[avishar]

Originally Posted by bIte tHe bulLet

Congrats on the NS!!!

There's a street fighting mean SOB if there ever was one...

Much thanks! Hows that W124 doing?

Originally Posted by planet_rocker

Congrats Avishar! Finally the ownership experience came up, eeh?

Cmon Suryada,do you think i will ever drive around without an helmet? :-) Helmet,gloves,proper shoes are an absolute given even for a short 15 min ride.I intend to add a good riding jacket to with full protection and some knee guards soon.

Originally Posted by somu_john

Nice Photography skills, I wonder if anybody else said that. I'm also looking for an upgrade from Pulsar 150 to pulsar 200NS.

Thanks a lot! You might want to wait for the 200SS,that sounds interesting.Or 375 which most definately would be sub 2lakhs.

Originally Posted by nishsingh

Congratulations on the ride! Black does look fantastic in the pics.

Very valid point which is why a good riding jacket with those reflector strips is even more important for me.I had followed a couple of NS's at night and if you were a good jacket you are visible on a high beam a good 100-200ms ahead.The black one totally dissapears into the night.


Well the NS passed 1600kms and is going strong.The engine has definately freed up and bit vibes have greatly reduced.I still have that Coolant Temp sensor acting wierdly times,turning the radiotor fan on a cold start.The problem disappears after a few kms of riding.

However today i was stuck in terrible crawling traffic under the blazing sun for 20 mins,and i dont know about other NS's but mine heats up fast.You can feel it around your legs and the radiator fan kicked in,this time like it should.I pulled over for 5-10 mins because i still had a lot of crawling traffic to face till office!

Did a couple of short rides over the weekend.One was a late night one with fellow Naked Wolves and TeamBhpians towards Lepakshi to do a spot of photography of the meteor shower/star trails.But the rain gods had other plans with overcast skies all throught.However the ride was excellent,my first time in a strictly maintained riding formation with a leader and a sweeper.I realised,if you have a good leader ahead of you,it reduces a lot of the effort in riding concentration without making the ride too complacent.

The bike is beautiful on the highway especially with smooth roads.Its easier to cruise in 90-100 in this than 75,because the vibrations are the highest at 75-80,with a lot of handlebar and footpeg vibrations.The only limiting factor is the windblast and it pretty severe post the ton-mark.Looking forward to anyone who can come up with a jugaad windscreen for the NS.

100kmph is 6800rpm and it will happily do that all day.However 90 is plenty fast for Indian highways and would be the sweet spot where rider fatigue,fuel efficiency,windblast and mile munching ability all converge together.

Rear tyres should be kept below 30psi it jumps around too much and makes the ride very uncomfortable on broken terrain.

[rahul4321]

Originally Posted by avishar

Much thanks! Hows that W124 doing?


100kmph is 6800rpm and it will happily do that all day.However 90 is plenty fast for Indian highways and would be the sweet spot where rider fatigue,fuel efficiency,windblast and mile munching ability all converge together.

I loved the way you put together this sentence. It covers absolutely everything i look for in a bike and answers all my questions; in one sentence!

On a seperate note; i used to have the Pulsar 180 (Version 2: All Black- Non digital) and boy o boy, that bike pulled like crazy from 20-60. I can just imagine how the NS pulls. Congratulations on owning a beauty!!

[RonXRi94]

Congrats on your new bike, and I'm glad to know you've discovered the joy of riding a 2 wheeled monster. The 200NS is my favourite too, the one that I'd like to ride if my parents allowed me to own a bike

Wish you many joyful miles on your beast. Do keep us updated

[avishar]

3612 Kms,vibes have reduced a lot,engine has opened up even more with a sweet sounding grunt and gave me 44kmpl(full tank to reserve) in one cycle.I have seen that its doing 40kmpl regularly now.

Will give a detailed post later.

[asit.kulkarni93]

Hello Avishar,
Congrats on the NS. I have a very close friend of mine who has a yellow NS. It is i guess from the first lot delivered in Pune. I ride with him quite often and rode on his NS with the Naked wolves to Mahabaleshwar in July 2013. I have been a Yamaha/Honda/Suzuki fan since my childhood, But the 200NS is the first Indian bike which i have liked. Whenever me and friend travel to some place in the city we usually take my Fazer. The reason being the NS is heavy, Vibrates bad and lastly the engine heats up fast which starts the fan and it gets difficult to ride. Out on the highways we only take the NS. I just love this beast on the highways. I Don't ever downshift while overtaking with the NS. Our normal cruising speeds are ~85-90kmph and as soon as there is a need to overtake/accelerate the NS does it very easily. Though it came with it share of niggles, but the 200NS is the best pulsar till date. Attaching a pic of my friends NS.
Ride Safe

Asit

[avishar]

Just came back from a 810km ride,Bangalore-Mangalore-Bangalore with fellow tbhpian preetam_KORG and 2 more Naked Wolves riders.

I would highly recommend anyone who is doing this route to do Bangalore-Hassan-Belur-Mudikere-Bantwal-Mangalore via Charmadi Ghats.Roads are fantastic all through.Hassan-Mudikere is a winding scenic very well laid 2 lane and the ghats are fabulous.Minimal traffic,freshly laid tarmac and corner after corner.

While going we went via Shirdi ghat which was terrible,with equally bad traffic.

Bike did 42-43kmpl with no problems.

[Akhilash95]

Originally Posted by avishar

Just came back from a 810km ride,Bangalore-Mangalore-Bangalore. I would highly recommend anyone who is doing this route to do Bangalore-Hassan-Belur-Mudikere-Bantwal-Mangalore via Charmadi Ghats.Roads are fantastic all through.Hassan-Mudikere is a winding scenic very well laid 2 lane and the ghats are fabulous.Minimal traffic,freshly laid tarmac and corner after corner. While going we went via Shirdi ghat which was terrible,with equally bad traffic. Bike did 42-43kmpl with no problems.

did you finish this trip in 1 day?
If yes, any tips for newbies while doing such long trips.

[avishar]

Originally Posted by Akhilash95

did you finish this trip in 1 day?
If yes, any tips for newbies while doing such long trips.

First of all i am a newbie myself and this was infact my first long trip.:-)

I did not do it in a day,overnight halt at Mangalore.We actually left at 4 in the morning from Bangalore because it was a very spur of the moment plan!

As far as newbie experience goes,i would say,riding in proper riding gear is must.Since i was accompanied by very experienced riders,following proper riding etiqutette is very important with a leader and sweeper at the back.In the twisty sections i fell back,prefering to keep my own pace,trying to understand the nuances of picking out the correct line,braking,wieght transfer,leaning,powering out.I messed up my lines initially,but picked it up as we went along.Its a long learning curve!

Drink lots of water,keep in mind your fuel stops and stretch every 100kms or so.

We passed Hassan at 3.30 in the afternoon.Saw your post in the 390 thread.Your bike? Sad to see the rim!

[avishar]

Ownership Report

Odo reading:4800kms
Issues faced:

1.A small squeak squeak noise from the rear discs which had persisted for the first 500kms or so.I was told this common in a new vehicle.
2.Loose/malfunctioning coolant temperature sensor.This was the biggest bugbear that I had faced.This used to cause the radiator fan to turn on and off intermittently all day long.The damn thing had a mind of its own,and repeated visits to the service centre did not fix it,which included replacing the sensor and replacing the fuse.In the end I gave it to Amba Bajaj Hosur road,since I was said that they had much more experienced technicians.They did some troubleshooting and they took apart the whole assembly,and lo and behold the problem was solved.I believe the sensor came loose and was taking readings from somewhere else.
3.Rattling console/radiator assembly.The instrument console is a source of vibrations which other owners have fixed by jamming pieces of cloth/sponge in between the panels.The other source of vibration is the top part of the radiator which resonates in between 4000-6000rpm,the place where one will spend the most on the bike and therefore does get a bit irritating.
4.The rear hugger has become quite loose and moves around a lot.
5.The OEM engine oil,Bajaj DTSi is at best par for the course and owners should definitely switch over to better oils like Motul 7100.Having compared NS's running on Motul with mine,the difference is stark.The DTSi isn't bad as such,but it has its shortcomings.Takes too much time to get upto temperature and overshoots the optimum temperature whenever it is faced with some heavy crawling traffic.Anything above and below the optimum temperature,which is around 1500rpm idling,the gear shifts get lazy and notchy and the throttle response becomes a bit slow.At idle while the Motul bikes purr sweetly,mine sounds like a tractor!
6.Eurogrips are more like Euroslips.They are not bad for corner carving,gives you a fair grip to play around with(especially for novices for me) but boy do they lock up on hard braking.

Extra costs incurred: None,bar the regular cost for the 1st service.

Fuel efficiency:I have consistently got 42-44kmpl with largely city driving.

Positives:
A lot many!

Trip Report:

Route:Bangalore-Mangalore-Bangalore.
Distance covered:820kms.
Total riding time:16hrs.

This was one weird trip.We were sitting at home,getting into the weekend mood,which for me meant doing absolutely nothing.At around 12ish in the night,a fellow NW member(Ratan) pings in the whatsapp group that he was on a short ride outside the city and asked if anyone wants to join.The thing is he was already some 70kms from Bangalore and was cooling his heels at a CCD somewhere.Some of us ,who were awake replied back that,"You carry on,it's too late for us to join/sleepy/busy with gf".Something on those lines.

Preetam(preetam_KORG,who is also my roommate),the mischievous devil that he is,had that glint in his eyes which meant that he was interested in a ride.I could almost hear the gears in this brain slowly turning as he wondered about it.And I knew what's going to come next.He pestered me for the next 1hour to let's leave and head out for Mangalore catching with up Ratan by tomorrow morning.

Now I am pretty new to this entire biking/riding thing and I listened to him and considered the plan quite....MAD! In the middle of the night? 400kms? I don't even have proper gear for crying out loud.I feigned sleep which didn't work out because he poured water on me.The riding gear argument also didn't work because a fellow NW rider immediately offered me his spare gear.Reluctantly(Actually not,I was pretty pumped up by then) I agreed to go.

Pack clothes,attach luggage to bike,gear on,lid on,ignition on....and no fuel in my bike.So we headed out at 4 in the morning towards Madiwala,picked up cash,filled the NS with fuel and headed towards our another rider's(KD) house who is also joining us.This guy was the one who lent me the gear,what a kind fellow.

And then there were 3.The crisp early morning air was refreshing and drove the remaining sleep out of me.Lovely empty roads.I sniggered thinking about the poor souls who are going to be stuck in traffic tomorrow in a few hours time.We rode on,in a straight formation with me sandwiched in the middle with preetam acting as the sweeper.Once we crossed Neelmangala,the average cruising speed picked up to 100-110 and stayed there till we stopped at Begur,100kms later.

I must say the NS is a fantastic tourer.With its unhurried power delivery,a meaty mid range,a 430-450km range,comfy seats and enough places to attach saddles,top bags,bungee cords its a machine build for the highways.After riding nonstop for 1.5hrs,the engine sounded so much sweeter and gear shifts-hot knife through butter.He halted next after Hassan were the roads narrowed into 2 lanes and drove on towards the ghats.

And then,disappointment.Shiradi Ghats was in one word-torture.For both my back and the bike.The roads were atrocious,the traffic frightening at times with heavily laden lorries hurtling towards you from the wrong side.Speeding Volvos and Innovas literally pushing you off the road and the potholes,oh the potholes.they were back breaking,and the bike took a beating too.Finally the inevitable happened,an accident.Not us,but a large trailer had missed judged a turn,hit a omni head on and the road was blocked.We being on bikes crossed the accident scene,stopped for a smoke and carried on.In its defence,the views were breathtaking and the road finally did get better as we climbed down.Preetam and KD took off,corner carving,while I followed at my own pace.

Because of the glorious potholed roads a lot of new vibrations had crept.I was quite low at this point and I fell back from the group,going slower,hoping that the vibrations would filter out.But of no avail.By the time we reached Mangalore,we got a bit lost trying to find the beach and hit traffic.Finally at 11 we pulled into the parking lot of Panambur beach were we met up with Ratan.

Although I was happy that I did it,but truth be told I was quite gloomy.The bike felt bad,and also the power delivery felt very different with a lot of flat spots.If my bike doesn't feel right I automatically go into a bad mood.However an hour of cooling down in the waves and I was back to normal.

We decided to stay over for the night since I and preetam were dog tired.After a bit of wandering around we found a cheap government dormitory-ish hotel.4 beds one big room for 900bucks.Awesome.Drop luggage.Take shower.Sleep.

Ratan and KD decided to leave at night since they had to be in Bangalore by tomorrow.But the lazy bums that we are,atleast I am,me and Preetam opted for leaving tomorrow after a good nights sleep,which in hindsight was a good idea.

So the next day we started off at about 11(early birds we are not!),filled up fuel to the brim,checked pressure and left.Thankfully,no Shiradi ghats this time,we headed towards Belthamgady-Charmadi Ghats-Mudigere-Belur-Hassan.There was a bit of traffic till Bantwal,but the roads were beautiful and curvy.Passing through small towns and villages,the tarmac swept this way and that with long sweepers and chicanes thrown in for good measures.Hadnt it not been for those beastly buses which came tearing down once in a while,the road is very enjoyable.After 2 de reguir ciggy breaks we carried on till we reached the ghats.And what a joy it was!

Well paved roads,adequately signed,light traffic,thick green foliage and lovely tight corner-after-corner.I screwed up many of my lines,wrong gear,going wide,bad posture, wrong throttling but after a few I got a hang of it and concentrated hard to get it right.Lots to learn still,but it was a wonderful experience.We stopped where there was break in the trees to see the stunning vista and that was cue to get out the cameras and get the money shot.

We got down the hills and just before Mudigere we stopped for a hearty brunch at this quant little restaurant at the edge of a coffee plantation.4 cups coffee+4 plates of bread ommellete.Sat for a while,not a sound anywhere,except the odd car passing by,green as far as you can see and nursing the steaming hot coffee.Bliss.

Mudigere-Belur was mouthwateringly good.Its a 2 lane state highway,very well paved,slight traffic and road weaves this way and that.Beautiful countryside alternating between green fields,the warm yellow hues of grasslands,dark thick forests and small towns.I wished I could slow down and take pics.Cruised along lazily at 70,the roads reminding me so much of my childhood,when every highway was 2 lane and our frequent family trips from Calcutta to the bungalows in Ghatsila.It was to me,the best part of the ride.

Belur to Hassan was over in a jiffy,the roads are much wider and better and much straighter.Slowly the average speed picked up and we hit Bangalore-Hassan tolled road.Stopped for some recharging and the next 150kms till Nice road entry was done non-stop.Back to boring featureless highway,really missed those curvy SHs.I am not really too fond of nonstop driving,but I wanted to see how good my endurance was.At the end of it I was a bit tired and I think 150kms is the most I can do non-stop without stopping and stretching a bit.The final leg was NICE road to electronic city which was dusted off in 25 mins.And back home in another 10!

Oh And the vibrations which had crept in at mangalore had died out on the return journey.I got an FE of about 44kmpl,hitting reserve in the middle of NICE road.

In the end I must say,the NS is a fantastic no-nonsense tourer.Just fill it with fuel and head off.It has enough power to overtake in 6th without dropping a gear and its planted at highway speeds.If a windscreen is added,like Preetam's it's even better.

Next month Goa!

[tracerspiff]

Originally Posted by avishar

3612 Kms,vibes have reduced a lot,engine has opened up even more with a sweet sounding grunt and gave me 44kmpl(full tank to reserve) in one cycle.I have seen that its doing 40kmpl regularly now.

I have tried many different riding styles and the max I have got 35 kmpl.. that too in the run-in period when I kept the speed below 60 kmph. Now I average 30-32 kmpl and my bike has done ~3500 kms.
Do you open up the throttle every chance you get? Or are you a more sedate driver?

[avishar]

Originally Posted by tracerspiff

I have tried many different riding styles and the max I have got 35 kmpl.. that too in the run-in period when I kept the speed below 60 kmph. Now I average 30-32 kmpl and my bike has done ~3500 kms.
Do you open up the throttle every chance you get? Or are you a more sedate driver?

I will describe you my daily commute to work.

My route is Singasandra-Hosur Road-Silk Board-Agara-Bellandur.

I leave home at around 10.The NS requires a bit of choke in the morning usually because if i start mine up and let it idle it will die in 15 seconds.So i choke it for a min,then cut the choke and let it idle.While choking i pump the clutch a few times so as to get the engine oil moving a bit faster.Then usually go about my cleaning the bike/wearing helmet/distracted by whatsapp while it idles.I let it idle for sometime till i see that its idling smoothly with no hiccups.

Then sit on saddle,do a burnout,lay a long line of rubber as i thunder away through the smoke.

Not really.:-)

I am not a sedate driver but i usually take it easy for first 2-3kms,shifting at 4k.The gearbox becomes smooth within 2-3km and by the time i reach Silk Board the idle has risen to usually 1,500,which is the point(atleast for my bike) its at its optimum temperature.

My gearshifts are usually whithin 4-6k,and i keep up with the flow,keeping ahead of the traffic if i can overtake.No matrix-style traffic carving though.

I will do a few more full tank cycles and let you know.Hopefully its not a fluke!

You frequent Amba Bajaj HSR? Same here.Do meet up if you are in the area.:-)

[preetam_KORG]

Avishar, one of the impromptu poser photos that we did during that Mangalore Ride!

[vixz16]

Hi!

I am not much of a Bike person, but had to purchase one as the place where I have recently shifted, it is very difficult to commute through 4 wheeler. I wanted to spend around 1L and loved the Pulsar 200NS. This is my first ever two wheeler.

Me, my wife and my kid are simply loving it. I wanted to ask you few questions, please dont feel that they are stupid ones as i am very new to this.

1. The pulsar when cam had small white stickers in the corner s of Pulsar Logo on petrol tank. I removed those white stickers, but it has left a permanent white mark there, what do you guys suggest? What kind of chemical should I use to remove those sticker marks? Mind you these marks are now over 12 days old and I dont want to use any chemical that will harm the paint.

2. There is no Side Stand indicator in it. I had noticed in some ads that pulsar had one in the front display. Am i right on this one?

3. 200NS doesn't include a side kick, is it normal?

Please help me with these questions

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by vixz16

1. What kind of chemical should I use to remove those sticker marks? Mind you these marks are now over 12 days old and I dont want to use any chemical that will harm the paint.

Go to any of the nearby number plate stickers shop. They have a chemical which will get rid of the gum from those stickers.

Originally Posted by vixz16

2. There is no Side Stand indicator in it. I had noticed in some ads that pulsar had one in the front display. Am i right on this one?

The pulsar 150/180/220 had a side stand indicator. Not sure if its now removed on the 200 NS.

Originally Posted by vixz16

3. 200NS doesn't include a side kick, is it normal?

Nowadays most of the premium commuters do not come with a kick starter. Don't worry the batteries are pretty good in these bikes and they will not die even if you dont use the bike for a week or 10 days.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by vixz16

Hi!

3. 200NS doesn't include a side kick, is it normal?

Please help me with these questions

Congrats on your new P200 NS and wish you many happy miles on it. Regarding the kick, Bajaj doesn't provide kick in any of its newer bikes above 150 cc. Bigger maintenance free battery coupled with auto-choke should keep the bike trouble free for 3 years with average use. Just keep any eye on the speedo-console for the low battery warning to be on the safe side.

To give you a perspective, my 26 months old P180 was lying idle for ~25 days at a stretch during the rains and yet started on a single self.