest to compensate on time that would be lost in the bad stretches beyond Kharagpur. The Pulsar 200 NS DID NOT let me down at all. It is a beast beyond 6K on the rpm. Cruising at 120kmph on the 6th gear, yes you read that right, this baby packs six gears to transfer all that power on to the wheels; So, cruising at 120kmph and you feel like overtaking something, there is no need to downshift, just twist the throttle and the surge you feel is exhilarating. I could now figure what they did with the triple spark plugs squeezed in the head of this engine. Each of them kicks in only when required. That, I believe, would also make it overall a more efficient engine. I obviously did not have any instruments to test the theory but the surge in power is evident at 4K & 6-7K on the RPM. It seems like the 2nd and the 3rd spark plugs kick in at these RPMs respectively. I had already touched 150kmph and it still felt like there is more to go. This beast is a hooligan and I was grinning all the way inside my helmet.
But Mother Nature had other plans, just 50kms away from Kharagpur and around 35 minutes from the starting point, I encountered heavy fog, speeds dropped to a mere 50kmph and by the time I was 35kmph from Kharagpur the fog was so thick that I had to stop. It was 5AM already, so waiting for the sun to rise was the best option.
For people who know the route, the New Kolaghat Twin Bridge has been opened and now we no longer need to wait for the traffic jams to clear at the old bottle neck, the old rickety Kolaghat Bridge.
By 6AM I had crossed Kharagpur and left the Golden Quadrilateral heading to Baharagora, the border town between West Bengal & Jharkhand States. Now, it was time to test the Pulsar 200 NS’s competency on bad roads. The ground clearance was more than needed, at the only other time I have felt this comfy, on this stretch, on any other Indian bike is on a Bullet Classic 350. In that case it was a heavy bike and spring seats. Here, it was however a different story altogether. The suspension which felt adequately firm for high-speed cornering was doing an amazing job cushioning the potholes and the uneven roads. That combined with the comfy seats gave a combination which was soothing to my bums. I soon realised that I could actually manage good speeds even when there were practically no roads and I was happily going off-road to negotiate the pot holes. The standard MRF Eurogrip was great on loose gravel and I will surely add that slides & drifts were fun. I sure missed ABS a lot; I hope they will soon add it as an optional offer. In less than an hour I was across the border in Baharagora.
I surprisingly didn’t feel any fatigue, which I usually do, probably due to bad seats and a super firm ride, on my regular bike. I was still grinning at oodles of power and the trip was far from over. I still had 100 Kms of the worst roads on this route left. I was still able to keep an average of over 50kmph and I was mostly where the bike felt at home. Off Road! Keep the engine running over 3K on the RPM and the bike just takes off after every breaking. By the time I reached Jamshedpur at around 8:20AM I had done close to my fastest nonstop run yet on this route of 4 Hours 10 Minutes on my Yamaha R15v2. Please note that I was slow and standing for around half an hour due to the fog.
Over all I would say that the Pulsar 200 NS is an excellent buy at the south-side of a Lakh in INR. A bike with an amazing capability of handling whatever you throw at it. Be it smooth roads or the worst off-road possible. The Pulsar 200 NS will chew it and spit it out.
To sum it up, did the Bumblebee make me grin all the way from Calcutta to Jamshedpur? Hell Yeah!!!
Photo Credit: my close pals Indranil Mukherjee & Shovon Ray
12th of December 2011, I saw her bums for the first time and fell in love with her … a beauty in black and graphite winking at me as the twin headlights was being tested. I slowly walked up to her, touched her, turned the key and pushed the button. The engine purred into life and she was christened Zurina – the white shadow. The name was kind of oxymoronic for the black beauty.
The R15v2 is probably the best looking bike in India at the moment and there are no second thoughts about the same. Being a big fan of the iconic RX100, I had huge expectations from this one.
The moment you put your leg over the seat you would realize the most prominent thing about the bike. The tail is high. It is so high that an average height person would still end up scratching the pillion seats with his shoes. This was something I need to get used to. The seating position is such that the weight of the rider is onto the front of the bike. And like many would think, yes the body weight is mostly onto the palms of the rider. However I noticed that the seats are designed such that you are expected to sit further up on the seat, such that you touch the pillion seat. This is the most comfortable way you can sit on this bike. You would notice that the weight suddenly vanishes from the palms and you are seated almost hugging the tank and you are maneuvering the bike at a flick of your body weight.
One of the things I noticed, a change from the previous version, was that the low/mid end torque is more spread out and it’s a breeze to flick the bike around city traffic. This was my first full fairing bike, hence took me some time getting used to the size upfront.
Next I took the bike to lady friends of mine and boy did they love the bike, like I mentioned earlier, the looks are killer. Took them for a spin around town and she mentioned that she loved the high seating position as she could see what’s up front over my head. Not all ladies had the same opinion though, some were scared enough not to even give it a try. The pillion seat is not exactly comfortable and can be a pain in the bums especially in Kolkata where the roads are bad. I’m working on getting the seats redone to make it more comfy. Seeking an opinion from my guy friends I took the bike to two of my guy friends, one a heavy 90+ kilo guy and the other with a medium stout build. Both of them loved the seating and what was surprising was that handling the bike with all that weight was still a breeze. Even in hard breaking the weight shift was manageable. Another thing I noticed was that most pillions were holding on to me, which is nice and cozy as long as the ladies are concerned, however it can be very tiring with their body weight slung on you. The solution was simple, asking the pillions to hold the tank with their palms, when going fast. At slow speeds all they need to do is take support from the riders’ shoulders.
The run in period was the most difficult … keeping the baby under 4K rpm in the first 1000 kms. It was just too tempting to twist the throttle and go for it … but of course at the possible risk of damaging the engine. I did a two-step run in process. The first 250kms I ran the engine with the usual 4 stroke mineral oil and then drained the oil and replaced it with the recommended synthetic oil. This was done to get rid of possible contaminants from the engine compartments. The bike handled well in those low speeds and the overall handling was confidence inspiring. The efficiency was what surprised me … it returned around 47kmpl which was a shock to me. I recalculated to make sure I got it right.
Noticeable issues I had with the bike till now were a few but something that cannot be ignored. The bike has no grab rail which scared the pillions at times. A centre stand would be greatly appreciated, especially for us DIY guys who love to get their hands dirty in oil and grim. In fact a race stand could be an optional accessory we could get from the company showrooms. The rear tail assembly came loose, required a twist of the screws to set it right. The rear view mirrors are not that user-friendly to adjust. If you get the arms right and tighten them, it is still easy for a road side romeo to twist the mirrors for his narcissist pleasures. Another thing I noticed was that the tool box did not have a spanner to adjust the rear view mirror arms; I just bought one from my friendly diy store.
Time came for me to experience the bike on open roads. I was heading home to Jamshedpur from Kolkata; around 280Kms. Post the run in period this would the first time I was going to open her throttle up. 3:30AM I started from Kolkata and touched Kharagpur (130kms away) in just less than 1 hour 15 minutes. The headlights did a pretty good job, however being a nocturnal rider, I’d be upgrading soon to HIDs. On the speedometer it showed me the highest of 138kmph, where as the GPS registered 132kmph. There could be a slight margin of error here it seems. The bike handled well in straights and stuck to the ground with oodles of grip on the curves. Even under hard breaking, when a dog jumped in front, the bike stayed in control. So far, so good.
The challenge post Kharagpur was the stretch of bad roads all the way to Jamshedpur, another 150 odd kms. Around close to 60% of this stretch will put the surface of moon to shame. Craters, Red Dust, and if it rains Red Slush is what I call it. I wanted to see how well a bike designed for the track handles in such conditions. The ground clearance amazed me. I went half expecting a blow onto the engine cowl at some point or the other. The suspension, albeit on the stiffer end, behaved well and made handling the bike a pleasure. Bums did ache, however I was expecting worse. Due to this stretch I managed to reach Jamshedpur in 4 and a half hours, the fastest train on this stretch does it in 3hrs 55mins.
This was also the first time my mother saw the bike, and what is the first question she asks me? Do I get a stool to climb onto the pillion seat? On my return I did the same route in 4hours. I hope to beat the train one day.
The bike is also my daily commute to and fro my workplace, with a daily run of around 30 kms. The absence of a main stand did prick at times, but not much. She returned me a mileage within the range of 37 ~ 47kmpl, depending on the way and the conditions in which I rode. As always the bike was an eye candy, so much so that some jealous prick even scratched the tank with his key.
Today I complete 6000kms and I must say that Leader Yamaha in Kolkata is a lovely place to get your bike serviced in, with return times of less than 2hours; with a very able set of service technicians. I must add the performance of this bike makes up for every small issue I might have pointed out so far. Now the best part of my day is the time I spend riding her. GodSpeed!!!
These are two things I have been asked time and again since I bought my bike around a month back. I have covered around 2500kms and traffic lights and fuel pump stoppages have been source to these interesting questions. Going back to the day I decided to buy the bike, I was ripped between the choices of performance to fuel efficiency. I chose the former and almost thought I had taken the wrong decision as the news flashed an increase in fuel prices the day I booked my bike.
Nonetheless I went ahead with my choice and took delivery of Zurina (that’s what I call her), a Yamaha R15 v2. I rolled her straight to the nearest fuel pump outlet and bang came the questions, “Kitni Ki Hai!!! Kitini Deti Hai!!!” At mentioning the price and the expected ‘mileage’ of the bike, I was given this weird stare. “Meri tho aadhe se bhi kum daam ki hai aur dugni chalti hai”. He meant his bike costed him less than half and gave him more than double the mileage I was getting. This statement made me sit up and think. Being a petrol-head, it was kind of weird that I was thinking like an economizer.
Keeping all thoughts in place, the whole concept of save fuel, and the pleasure of riding i questioned myself, “Am I guilty of wasting fuel?” If I’m guilty, aren’t the manufacturers of such machines equally guilty? Automobile manufacturers are supposed to reduce their carbon footprint by producing more number of ‘green’ machines. How does that help? For every fuel guzzler they produce they sell five or more ‘green’ machines. Aren’t we right where we started?
I was brought back to reality when the fuel station attendant asked me to pay up. I started the bike and the rumble between my legs and the sheer power when I twisted the throttle made me leave behind all the thoughts and I started looking for an open road to live life all over again.
LEAVE THE ROAD 