True story:
I was returning home late last night. I noticed a pulsar ahead of me. The rider was going real slow and swaying a bit. This was on MG road, Bangalore, opposite the Oberoi hotel.
There was a huge tree on the left side of the road.
Unfortunately the rider did not see the tree and went headlong into it at less than 20 kmph. He fell on to the traffic side of the road right in front of me. There was a bus on my right and having no way of avoiding the clown I ran over his front tyre on my Roadking. With my usual presence of mind I waved and shouted at the bus guy to stop and he managed to do it thereby saving the clowns life.
Luckily nobody was injured since all 3 vehicles were going slow.
Probably the impact on the tree had weakened the front end with the result the front suspensions, ALL wheel spokes, headlight fairing and headlights were smashed beneath my tyres. The pulsar is now totalled. Only the engine, fuel tank and rear wheel remains. And a bit of the handle.
Perhaps blue balls who likes to write so many comments would like to try wheelies on it.
As expected my Roadking had barely a scratch on it. I only had to remove the pulsar bits embedded in the tyre and I was on my way again.
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Here are my impressions of riding a 2 year old one for 20 km on Bajaj Pulsar
=Ride comfort:
For the rider it is awful to have a badly designed fuel tank between your legs. If you happen to jam the brakes hard you will be ’’definately not male’’.
Rear passenger sits about 3 feet off the ground. Its difficult for me who is of average height (5 ft. 10 in.) to climb on to it. Its uncomfortable to sit as the foot rest, especially if the bike is fitted with a saree guard, is rather high up. Its like you’re squatting on the bike from 3 feet above. Your feet cant reach the ground easily either as the rear rider or the main rider.
=Gear shift and clutch mechanism:
The gears make a sound when you shift. It goes like a tap dancer almost with a clacking sound as you shift gears.
The clutch is extremely weak. I could feel vibrations while releasing the clutch. I thought maybe my technique was not right and tried varying the rate of release and rate of accelleration. But no, the clutch is very weak.
=Disc brakes:
Totally pointless for a 150 cc bike. If you happen to jam the brakes while doing even 60 kmph the front wheel locks instantly. You need extreme care and nimble fingers to operate this correctly. I always felt front disc brakes were only meant for a bike doing 200 kmph. Below that its useless.
Rear brakes are ok.
=Controls:
High quality control switches and button are intuitively placed so you dont have any trouble riding first time.
=Good bright lights.
=Bad side mirrors:
The rear/side mirrors are too small. The designer was some idiot with no brains. It like the cross section of an idli and you cant see anything behind you.
Luckily I’m used to looking behind, sideways and under my yezdi Roadking before turning.
=Accelleration and pick up:
About average for a bajaj bike. But with an unstable bike any speed is dangerous.
Thats it for now.