Disclaimer: This review is about my Pulsar, not pulsars in general, be it the Pulsar classic, v1 or v2.
Zma is too bulky for the city. Morover, fetches too much attention. Empties the fuel tank fully and then sips some of the petrol left on the floor.
So, I needed another bike(for the city). I Considered the following bikes-
CBZ- Less Performance and mileage, acting its age too.
P150 Dtsi-i (V1)- Average Performance and mileage, too many on the road. Liked its big bro better.
RX100- Now old, but much better than the competition.
P180 Dts-i (V1)- After a lot of heated arguments with myself (LOL), finally settled with this bike for myself.
Why?
Sexy Performance
Mindblowing mileage for such kind of performance
Acoustics, one of the best on a four stroker
Less attention on the roads because of the non-flashy nature
Best handler for the city
So far, not only has the bike has given me whatever I wanted out of it, but gave some more.
The bike looks good from all angles, but after the v2 Pulsars, looks likes old fish. The spoked wheels do not gel with the overall flow of the bike. Nor does the fairing ( I personally like naked bikes). But the classic shape is much better than the current 150cc bikes(except obviously the Pulsars, and to some extent Apache). It looks like a Cheetah about to jump on hapless prey. Most guys would most probably have an idea on how the bike looks, so i’ll skip that part.
Now to the performance. On the onset I would like to say that I did not run-in the bike. So, the performance of other P180’s may vary. On the first day itself, wanted to check out the acceleration and top speed of the bike. (I am quite an inquisitive guy) Unexpectedly, the bike seems to be very unenthusiastic at low revs(maybe I was too used to the long stroke nature of Zma). So what am I scared of? Give full throttle. Whoa... as the needle slashes past the 6000 rpm mark, things happen fast.(hehe....for Indian 4 stroke standards). Nothing prepares you for what follows. Seriously the bike’s fast. So went to NH22, and checked it out.
First, stopped the bike. Put it in first and vroom! First gear 45kmph; nice going, 2nd gear 65kmph, now for the 3rd gear, crouched on the tank with my chest resting on the tank, 95kmph. Fassst. Fourth gear, bike went 115kmph before the last gear change. Fifth gear and the bike all maxxed out, the bike went 120, 125, 130. Then, the going went a little slow. 133, 135 and finally hitting a top speed(obviously on speedo) of 137kmph. S e x y, I thought to myself. Zma did nearabout the same speeds on the highway in each gear. But in fifth, Zma had a better top speed. Went to 140kmph. Would like to clarify though that i’ve taken out Zma’s fairing(as to make it lighter and also to decrease air resistance) and put in a K&N and bigger jets. 179cc and 16bhp challenging against 223cc and 17bhp. 44cc is a hell of a lot of difference in the context of Indian bikes. Conclusion: The bike moves! Doing all this, and then some more and I though maybe its time for a raise. But hell no. The bike returned 35 kmpl!!! f(pardon me, I couldn’t believe it). After all the thrashings it bore, it returned 35kmpl.
Right then, time for the max mileage test. Put in One litre of fuel. Did not exceed 3500rpm in any gear, and kept the bike at ~3500rpm in top gear(55kmph). Bike crossed 40kms, then 50kms. I was like, whats this??!! Was getting frustrated like hell. Still babied the throttle. At roundabouts, did not brake, just went on doing 55 kmph. No unneccessary brakings and acceleration. The bike crossed 55kms. I was praying to god, let this come to an end and I can ride the B I t c h like I normally ride her(No definately male here, I prefer females, thank you very much), with the full fisted treatment. The bike stopped at about 60kms(for the numbercrunchers-60.4kms) and there were mixed feelings. 60kmpl!!!WTF!!! I never ever recieved such kind of mileage ever in my life. Chetak gave me ~35kmpl, Zma gave me like max 38-40kmpl, and now this. Now, thats called having your cake and eating it too.
The bike’s taken on with streetracers. I know its kinda foolish to indulge in it, but the kicks(pun unintended) you return out of it, makes up for it. Almost all bikes have seen the 100/90 Zapper of mine, except RD350(i dont think he was revving its t*ts off) and 2-3 2 strokes(RX100 or RX135 couldn’t notice, but 100% ported).
But now, coming to its problems.
The Bike’s not too comfortable dealing with high revs unlike maybe a Unicorn or Zma.
The Clutch is very hard and not at all easy to use.(Maybe i’ll have to change the Engine oil)
Very very uncomfortable on long rides(especially after the Zma), Big tank, forward set footpegs, low handlebars and a narrow seat. What to do you get? Also the sound and vibes start to get irritating after sometime at high speeds (at ~115kmph; 8000rpm)
The bike is front heavy, so at slow speeds handling suffers.
The front tyre lacks feel. (due to heavy front??)
Shocks are non existant. (maybe due to the extreme torture they have gone through :D)
Bajaj’s paint finish is not upto the mark.
The bike starts to scream after 125kmph.
The bike’s chassis cant handle more than 125kmph speeds easily, starts to wallow.
But these problems seem to be nit-picked. The bike easily has more advantages than disadvantages.
One more point. Comparing to Zma, the bike is not delicate and can handle rough use better. Also its much safer.(because of the crash guard, which zma lacks).
So there we have it, my crotch rocket, the Pulsar 180.
Looking forward for your comments.
And please dont forget to rate and comment even if you are late.
Thanks for reading.