[mohammedismail]

FZ16 was my first Bike and it bought a lot of smiles on my face, the attention what the Bike used to get during the Initial days was a good feeling, made me think "Yes I bought a Good looking Bike". Years passed and I wanted to upgrade my bike but it just did not happen. One evening chatting with my Cousin he said that his friend was looking for a Bike and I thought I should sell mine and get a new one.

Next day he came saw the Bike, took a Test Ride and was happy to pick up the Bike.

Now I had to decide as to which Bike do I need to pick up in a Budget of about 1.5lacs. I had Duke and NS in Mind however one thing that I was always concerned about Duke was that, it is made only for one person and I can't really take a pillion rider and we all know why.

Now I only had NS in my mind, Quickly checked with Avishar and Preetam about the Bike and I received a positive feedback.

I decided that I will buy the NS and I wanted one in Yellow but Avishar told me that Yellow is Stopped and I was like WTH. I then called up many showrooms to check if they have Yellow NS in stock and only received negative response from everywhere. Preetam went to an extent in trying to find out if there is any Yellow NS in the entire Karnataka and somewhere there was one and the Bike was booked 5 mins prior to Preetam's call. BADLUCK !

Saturday walked into showroom to book one but the confusion continues as to which Color do I need to pick up. Did not really liked the Dual tone scheme and ended booking one in Full Black ! Insisted them to give me the delivery on the same day and it did not happen however I was promised that I will get the Bike on Monday evening. Wait Continues!

Monday evening went and picked up the Bike, the Buying experience was hassle Free. Looked at the Bike I had a Big smile on the face

ODO reads 300KMS now and Below are few First Impressions

1. The Engine is Refined and is lot Smoother

2. Extremely Happy with the power Output it brings a Big GRIN on my face, the Throttle response even in the Top Gear is pretty Nice, it gives a nice push to the Pillion Rider

3. It took some time to get used to the 6 Speed Gearbox Compared to 5 in FZ, I stalled the Bike couple of times to realize that I had to downshift once again to get to the lower Gear

4. The Bike demands for 6th Gear post 50km/Hr and I can Shift to 6th gear at as low as at the speed of 38km

5. Everytime I shift the Gear @ < 5k RPM I feel the Bike screams to say that she is Under Utilised :P

6. When ever I went on a Flyover in FZ I had to shift down to gain some speed whereas in NS I just need to accelerate to gain the speed even in 6th Gear

7. The Ground clearance is much better when compared to FZ

8. The Shocks are much much better when compared to FZ

9. The Engine switch off button also switches off the Ignition and I don't really need to Turn the Key to switch ignition off, I LIKE!

10. The Headlights go ON only when the engine is running and they turn off when the Engine is switched off, Unlike FZ.

11. You don't need to take off your hand from the Bar to check the Time because it is displayed on the Meter, little nice thing

12. No False Neutrals

13. Experiencing few Vibrations and I guess they will reduce after 1st Service ?

14. The rear stickers, Fuel Knob and the 2 Buttons on the Speedometer look cheap, Could have been better

15. Rear View mirrors could have been better as you don't really get a good view

16. Applied the Rear Brakes hard once and felt the Bike Stepping out of line (Not sure if this is common? as I'm new to the Rear Disc Brake)

17. The Headlight does a Pretty good Job

18. Experienced back pain when I rode the Bike for the first time however after that I did not have any back pain ( I Still Love the Seating Position of FZ)

19. No Centre Stand provided from the company, It needs to be purchased as an accessory and costs about 800


To Conclude I'm Very Happy and Impressed with the Bike and have had a good 300KMS ride on it till now, looking forward for the 1st Service post 500kms to unleash the Naked Wolve !!

Thank you Preetam and Avishar for all your help

Feel free to ask questions if you have any.

I will stop and let the pictures do some talking

[mohammedismail]

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved from Assembly Line to Motorbike Section.

[avishar]

Congrats!

Happy to have helped.Looking forward to see in some rides.

1.Stepping out of line while braking:

Did you feel the rears lockup? or just the bike pulling a bit to the left?

Its very easy to lock up the rears with those Eurogrips,i would highly advise you never to slam on the rears in panic braking.You will lockup for sure.A 50-50 front rear distribution is most effective and on fast stops,press the rear with medium force and use the front hard.Trust me,you will stop safely.

Brakes as such are very good.

If you feel a slight pull to the left while using rear discs,that is apparently due to the rotating inertia of the discs and the wheels.I have felt it too.Experts can shed a bit more light on this.This is apparently the reason why on biger bikes the brakes are usually offset.

2.Vibes will go after a 1000kms or so.I used to be very worried about vibes initially,because there were quite a lot of between 5500-6500 rpm.It has disappeared now.

3.Powerband is 6000 and above,and post 7000 its a surge.The bike loves to be revved.
Stay at or below 5000 for 500 or 600kms.Slowly open it up.It will take sometime for it to be free-revving till the redline.

4.Clean and lube chain every 500kms.

5.Full tank to reserve is around 9.5kms.Warning light is not a sign of reserve but just a low fuel light.You can do ideally 60-70kms in reserve.

6.First fuel bar is some 4L.Thats goes out after usually 140kms on mine.Last 2 bars are 2 each or something.Very confusing fuel meter.

7.Let the bike idle for sometime in morning or after you start off with a gap of few hours.The engine oil takes sometime to reach upto temp.Wait for till the needle is about 1200rpm and it idles smoothly.Makes a huge difference as to how the bike behaves the rest of journey.

8.Bad traffic will heat up the engine for sure.If you see the idle inching above 1500rpm,you are hot.20mins of driving in stop and go crawling traffic and you can feel the heat among your legs.Engine fan comes on at 90c coolant temp.

9.Rear view mirrors are inadequate.Take sometime to set it up properly everyday,dont ignore it.Try out a few combinations to get as much of the road as possible,because you will have a huge blindspot just behind you on the bike.I have had entire Sumos hiding in the blindspot.Lane changes in this bike needs a bit of extra attention and always indicate.

[Abhi_abarth]

Congrats on your acquisition. The bike looks a killer in full black. I am itching to upgrade my 7 year old unicorn but little skeptical on couple of things on the NS.

1. How is the ride quality ? I read you had back pain initially. This is my biggest concern as I am experiencing severe back pain off late during and after my office commute which is a 56 KM journey (to and fro).

2. Vibrations - Does the bike vibrate a lot or is it just during the run in period. I have read it does vibrate during low rpms.

Once again congrats and enjoy the ride

[avishar]

Originally Posted by Abhi_abarth

Congrats on your acquisition. The bike looks a killer in full black. I am itching to upgrade my 7 year old unicorn but little skeptical on couple of things on the NS.

1. How is the ride quality ? I read you had back pain initially. This is my biggest concern as I am experiencing severe back pain off late during and after my office commute which is a 56 KM journey (to and fro).

2. Vibrations - Does the bike vibrate a lot or is it just during the run in period. I have read it does vibrate during low rpms.

Once again congrats and enjoy the ride

If i may add my own experiences.

1.Ride quality- I have nothing to compare against since NS is my first bike but ride quality is good.I generally dont like soft sprung cars or bikes but the NS is a good compromise.I did a 800km ride over the weekend and no back issues at all,seating position is very comfy.However it doesnt glide over anything,you will feel road imperfections.

If you swap the tyres for a soft compound like Pirelli Sport Demons,the ride quality becomes even better.

Pillion comfort is bad,personally speaking.

2.Vibes are present between 6-7rpm.Depends a lot on how you have run-in the bike.Especially if you switch to Motul it becomes butter smooth.Also if you keep the bike in good shape,tighten the console bolts and bolts hear and their periodically,the bike is super smooth.

Vibes if any are a small buzz.They disappear at 7-8.You can comfortably cruise all day at 100@6800rpm

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by mohammedismail

16. Applied the Rear Brakes hard once and felt the Bike Stepping out of line 18. Experienced back pain when I rode the Bike for the first time however after that I did not have any back pain

Hello Friends,

Congrats on buying one of the best Indian bike till date.

Regarding Bike stepping out during hard braking, I believe you need to apply the front brake little harder than the rear brake.

As far as back pain is concerned, I feel it is all about getting adjusted to seating posture on new vehicle. Since you were used to seating style of earlier bike it will take a little time for you to get adjusted. Thats it.

Once again congrats and wish you millions of safe miles on your Black Pulsar NS.

Thanks,

[abhinav.s]

Congrats on the new acquisition. Looks really killer in black and add to it the skills with your clicks and it stands out even more!

With regards to hard braking using the rear brakes, its a strict no-no. Always use your fronts to the hilt and use the rear only to feather it in case you need extra braking. Your front will take care of the stopping power needed. That is exactly the reason why you have bigger brake discs up front compared to the rear always. Read up on some books by Nick Ienatsch / Keith Code and you will find the basics covered very well about riding sport bikes.

Wishing you lot of happy miles on the NS!

[preetam_KORG]

All the problems stated herein are simply new bike phobia.
Just ride some more and things will even out on their own.

If I may add a couple of points:

1. The eurogrips are not as bad as people make you believe. I've had friends overtaking me at full revs on full lean, the bike being rock solid. After one time, it all boils down to rider skill. However I will still agree that this bike cries out loud for better rubber.

2. The rearview mirrors and the overall ergonomics take some getting used to. We need to remember that this is a bike which combines the best of all the worlds put together, so there will be some evident corner cutting.

3. This bike is best ridden solo. If you have an enemy you want to take revenge on, make him sit pillion and head for bumpy offroading trails.

4. This bike amidst all the nakedness is a sublime tourer. Try it for yourself and you will believe.

Ismail, Congrats on the buy!
Wish you a lot of happy memories with this one!

[avishar]

Originally Posted by preetam_KORG

All the problems stated herein are simply new bike phobia.
Just ride some more and things will even out on their own.

If I may add a couple of points:

1. The eurogrips are not as bad as people make you believe. I've had friends overtaking me at full revs on full lean, the bike being rock solid. After one time, it all boils down to rider skill. However I will still agree that this bike cries out loud for better rubber.

Agreed absolutely.But hard braking is a still a strict no-no.I have tried every sort of combination,light back braking,light to hard back braking,hard back brakes then ease off and 50% of the time it will lock up even for the tiniest bit.

As a tyre its actually very good and i havnt even come any near to its limits as i saw in our Mangalore trip.

[mohammedismail]

Originally Posted by avishar

Congrats!
1.Stepping out of line while braking:

Did you feel the rears lockup? or just the bike pulling a bit to the left?

Thank You I Felt the rear lockup. Like I said that I'm new to the Rear Disc and did not really expect that. Now I use Front as well as the rear proportionately!

Originally Posted by Abhi_abarth

Congrats on your acquisition.

1. How is the ride quality ? I read you had back pain initially.

2. Vibrations - Does the bike vibrate a lot or is it just during the run in period.

Once again congrats and enjoy the ride

Thank you Buddy. The Ride Quality is good, You will definitely like it after riding the Unicorn and Likes. The Back pain that I faced was only for the 1st Day when I rode to my office, I Guess it took time for me to get used to the seating posture when compared to the very comfortable Seating posture in FZ. I rode about 100kms in a Day in the city and did not experience any Backpain.

The Vibrations are not very high, and I'm told there will be no Vibrations post 1st service or so. My Bike will be due for 1st Service soon, may be sometime next week, I will keep you posted.

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello Friends,

Congrats on buying one of the best Indian bike till date.

Regarding Bike stepping out during hard braking, I believe you need to apply the front brake little harder than the rear brake.

As far as back pain is concerned, I feel it is all about getting adjusted to seating posture on new vehicle. Since you were used to seating style of earlier bike it will take a little time for you to get adjusted. Thats it.

Once again congrats and wish you millions of safe miles on your Black Pulsar NS.

Thanks,

Thank you Jignesh. I agree with you, I need to apply both the brakes proportionately which I learnt after that Incident, However in FZ I always used both the Brakes for better Braking and I just need to continue the same in this as well

The Back pain was just because of the Seating posture which took good 30kms for me to get used to!

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Congrats on the new acquisition. Looks really killer in black and add to it the skills with your clicks and it stands out even more!

With regards to hard braking using the rear brakes, its a strict no-no.

Wishing you lot of happy miles on the NS!

Thank you Abhinav, Glad you liked the pics. Regarding the Brakes I just mentioned above.

Originally Posted by preetam_KORG

All the problems stated herein are simply new bike phobia.
Just ride some more and things will even out on their own.

3. This bike is best ridden solo. If you have an enemy you want to take revenge on, make him sit pillion and head for bumpy offroading trails.

Ismail, Congrats on the buy!
Wish you a lot of happy memories with this one!

Thank you Preetam. I totally agree with you on the revenge for pillion rider

Preetam and Avishar looking forward to ride with you guys sometime !

[mohammedismail]

The Spanner Icon started glowing after the ODO reached 450KMS indicating that It's due for Service.

I'm going to leave her for Service on Monday after riding about 100+ KMS in the weekend

Current FE is 33KMPL, hoping the number to increase after the 1st Service!

[tracerspiff]

Originally Posted by mohammedismail

Thank You I Felt the rear lockup. Like I said that I'm new to the Rear Disc and did not really expect that. Now I use Front as well as the rear proportionately!

I have felt the rear wheel lock up in my NS many times. If the road has even a little bit of dust(like the corners of flyovers) , or when you jam the back brake too hard, the wheels "will" lock up and will scare you senseless! It can be avoided with a bit of practice though.

I did the following after some scary experiences during panic braking. Cows, Idiot taxis, etc etc
Find a nice empty road(inner ring road from ejipura to domlur late in the night or early morning) and practice braking to a standstill. Front:Back brake effort should be 60:40. Do these steps

Brake "hard" from 40 kmph to a standstill in a straight line without the rear locking up, keep doing the same for higher speeds in increments of 20 kmph. Do this until the braking becomes an instinct.
My rear - wheel lock ups have almost gone away now. And I know the limits of my bike much better.

[mohammedismail]

Bike is back from 1st Service. The Gear shifts are lot more smoother now and engine is Butter smooth !

The Bike handles amazingly well, IMPRESSED !

Had not crossed 5k RPM before the service, post service I noticed that after 5k RPM the Vibrations are quite high, it is annoying !!

Also noticed that the RVMs appear blur due to vibration post 50KMPH Anybody else facing this issue ?

Can someone shed some light on the Run In period please? The Manual says upto 2k KMS and I'm sure no one really follows that. I always thought after 1st Service one is free to start redlining, may not be immediately but gradually. Had posted the same question on one of the Group and I have received mixed responses. I want some clarity on Run in Period.

[Desmosedici]

Firstly Congrats on the NS and thanks for putting up the thread. It does help prospective buyers like me decide.

Secondly i would advise you to follow the manual and complete the run-in of 2k kms. The manufacturers might have done extensive testing and only then published the details on the manual. General run-in followed by most i guess is 1k kms as was when i had purchased my CBZ in 2002.

Keep the thread updated and ride safe buddy