Bajaj Pulsar 200 - Good looking maniac!!

When Bajaj launched the Pulsar 200, everybody said that the company surprised them and that they were not expecting it to do so. Of course we had only heard about the 220 coming in. But what everybody forgot was the Pulsar was originally showcased as a 200 at the 2000 Auto Expo in Delhi. Also while developing the 220 the engine first grew to a 200 and then to a 220. Now that we have that sorted out.

I spent almost whole of yesterday riding a Pulsar 200 and I for one am completely floored by the bike. I had ridden the bike before but for only short distances and had really liked it then, but yesterday was the longest time I spent in the saddle at a stretch of a 200. The bike is owned by a friend and has 5000+ kays on the odo, maybe a couple of hundred more now.

The thing you notice first is the riding position. It’s out and out sporty and absolutely amazing. The foot pegs are rearset and all your weight is on the short handlebars. The legs easily reach terra firma even for a person of average height like mine. The seat is very supportive but I did feel on occasions the pillion seat to be a bit of a pain in the bum.

The engine is quite smooth and builds revs fast enough. The sound the end can makes is very throaty and you just feel like twisting the throttle all the time. The mid range is brilliant and on the city roads you can overtake almost anything. Although I felt that in lower revs the pulling prowess is missing. But you don’t feel like staying there for long. Once on the highway, the bike felt most happy cruising at around 80kays. The max I saw on the Speedo was 115, but it took a while to get there. The gearshift is via a toe shifter and the gearbox is much improved than previous iterations. It's very unobtrusive and you hardly notice it's there.

The tires are the same tubeless ones on the 220. They provide a lot of grip even on gravely surfaces. The bike goes over potholes with aplomb without you feeling a thing. The ride quality is great, but the bike still provides enough feedback. You get a lot of confidence to push the bike around bends. It turns into corners pretty quickly. Even in traffic the bike feels pretty light and criss crossing through traffic is easy. Usually I don’t cut across lanes of traffic but I did yesterday, hopefully that didn’t gain me the ire of the other motorists. :D

The brakes I must mention here are one of the best available and the bike scrubs off speed in double quick time. They bailed me out of trouble on more than a couple of occasions. Even preventing me from being plastered across the back of a truck.

Lastly while waiting for my friend to show up to collect his bike, I had the time to look at the bike. Everywhere you go you get noticed on the 200. Heck, an Octavia driver coming in the opposite direction in a narrow lane stopped and let me through. The tank extensions look good and the black treatment on a red bike looked great. The end can is big with all the right notes built in and the exposed chain gives the 200 a sporty appeal. The owner also reports a ridiculous mileage of 42 kays to a liter consistently.

Finally…

The Good: riding position, mid range, gearshift, brakes, sounds it makes, gets you noticed.

The Bad: for the nth time the indicator switch, lack of power in low range, takes time to reach top speed, seat is a bit hard for long trips.

The Ugly: Ugly?? Hell no!! This is the best looking Pulsar ever. I would say it’s the best looking bike on sale in the country right now, except for the R1 maybe.