[AtheK]

Bajaj has sold a grand total of One crore Pulsar bikes in all of it's avatars(Which I have lost count of) . Being an owner of the first one(Definitely Male), I must say pulsar did stir up the market in the right way. Following my footsteps my brother picked one too. I am sure majority of the bikers here would have either owned/ridden a pulsar.

Way to go Bajaj, wishing you the very best for future as well.

TVC

https://youtu.be/UnBPVP0GpY4

[ashwinprakas]

WOW! Finally! I don't see the P220 anywhere in the advertisement!

It is about time they phased it out.

Now I'm just waiting for the production to stop so that the pseudo cult status kicks in and the resale prices go up.

[LordSharan]

Having owned one, I'd like to pay my respects too. I own a P220F and it has been akin to a brother for me. Has stood by me in times of struggle and happiness, has been reliable to T, and can't really find a fault with it.

Having driven other pulsars- (Namely P150, P180, 200NS, 200AS), I think nothing beats P220F in performance, engine tractability and just the awesome feeling of revving the engine hard.

Going back to the past, when Bajaj launched the Pulsar brand, it sort of revolutionised the biking fraternity. The machine was ahead of its time, and a powerhouse. It has been a path breaker and has had a lot of feature firsts- LCD Display, Projector Headlamps, LED tail lamps etc.

I wish they do not discontinue the P220F, but give it a proper upgrade in terms of engine power and features and I guess it'd be good to go for another 6-8 years. Some of the items on wishlist are: LED Headlamps, bump in Power output, styling changes here and there to refresh it up, cool color schemes and that should be all.

On a closing note: I think Bajaj Pulsar commercials were one of the best. The video below has a very nice compilation of the ads over a period of time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG10tvQnWuQ

[neil.jericho]

In 2018, owning a new Pulsar (or even a Bajaj for that matter) isnt really a thing anymore in the 'biking enthusiasts' circle. A confused product strategy with just too many variants on dealership floors, stiff competition, a market that is willing to open up its wallets and the perceived excitement factor that KTM offers over Bajaj among other factors, have combined to leave Bajaj's current crop of products out of the radar of many enthusiasts. But in the early 2000s when the Pulsar twins were launched, it was a revolutionary product and one that shook up the Indian market.


Back then, the Hero Honda CBZ was the only thing remotely resembling a performance motorbike. But Bajaj's ambitious ground up development program for the Pulsars was something that captured the imagination of a generation of young enthusiasts who devoured the magazine reviews in OD, ACI, BSM and others. I have read the OD review of the Pulsar twins so much that I probably knew most of it by heart. Good heavens, what a game changer! And the definitely male advertisements were just perfect. My dad bought me a red Pulsar 150 in 2002 and for its time, it was a wonderful bike. The Pulsar twins helped ignite the dreams of countless enthusiasts today who have since upgraded to bigger and better motorcycles.


The initial iterations of the Pulsars injected a dose of freshness that it needed and the Pulsar 220 felt like a proper upgrade for owners of the initial batch of Pulsars. But ask any owner of the first gen P220 and they will tell you that they did the real testing as well as R&D work for the company. For all those who bash Royal Enfield for churning out poor quality bikes, the initial Pulsar 220s prove that Royal Enfield had good company in the 2000s. But then the competition caught on and exciting new offerings started trickling in.


Today, I would probably buy the Pulsar 200 and nothing else if I had to buy a bike from the Bajaj stable. Ask around and build quality and reliability are still the niggling worries when it comes to purchasing a new Bajaj product. The KTM platform sharing angle means that Bajaj will not be able to come up with the one product that will turn it's fortunes around like the original Pulsars did. If Bajaj can get their quality in place, I think they have the potential to shake up the market one more time and start another revolution.


Currently Bajaj doesnt get the recognition that it deserves for its audacious move to launch the Pulsars but history will show Bajaj's foresight and vision deserve to be applauded. So thank you, Bajaj, thank you.

[Nav-i-gator]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Back then, the Hero Honda CBZ was the only thing remotely resembling a performance motorbike.

.

THere was another one (which still exists, through number of iterations, just like the Pulsar), the Apache RTR. In straight line drag races, it would smoke out the pulsars and the CBZ extreme, was better looking too (IMO). We had a Pulsar 180 (Black) and an Apache RTR 160 in our homes. RTR was much better in terms of racing DNA, while Pulsar was much more commuter friendly, thanks to the far less vibrations it produced when revv'ed hard. CBZ extreme I never liked a bit (though the 1st gen CBZ, esp in military green color was a looker).

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Today, I would probably buy the Pulsar 200 and nothing else if I had to buy a bike from the Bajaj stable. Ask around and build quality and reliability are still the niggling worries when it comes to purchasing a new Bajaj product. The KTM platform sharing angle means that Bajaj will not be able to come up with the one product that will turn it's fortunes around like the original Pulsars did. If Bajaj can get their quality in place, I think they have the potential to shake up the market one more time and start another revolution.

What about the Dominar, it's a very good product, what Bajaj did wrong was positioning the product. They should not have projected it as a RE rival product, but a sports tourer. It might not be bringing in the same number as Bajaj expected, but it is still doing very well.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by Nav-i-gator

THere was another one (which still exists, through number of iterations, just like the Pulsar), the Apache RTR. In straight line drag races, it would smoke out the pulsars and the CBZ extreme, was better looking too (IMO). We had a Pulsar 180 (Black) and an Apache RTR 160 in our homes. RTR was much better in terms of racing DNA, while Pulsar was much more commuter friendly, thanks to the far less vibrations it produced when revv'ed hard. CBZ extreme I never liked a bit (though the 1st gen CBZ, esp in military green color was a looker).

The Fiero was around when the CBZ was launched but I felt the two bikes targetted two different segments. The Apache came in much later (~2006?) and was a very good offering by TVS. My brother owned a yellow RTR and except for the occassional wild fish tailing, I really enjoyed the bike. TVS has done a stellar job with maintaining the Apache legacy and today if I had choose between the RTR 200 or the NS 200, I would go for the TVS.

Originally Posted by AtheK

What about the Dominar, it's a very good product, what Bajaj did wrong was positioning the product. They should not have projected it as a RE rival product, but a sports tourer. It might not be bringing in the same number as Bajaj expected, but it is still doing very well.

You are right, its a good product but its probably not for me. I hear of some niggling issues like coolant leakage and so on. Product positioning was awful and flip flopped so much that if it were made a business case study, any MBA student would get a headache trying to decipher the thought process of the Bajaj management, and would prefer to get an F instead! Sales numbers of 1192 a month (from what I could find) are really disappointing. I wouldnt say its doing very well in the market given the expectations from it.

[Amey Kulkarni]

Originally Posted by LordSharan

Having owned one, I'd like to pay my respects too. I own a P220F and it has been akin to a brother for me.

+1

Post selling Discover 125, I could pursue to buy the dream Pulsar 180 around 2007-08 which featured black alloys, Digital display etc

It seriously was a dream come true back then in my engineering days to own one and of course thank my parents for that opportunity.

Hero Honda Karizma (Yellow colour) was always the first choice but a bigger hassle to convince parents and own one in study days.

CBZ first generation production had stopped and Extreme version was introduced which did not have the charm of the first gen.

Discover 125 was the entry level to my biking world, but Pulsar tought me RIDING, wherein I progressively owned Duke 390, Ninja 300 and now Street Triple 675.

Cheers to biking!

Amey

[aghate]

Proud owner of the P180 UG3 which recently completed 10 years. Absolutely no mechanical problems and still a hoot to ride. I still get good comments from people whenever they observe my bike, my personal favorite was from an elderly Uncle at the traffic lights, who said "Your bike is in pristine condition, how old is it?". I responded stating it was 7 years old(at that time). He was rather surprised and said he felt it was max 2 years old.

I wish to compile a thread for my 10 year old and small adventures that I had on it. Just need to find time and do full justice to it.

Posting my favorite commercial here. Reason? My P180 is of the same color and make as show here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBqpQySKwcI

[mithun]

As an ex-owner of a 13 year old Pulsar 150, it was one of the most fun-to-ride machines when compared to other 150cc bikes of that time, combined with...

1. Great Service Support from Bajaj
2. Quality Spares. My last chain sprocket lasted for 72,000 KMS
3. Excellent FE + reliability