Bajaj Pulsar 200 owners club

The Dubai story - 2

2009-11-18T01:32:00.046+05:30

Dubai is a city of rich. or rather Dubai Emirate is Emirate of rich. Its not a city per se. And if you are rich with U$Ds, the better. Your american-ness will be very helpful here. Dubai and USA share a fascination towards each other, you can't miss it unless you are unlucky enough to be locked in a 6x6x8 cell in French Guiana since your birth and you cannot make out Paris Hilton from Indira gandhi. Not that I am complaining about it. After all we have generations in India living to a dream of going to US of A and making it big. Its modernness is so polished and so recent. Actually every modern city is bound to be polished, but there is something about Dubai which makes you wonder and scratch your head in amazement and awe. For a land that became a country as late as 1971, their achievements are mega. There are still a few rough patches although like: You see, on one hand there is world's tallest building (Burj Dubai,yeah) and on the opposite side, camels grazing in the desert, no kidding! But that issue is fast being looked after. Soon there will be no such contradicitions to be seen, and they are almost there. For the starters, there are virtually no poor people. No shabby houses. No broken roads. No garbage. No dirt. No smelly by lanes. No crowd, In fact there are almost no people on the roads.The public transport vehicles are nice and clean, so are the bus and metro stops. If you are coming from India, be warned, you are going to miss a lot of things. Another thing you notice is quantity and quality of cars, that too big huge cars. Small cars and two wheelers are next to non-existent. If you see a bike, consider it one of those rare days so it might rain. If you see two bikes in a day, you most probably roamed out of Dubai to some other emirate, may be Ajman. If you see a bi-cycle, you came far, far-off like say,India. For a person like me who is crazy for all things that move on wheels (yeah you read it right, girls on skates included) I was in heaven. Listing the cars that I saw would be too tiring to write and read. For the connoisseurs, I would mention a few very rare and remarkable cars that I saw roaming in Dubai:
(*note: the serial numbers are not as per their significance, it will be insulting for the cars who got a number other than #1)

1. Ford GT, An American legend. Its awesomeness is not to be calculated. Ford's flag bearer based on the legendary Ferrari killer GT40 and probably the best Ford ever made. After Model T that is.

2. Lotus 7 or Caterham 7. Lotus 7 is too old, I guess it was Caterham 7 only. He zoomed past in a moment. A bare bones machine for purists. You should be executed if you don't like it.

3. Ferrari Enzo ( In fact almost all other models of Ferrari). You agree to it or not, but Enzo is the car. It is also Italian, making it extra ordinarily desirable. Not only that, it is also outrageously staggeringly violent and disastrously fast. One push on pedal and you are in other continent.With only 400 ever made, I would like to get run over by it and die, if I am to die someday.

4. KTM X-Bow...yeah! KTM also makes this totally insane 4 wheeled machine and someone has got it in Dubai already. I could not click it but it looks like below, I was in total awe to pull out camera. Don't go by the looks and its biking blood line. It can push your eye balls to the back of your head when you accelerate. With no visible protection and engine screaming mad at 5 inches from your ears, try to stand without trembling your legs in front of it.

5. BMW 8 series, a 850 CSI. Humongous V12 engined BMW coupe/tourer, so far ahead of its time that when people reached to that time,it was already old.

6. Lamborghini Gallardo spider in totally awesome matte grey finish. The baby lambo is capable of mauling you into a senseless blob of flesh with its sound, looks, power and what not. Give respect, don't expect any. Its rush and frenzy can only be bettered by other lambo and Enzo.

7. Maserati Quattroporte(below) and GT, OK these are not rare in a convinient manner, but still exotic as hell. You just cannot go wrong. Marvelously Italian. Criminally beautiful. Sexy as Sophia Lauren.

8. Chevrolet Corvette ZR1,C06 etc etc : Another American legend. ZR1 they say is the best corvette yet and in fact best American car ever made. Comparing it with Ford GT will be delicious, but I will still hand over the cup to GT due to its rarity and image.

9. Rolls Royce Phantom in golden...only in Dubai you can have something like this. Its a monstrous car of monstrous price.But in Dubai its just a piece of heavy English metal. It's a ticket to the show where you can display your phat money. It may be colossal but it is not beautiful. The only car which I hate to put on this list.

I was hoping even before I flew to Dubai, that I would get to see a Bugatti Veyron but it evaded me some how. The other cars however made it up more than enough. Whenever we walked on road, my head would turn here and there as the cars passed. I remember look on my friend's faces when I showed them some car. Every other second I would point to some car and make them see. Made them go crazy by the end of tour. My apologies Senthil and Solomon!

A Dodge Charger(above) and Chevrolet Camaro 4th generation(top). Celebrate America! would you please? Thank you. (By the way, see that handy work of obscuring the number plate on Camaro?done by yours truly)

In India, cars are very easy pointers of one's worth and well being-ness.If you have a car, you automatically become eligible for exclusivity. In Dubai, that hardly makes a difference: EVERYONE has car(s). That makes classification a bit difficult. Following is an approximate guide on the reactions you may get according to how you arrive :

a. on a bike : "pizza delivery boy! you are late by 10Min's"

b. small car, say Swift : you should not exist in Dubai, or rather you do not exist already.

c. a entry mid segment car like Hyundai Verna or Honda City : your forefathers were construction labours in Sharja. You are a labour supervisor in Dubai.

d. premium mid size car like Octavia or Civic : Pre-School teacher of secondary language English, beacuse obviously you do not speak arabic. A Second generation, middle class, boring expat.

e. Premium car like Accord or Camry : "You taxi driver!!!". So you point that your car does not have those red-green lights on top nor is the car off-white. You get an unimpressed reply " So you stole your taxi itself?".

f. A custom modded Lancer or Imprezza : We like your car, not you. Don't try any weird shit on our roads, boy racer, go to Japan and drift.

g. Luxury sedan like any BMW 5 or Audi 6 or Mercedes E : So what? I told you they don't like European cars. You neo-rich expats...

h. Luxury sedan like Cadillac CTS : "Yo Americano!! welcome to Dubai"

i. Any large SUV like Hummer, Escalade : "You guzzle so much of gas! We so like you" also that makes you American by default, so double bonanza.

j. Super luxury sedan like 7 series or S class : OK...Your forefathers were illegal gold exporters during 80's and 90's. You still deal gold with Indians. Apparently legal.

k. A full blown sports car like Ferrari 430F: A kid of real estate dealer. Give me your papa's contact.

l. Super duper luxury, Rolls Royce phantom or ghost : Ah ha, and a raised eye brow. You might get a welcome drink. Coke. Not water.

m. A helicopter : ummmm, papa of Ferrari 430 driving kid. "Let's talk real estate and dollars".

n. A private jet liner: Now this is something. You get a drink. Water this time.

o. A totally sweet 550 feet yacht : you ARE a Shaikh. So you don't step out at all. The hotel comes and builds a lobby right till your private port with red carpet, woven with solid gold thread. Women straight from arabian nights standing on sides, welcoming you.

and as Emiratis say,Shukran!
P.S. some other cars seen in Dubai below, just like that!

A sweet Audi R8. Inside the tunnel that goes from under the main stem of Palm Jumeirah till Atlantis.

Dubai's favourite car.Arrive in one of these, and earn respect. Because obviously the more gas you guzzle, more you are liked. I could not click a yellow stretched hummer!

One of numerous limos in Abu-Dhabi. It was the first time I saw a SUV stretched to make a Limo...that too a dilapidated Ford Excursion. But so what? It is a truck ok? and it is American.

The Dubai story -1

2009-11-04T19:02:00.014+05:30

Alright, Rise and shine sir, I take a u-turn and come back to this little blog as I said earlier, I changed my mind. A warning: The next few posts have nothing to do with my bike (which is currently running nicely, amen). I just happened to hit on a jackpot and got lucky. I will cut the prologue of how I got lucky, you see I don't like to see my readers getting jealous. But the story goes like this - I was made to play games,then booze, then play some more game, then go around karting track in a Go-Kart and then land in Dubai one fine morning from Hyderabad. I am so lucky that my Emirates flight was sponsored, so was my hotel stay and food...
Anyways, I land there with my stomach full with nice lunch and beer. The first thing I saw from the door is a Ford Focus and I became happy. The smile glued on my face from that moment remained till I boarded (sponsored!)flight back to India after the tour. We go inside and I was astonished at the marvellously huge and beautiful airport. Everyone was needed to go through eye-scan before they stamped our Visas as valid. I still don't know what was the reason behind it. There were some 5 queues of people 1 especially for women. Each queue was ending at a counter with retina scan machine and an Arab operating it. Amazingly for women also a man was there with huge face and pouty lips and moon surface skin, looking terrible. The person for my queue was quite safe looking, thank you! Me along with my friends were standing when I noticed that it was almost India with 80 out of 100 people around me speaking Hindi. Finally we reach at the end and my friend Senthil goes for the scan.. He sits on the chair facing the Arab and closes one eye, positions other eye towards the machine. The Arab is not satisfied, he takes a look at visa and gestures with his hand to open the eye widely. Mr.Senthil 'opens' as much as possible but not enough. The person is frusrated and seeing an Indian slips to HINDI! He says "Aankh kholo!" in weird accent. Now, Mr.Senthil here comes from Chennai and knows as much Hindi as Paris Hilton knows about what is being smart. He sits there dumbly, without emotions. The Arab takes a pityfull look at him and barks "Aankh kholo, Badaa badaa!!" and opened his own eyes wide. As if finally on some clue Senthil shows some movement of eye, but just. Not enough. I certainly did not want the first casuality to occur within minutes of landing and looked on dreadly. The Arab must have gone crazy by now, he curled his lips downward, clenched his fist and opened it slowly, just like a flower. Senthil finally got it and I guess he opened his eye really REALLY wide as he got the stamp on visa. I was next. I don't exactly remember but I must have kept my eyes in a ohh-what-a-surprise-mode, because the Arab immediately stamped the document.
First hurdle cleared, with all of our limbs in tact!
P.S. - All the talks such as very freely given capital punishment, your limbs being cut for offences etc etc are crap. Me however, till today, have taken very good care of my body. So losing a limb trying to stretch UAE law, was out of contention and results would have been disastrous. Coding as they say is tough. With only one hand left, it will be impossible I guess.
And I suggest if you ever go to Dubai, you also do the same: do not try to verify. As we all know, that you never know.
To start, here is a picture of the awesome Dubai airport entrance. The colors keep changing every 2 seconds.

shukran!

200 No longer.

2009-07-30T19:07:00.002+05:30

As most of you will already be knowing that, Pulsar 200 will no longer be in production. All those versions with 220's fairing, big forks have proved to be just concepts. I must admit that this particular news has dampened my spirit. I will never understand why most beautiful bike in Bajaj's stable was ultimately turned into an organ donor. However as the things stand out today, the 180 is the new 200, so buyer's won't be missing much atleast in looks department. What baffled me was the inclusion of those tank scoops on 150, besides of course the all black treatment. But as you all know, Bajaj engineers,designers,managers and what not are obviously better than me at judging people's requirements. Then again, "personally" me isn't a bit happy about this.
The termination news also brings a question on whether I should continue with the blog. This might as well turn out to be last post on the blog.
Until I change my mind.

Long time no see?

2009-04-21T19:34:00.007+05:30

When you open this blog you don't see my bike's picture featuring anywhere on first page. However all other pages have it. I am wondering how did this happen? And to wipe out this poor treatment to my own bike, here are some random pics of her along with some facts and figures.

1. First of all, the bike completed 10k. It is currently running at 12k something.

2. Most of this 12k has been city riding, almost 70%.

3. So that means I am not a tourer.

4. Of late, the bike runs 100kms on 100INR petrol. I put normal petrol which runs at 45.56INR. Go figure the efficiency.

5. Loyal readers may remember that my bike particularly has been ridden with electrical issues. This trend seems to be breaking as the bike is running flawlessly for past 5k kms. Or is it that I have become more liberal towerds her? need to find out because the weird fuel guage, pain in the ass self-cancelling-indicators which are rendered to normal push-cancel indicators now a days, don't seem to bother me.

6. According to ProBiking people chain and the sprockets are due for change. I can see some links in that O-Ring chain are not properly aligned, So they might be right after all.

7. Inquired with some experts. They said 15k is the limit for such chains. And I am 3k short of that mark. I remember the day I bought the bike was not so particularly bad at all. But it happens. The chain set including 2 sprockets costs 1150INR. plus 200INR service tax.

8. Oh and yeah, it also met with its first puncture. At the rear wheel. Repairing was surprisingly easy and quick(and expensive). The puncture repair kit retails for 350INR. Need to get one.

9. I wanted those rim stripes badly. Checked with shops which make number plates. But the red redium stripe which glows in dark when light falls on it looks cheapo in my opinion. And then happened to go to Yamaha showroom and I saw that they have these ready cut vinyl stripes for 17' rim size for sale. Bought one set in golden for 350INR. It doesn't glow in dark. Thanks yamaha,but what an irony!

10. Osram Night Breaker (55/60w) H4 lamp combined with stator plate from avenger 180 looks like a good option to resolve the weak head lamp issue of pulsar 200.

I have not done this, but seems a good and not very expensive option. You can find out more details about this here on RoadRollers. Thanks all at RoadRollers :)

In the mean while, we have another alteration on Pulsar 200 coming from sunny who owns this fabulous bike. Stripping the already naked street fighter? He just doesn't know where to stop ehh?
But I hope you all like it as I did.Poor baby loses the already skimpy bikini fairing here and I am not unhappy with the results. After all I am yet to come across a guy who hates skin show.

Thank sunny for wonderful pics of a wonderful bike.

Ride safe.

2009 edition pulsars

2009-03-19T18:54:00.014+05:30

Well well well, 2008 passed without much movement by Bajaj. To make matter worse their current model sales also deepened. Considering the gloomy scenario all over it was expected. But still enthusiasts were craving for a new version of one model which they have always cherished. Pulsar. Auto show came and went. What we got was a pulsar 220 with carbon fiber effect silencer, that too as a concept and that was all. That was all, you ask me? Ummm not anymore if recent news are to be believed. Bajaj has already started rolling stones for 2009 and XCD 135 is the first of them all.
But as I said, for enthusiasts it's not 'the' news. News of the hour actually is that, that they have really gone ahead listened to all us people and have devloped newer versions of much loved pulsar 180 and of course Pulsar 200.
So what is new really? For the starters, and I am not too happy with this- that 180 is said to have those tank extensions straight off 200, robbing much of latter's identity. Thankfully (and probably) they have spared the aluminum exhaust.
Second update which is also not confirmed and is kind of OK-OK concerns pulsar 200. As per one of the versions being shown to public (In Pune), pulsar 200 will have 220's front fairing. And that doesn't make me too happy either. It will also have fatter front forks of 220 plus clip-ons.
However there is another version being displayed, which retains current bikini fairing which is obviously sexy, for it being bikini :). And gets those fat forks,clip-ons and rear disc off 220.
This second version has rather intrigued me and I am really hoping that Bajaj goes ahead and makes it without second thoughts. Of course those who want 220 look alike should be given option. Apart from this, I think Bajaj should provide a better head lamp preferably a HID on 200 also even on normal bikini fairing version. Current head light setup sucks and is the most hated item on current 200.
Apart from cosmetic changes, the engine is also said to have gone under revamp and is now believed to pump out 19BHP which is 1+ on current engine. Unfortunately or fortunately 200 seems to retain carburetor and no FI at least for 2009 edition.
Those who are in Pune can go and check these models. Others, please be patient. It won't be too long before Bajaj goes ahead. It has been dead for too long now and India's one of much beloved brand does not deserve that.
(Above article talks about bikes which are still in concept phase and word should not be taken as final atleast for now. There may be changes in final products if they ever come to production.Pictures and videos are not published intentionally.)

UPDATE : Looks like Bajaj fired first salvo at the rising pressure, (read yamaha R and FZ) in the form of UG4 pulsar 180, and in my opinion isn't something really worth the long wait.What it achieves is what people have been doing since long-Convert their 180s to 200. So Ok, people will get knock off of P200 at almost 6k less than original P200 which I think can be put to good use of buying that aluminum exhaust which the new 180 lacks.
In short, all the pulsars except 220 will now look like P200. Not a good news for P200 customers for sure, including me. There is more bad news. The P200 itself is slated to look like P220. Wait, what? Yes exactly, where goes the original bad ass P200? Fingers crossed, but from what I am listening and seeing, no great hopes.And I am sad. This time I am not even go and bother finding 2009 pulsar pics. They are all over the place. Thanks.

UPDATED UPDATE : Got some pics of 2009 edition pulsar, not a exciting piece of news but I had to oblige. as they say, its literally a mix bag of feelings and parts.

New pulsar 180.Déjà vu.

forks from 220.

clips from 220.

new pulsar 150.damn.

In addition to these lame upgrades, they have also added 3D logos.I am excited!!

Rides around hyderabad - Bidar.

2009-01-16T10:59:00.019+05:30

Finally I have something to say. It had been more than 6 months since I went to a long ride. Ok for a 240 kms round trip, no self respecting bike rider would say as long but then,something is better than nothing at all. As it goes, the trip was initiated by some enthusiasts who have been to bidar previously. Bidar was probably chosen because of its closeness and good stretch of road which connects it to hyderabad.We started from lingampally,Hyderabad at around 7.30 even though we were scheduled to leave at around 6.15AM. We had people joining from various places and some of them first timers, so it was all expected. For the records,There were 10 bikes and 20 people and we reached Bidar at around 9AM without any hiccup mid way.

I will, however tell the reason why we went to Bidar in first place and that is the fort over there.It also has India's second largest canon. After the fort, we visited a gurudwara near followed by Papnash temple. The Gurudwara provides excellent lunch and suplimented by peace and calmness, all this for free. If you want to voulnteer, you can do that also.
The Papnash temple must have a special mention. This peculiar temple is located under a huge rock. And to reach, you have to traverse through almost neck deep(and muddy) water for 200 metres. It is actually like a cave full of water, and on ceiling you can see hundreds bats hanging, to add to the effect.
Following are some pics from that ride, I don't like writing travel logs much and believe photos are mightier than words.

Jemshed on his now defunct avenger 180 with Sadiq the photographer.

That's me with Jemshed and others at some break-fast point.

And no its not Afghanistan. Welcome to Bidar.

Clock-tower at Bidar.

A famous Madarsa in Bidar.

Bidar Fort. The reason for the ride.

India's second largest canon. And I don't know where the First one is.

We all at papnash temple near Bidar.

Information if you are in hyderabad and want a days break by leaving towards Bidar:
distance from Hyderabad to Bidar is about 115kms. Roads are generally good. You have to take Pune highway, from there its easy as hell, just don't miss the all important right turn near zaheerabad.

A new take on pulsar 200.

2008-11-11T14:28:00.004+05:30

Sometimes when I look at my bike and wonder about improving it, I just can't think of anything. Because the design is so complete,simple and uncluttered.
But then this guy sunny ,who apparently thinks not like me,is always full up to the brim with ideas (mostly crazy) comes along with a superb thought.Looks like He had a front mudguard (ohh), rear panels (ahha?) and a tank (what?) lying around(!!!!). Question arises how did these things can lie around? Obviously not, thought sunny and proceeded with something ,result of which is pretty beautiful. Images of that are below.

Look carefully.Its not simple black and silver job.

Now you got it.The black paint is done in matt finish.

Overall the craftmanship is superb I should say even though I have not seen it in person yet. Personally speaking, I give him a Hi-5 and would any day take this type of modest mods instead of those wannabe R1 mods with full fairing and filthy ill fitting panels.
This job here is very simple and does not lose on originality.According to him, some more things are on the way, and I can't wait for that to happen. So better hurry up and show whats there in the store!

All pictures courtesy, tushar aka sunny. Thanks man.

P.S. some more pics with minor cosmetic change.

My favorite shot of the lot. Clicked at a tunnel of new katraj bypass,pune.

I don't know how to thank you man, its just awesome.

Hyderabad (not exactly) blues.

2008-09-19T18:44:00.007+05:30

Looking back at all the period I spent in Hyderabad, one thing I can tell you from it for sure is that, that Hyderabad is one city which makes you fall in love with it.Yeah yeah I know this is pretty mehh statement to start the post which sounds so obvious.
But I am not a man of many words and neither I am good at expressing a deep feeling, so I would suggest you to better believe this :).
Sure it gets very hot and unnaturally rainy, but then again, you are in middle of India where this kind of atmosphere is not unexpected.
It started with few good friends that I found after coming here and slowly we started enjoying this place. To say that I had fun from very starting will be like betraying my true feelings. Yes,I did get bore to the core initially, missed Pune like anything , called my parents and friends in pune almost daily out of boredom. Add to that the (in)famous bench of IT companies and you have a perfect self kill weapon. But then you can't get bored beyond a limit and start enjoying whatever is there around you. Now, what do you do in that case? Yes, you explore.Especially when you have this much time.I did same and Hyderabad did not disappoint, not at all.
This city has everything that a good city should have ideally and then something more.
It's combination of modernness and old world charm is amazing.It is almost as if, the old city has been forgotten by time and then suddenly some architect woke up and realized that the city needs to grow, with time , so he built new-age constructions all around the old city.Fantastic.
Only city I can recall which has similar characteristic is Pune.(Considering that I have lived in only 3 cities in all of last 23 years, this is pretty gross overstatement,but still... you get the drift!)

Charminar, In my opinion could be the most used, abused, visited, hyped, term and landmark in not only Hyderabad's but India's history.Here are some snaps for your pleasure.

and another one ,

When I first visited Charminar, I was pretty surprised by its location. The image I had in mind was totally different. I was hoping it to be a typical tourist spot, but as you can see it's not.
It is totally surrounded by shops, hotels, by lanes, roads etc, making it uniquely unique :).
It is so very important and so non-assuming at the same that it makes you wonder.Superb stuff.
I take a bow.The famous by lanes house the even more famous pearl jewellery shops.The typical Hyderabadi Hindi is at its epitome here.If you ever want to learn it, this is the authentic place.
These two pics certainly doesn't cut it. I will try to put better and bigger pics sometime.

Here is another of Hyderabad's numerous famous spots : Golkonda fort.

A staircase in the fort :

Hyderabad from Golkonda's point of view :)
(credit for this supreme snap goes to Bitterscotch)

Magnificent Buddha statue installed in Hussain sagar :

In and around Lumbini park :

Note , people in above snap are not at all related to me.

But in this snap yes these are us.

And finally me, at Golkonda fort's alley that leads to main staircase towards top.

I can almost here some of you saying "And ramoji film city?? ".It is there, still for sure.And I have been there,husshhhh. But sadly I was not carrying camera or camera phone at that time.
However to be frank, I will say Hyderabad has far more spots that are far more interesting than Ramoji film city(with total due respect, Ramoji film city is a wonder in itself and a must watch for all especially if you are a film buff).
My point is that, If you are coming to Hyderabad only for film city you are missing a great deal.
This almost brings up the rear end of the post, but where is my bike? yes, it is in very good shape, in fact better than ever. The thing is, all these snaps were taken before I got the bike transported here.I guarantee, next post will see some of my bike.
Keep riding.

A long hiatus,and back.

2008-09-17T09:49:00.005+05:30

I agree.3 posts in 9 months is not called as regular blogging.I agree I have been very lazy to update this thing. Have I lost the drive?the interest?the purpose? Not really.But hey things happen, things change, don't they? Starting afresh, I see today is a very bright and sunny day.So there you all rise and shine.If someone of you still have my blog bookmarked down there,please click on it,I am alive if not exactly kicking asses :).
To begin with, my bike is here in Hyderabad finally.Brought her here in June via VRL transports in a truck as there is no direct train service from my town to Hyderabad.Courier was also ruled out due to astronomical charges.Only options left were 1.Transport and 2.Load it in Volvo bus' storage compartment as suggested by some.
I tried option number 2 first.It was only after lots of efforts and a ugly scratch on tank, that I realized this was wrong option indeed.
P200 simply refused to go in to loading bay of Volvo semi sleeper.Extra height of the bike being the culprit.My heart sank when I saw the way they were cramming my bike in.But the coolies were confident - "Pulsar jaati hai saab" they said.
But this Pulsar did not.Next they deflated the tires. Still it refused to go beyond tank portion.And then it happened - the tank's upper part scraped against the sill of that compartment, removing about an inch of Teflon coat and some color, I closed my eyes.
I remember my dad told them to pull out the bike and went to cancel the bike's ticket.(Yes, you will need to buy a ticket for one seat if you,ever, plan to transport your bike this dreadful way.)
So, finally before the bike got crumpled,totaled it was out on the road.Dad took it to a cyclewallah and filled in air and rode it back home.He said I will now send it through some transport service. This happened in April.After that something or other kept him busy and it was not until the mid June that bike reached here safely.
In the meantime, previous post gathered a lot of attention and many people mailed me with their questions and doubts.
The first and foremost being "dude where are the pics?I can see some empty boxes only or is it just me? ".
No its not just you.
And answer to this question is "I have no clue". I remember posting some pics over there for sure.But they are not showing now.
Second most asked question(which is actually the most asked question.ever.)"Are you serious about the mileage thing? Mine never returns above 34kmpl".
well I am in a fix.Its not that I lied. In answer to this highly spirited question I would say "ummm yeah..i mean no.why yes".Or did you buy your bike on particularly bad day?Not actually.
This particular post can be found here.
I would like to let you know some insider knowledge after all this time. Yes, the bike did return 48kmpl.But it was 4-lane newly laid highway.Wind totally standstill.(standstill?).Not much traffic.Me at perfect peace with whale lot of time.Tires inflated more than enough.And cycle parts nicely oiled.
So I did what generally doesn't happen.I rode at constant 65kmph almost all of the time.
I don't think any one of you does this regularly.In fact I doubt some of you have never known to ride it sanely.
So,I would let you know on more thing. 34-38 Kmpl is perfectly alright a mileage for this machine in normal riding situation.If you are getting anything above it, you are truly a good rider.
Now something about my own bike.The bike seems to be suffering from electrical phobia of some kind.First it was the starter relay,then the regulator and now the ignition coil that failed for no reason at all. Finding this ignition coil turned out to be a tough job. I could not get it in any service stations authorized by Bajaj. Thankfully at the same time I had to go to Pune. To my surprise both the Pro-Biking service stations did not have it.On the last day of my stay in Pune, I managed to procure a older,used one coil somehow from a friend.
This seriously makes me wonder.Is this part (called HT coil in their speak) so rare,that I couldn't get it in land of Bajaj itself?

Guess I have exhausted the words now, writing is surely not an easy job. Will keep all of you informed on whatever happened and happens in this great city.I am loving it already.
Keep writing,keep riding!

Full review on Pulsar 200.

2008-04-07T08:38:00.008+05:30

Finally a full review on P200 by yours truly ,after almost 4500kms since I bought the bike
Odd time considering that the bike has been launched almost a year ago and many people have bought it.But to tell the truth, this post was on mind since long,pending in the posts section of my blog and I think it will still help.

Prospective buyers - I am no journo of some magazine.All opinions are my own although I will not try to bluff them.
You might come across something which you won't agree (which is bound)please take it into your stride with aplomb, its my humble request!after all these are opinions of a simple mortal...well there are some facts also like technical specs, which will come as they come in a company manual.

A bit of history lesson.
As far as Auto buffs go I don't need to say anything.Pulsar being a milestone in auto-history of India.But for those who came in late , pulsar was launched in 2001,21 st November 2001 to be exact.Since then Pulsar has gone through many alterations and as of 2007-2008, it is quite a refined one compared to the first gen Pulsar of '01.Last update on Pulsar was in nov 'o6.

2001 - Raw power and super quick around the corners.Flickablility of this classic pulsar is unmatchable.A perfect wheelie machine.

2003 - Revolutionary DTSi appeared as did the fantastic fairing.Top end increased significantly although a low end suffered slightly.These UG2 pulsars are said to clock 133kmph(180cc).

2005 - Bajaj can't stop and throws in goodies like Alloy wheels,Nitrox shock, Fat tyres.Besides overall stance was lowered by almost 12mm making it even more lean mean.Low and mid end given added dose of power for better rideability in city.

2007 - Major changes regarding design and also engine technology.FI appears on 220 as do oil-cooler on both 200 and 220.Even more goodies thrown in most of which are seen first time on any Indian bike.

DESIGN
The 200 is described by many as the most aggressive and balanced looking of the lot and I couldn't agree more.
According to me Pulsar 200 is meanest, leanest , baddest looking pulsar ever ,220 not withstanding.In fact looks were the main reason that made me opt for 200.(well, 220 had a 1.5month waiting when I went to ProB, and this also contributed towards 200!).
When you first throw a glance at 200, what catches your eye most is the tank with new flanks and the black styling from 180 but taken to new height. Lengthened swing arm coupled with huge 120/80 tire makes her substantially bigger than 150/180.
I must add a word about grab rails that are there.I won't go much into details so as to sum up, lets say those grabs are hopeless and serve no purpose other than looking good.You just can't hold onto them be it while pulling the bike backwards or while putting it on stand.The pillion will also complaint(ahem,depends upon what kind of pillion you are having) as in tight situations there is nothing to clench on except the rider!In fact I know some of you will welcome this :)
Here are some of the design elements that make Pulsar 200..well a pulsar 200!

Pictures are self explanatory I guess.Still if some of you want to delve into full details, you can do so by clicking here.
The pictures may not do full justice, you should see the bike in flesh and feel the difference.

ENGINE :
Pulsar 200 sports 198.8cc engine which is capable of producing 18PS @8000RPM.Notable difference between 150/180 engine and 200's engine is that its oil-cooled,which makes it more smooth,calm and relaxed.In fact it is one of the most refined engine to roll out of Bajaj.
Sadly it doesn't scare the rider as classic 180 used to do,anyway its very personal thought.
Thumb the starter(which is a bit noisy and there's no kick starter!) and engine starts with a deep growl.One thing should be mentioned here for those who think that omitting kick starter is a wrong move - Bike starts in first crank without any trick with accelerator.Be it winter or rains.
Anyways, slot into first gear and shoot off.There isn't much to choose from 180/200 as they almost feel same at low end.200's added weight and huge rear tire contributes to this.
But once you move into mid-range there's no stopping, with engine pulling like anything.Roll-on acceleration in 3-4-5 gears is also very good making her more highway friendly than a city rider.
However don't be under impression that its a slouch in traffic light GP's.Once you get hang of her ratios and torque ,such GPs are cakewalk although wheelies are a bit rare to come by due to extended swing arm.
In city you need to shuffle between 1st and 2nd gear most of the time, due to short 1st and a slightly longer than usual ratio 2nd gear.The engine once past 4-4.5K RPM makes a serious power and only then you get the real thrust.The engine then goes right till 9.5K RPM before losing the steam.All in all its much refined and sorted out engine with all the right characteristics thrown in.Only sore point could be the lower end performance.But the smoothness and mid range grunt more than makes it up.

GEARBOX :
Pulsars right from first generation have been mostly marred by its gearboxes.Thankfully Bajaj seems to have sorted out this one onto its latest generation pulsars.P200/220 being a shining example of this.The gears slot in with noticeable click and false neutrals are almost absent.
However Bajaj has still long way to go before it catches up with Honda/Yamaha as far as gearshifts are concerned.Clutch less gearshifts are better be avoided.But unlike older pulsars, shifting quickly through gears is pleasant experience.
My bike had a particularly clunky shift from 1st to 2nd and vice-versa which is now a days reduced to great extent but still present.2 free services haven't solved the problem yet.
Thankfully this is not a universal problem, as my bikes of my friends have flawless shift.

PERFORMANCE :
200/200 are being projected as exclusive and performance bikes, clearly this aspect is going to matter most when buying such bikes.
And as expected P200 doesn't disappoint even a bit.
According to overdrive , P200 is capable of reaching 60kmpl in 4.7 seconds which is next only to P220 and is quick by any margins,well at least in India that is!
However its not the time taken to reach 60, its the relaxed nature of engine which makes you smile.You don't feel the speed unless you look at speedo.
There's been a lot of controversy about top speed and I am not still sure about it.
For prospective buyers , don't worry, its on outer side of 120kmph!
Sadly I can't confirm how much beyond 120,as your's truly has only reached 120kmph once on pune-ahmednagar 4 lanes with almost a centimeter of accelerator travel remaining.
Besides I was riding straight up and not crouching.So if you do all these things while going in for speed run on P200, you might reach a healthy 126kmph.
On orkut I have come across people who claim to have reached 135kmph and do 130kmph regularly.This according to me is far stretched and can't be done on stock P200.
So 123-126k is your best bet.
Once past 90k,things become slow and reaching for top is a tedious job just wish that there are no cross winds.
As for touring with her relax engine,cruising all day at 85-90kmph is a cut out task for her as that is the range when engine is in perfectly smooth band.
One point to note here is that , shifting through gears quickly and smoothly is the key to extract maximum performance from P200,too high revs in each gear or too low revs aren't going to help.
Braking is served by disc brake (Ø 260 mm) up front and regular drum(130 mm) brake at the rear.
The braking grunt provided by these two is adequate.Make sure you don't fully rely on only one of the two(especially rear one) as is the habit of many people.The rear brake feels really weak when compared to other bikes but thanks to bigger disc up front, the bike gets some serious braking power.

RIDE AND HANDLING :
This one is a no brainer.Pulsars all along have been great handlers with superb ride and P200 is no exception.All right bits are present such as gas filled shocks which are adjustable,tubeless tires at both end,super rigid chassis ,sporty riding position etc.
Most noticeable thing once you hop onto P200 is riding position.There's no other bike bar 220 in India which is as sporty as this one.Just sitting on it gives a kind of rush which has to be experienced.Thank you Bajaj for this clever and simple piece of thought.
The main contributor to this are the lowered handlebar(no clip-ons though), rear sets, and the stepped seat.The clip-ons a la 220 would have looked even better, but Bajaj seems to reserve them for 220 so as to maintain exclusivity and the higher cost could be another reason.
The stepped seat is nice touch and first on Indian bike(or was it bullet 500?) although the one on my bike is bit hard and not very comfortable.Same holds for rear seat.Besides the rear seat is so high up that for ladies and oldies its a task to climb on it(ok ok i understand its not for your mom or grandpa to sit) nonetheless the look it lends to bike is very sporty.
As for the ride on bad roads there is nothing much to boast about.Big tubeless tires obviously helping the overall comfort level but the thin and narrow seat somewhat lessening the effect.
Bring the bike on plain highways and there is nothing to crib about,its flawless.On hilly roads with lots of turns and bankings, P200 is real joy to ride due to superb grip provided by tires and inherent strong chassis.
The gas filled shock absorbers doing their duty just as ordered.Rear shocks can be adjusted as per your choice.By default they are set on soft mode.
One major concern that I feel is the turning radius.Bike certainly has big turning radius which brings down pulsars traditional quick flicking ability to certain levels down.In city especially you will notice this when in traffic jam.Squeezing through tight spots is not her cup of tea as shown in the ad.Parking in a tight spot is cumbersome to say the least, with stupid grab rails also adding to the nightmare.
Leave these grudges apart and what you have is one of most composed and able handler in the country.Many respected tourers will swear by it I am sure.

FUEL EFFICIENCY
At last here comes the dearest topic of many bikers.I wonder if it really matters for bikes like 200 but I won't let it slip through.There is one whole post dedicated to it which you can find here.To wind up the story however here are the excerpts.In city one can expect in the range of 35-40 or even more depending upon your riding style and whole lot of other factors.On highways the figure might swell to 48kmpl.According to me these figures are highly respected when you consider the fat tyres ,bigger engine and performance.

FINAL WORDS
The bike costs anythng between 72-75K depending upon where you live.Considering the goodies and performance that comes bundled with package makes it a good VFM proposition.
Its a good looking and handsome machine standing apart from 150/180cc.Those who think 220 is bit overdone and too advance, 200 makes good case for itself.
The bike has its shortcomings also, like the poor rear brake and huge turning radius making a hard job of city commute.Moreover weak low end performance makes you change gear frequently when in traffic , however its a minute niggle.
Bajaj has tried its best to sort out the issues related to digital console but its still no where near to perfect.Although my particular bike did not give any major headaches, the console is reported to be problem ridden.So be careful with it, thankfully they replace it free of cost in most of the cases.But as long as there is wind through your hair and a long stretch ahead, I bet there is no other bike to ride than P200.

Technical specifications as on bajajauto.com -

Engine
Type
4-stroke, DTS-i, Oil cooled

Displacement
198.8 cc

Max Power
18 Ps / 13.25 Kw
Max Torque
1.75 kgm / 17.17 Nm

Suspension
Front
Telescopic forks 135 mm stroke

Rear
Triple rate spring, 5 way adjustable, gas charged NitroX shock absorbers

Brakes
Front
260 mm hydraulically operated disc brake

Rear
Mechanically expanding 130 mm drum type

Tyres
Front
90/90 x 17” Tubeless tyre, shod on aluminium alloy wheels

Rear
120/80 x 17” Tubeless tyre, shod on aluminium alloy wheels

Fuel Tank
Full
15 Lts ( 2 liters of usable reserve)

Electricals
System
12V AC + DC

Headlamp
35/35W clear lens type with 2 pilot lamps

Dimensions
Wheelbase
1345 mm

Weight
145 Kg

calendar 2008

2008-02-12T16:34:00.000+05:30

I know, its bit late to get a calendar what with the year being almost 2 months old.But for a biker its never late to have some very good bike wallpapers with a calendar thrown in.
The images or calendar you see here is courtesy of Tushar aka sunny!He created it with help of some image editors and obviously lots of time and effort.
All the pictures were taken on Lavasa road by him and another of our friend Neil who happens to own the silver 220 that you see.
All the images are 1600 x 1200 or round abouts and are perfect for wallpapers.

Next time I would like to see a new image every month though, and knowing sunny I am sure this is not too much to ask.

Kudos to both ,and as they say 'keep 'em rollin'!

From Hyderabad :

2008-02-12T13:26:00.000+05:30

And on one fine day I found myself in Hyderabad,AP!It was not as if I was tele-transported from Mysore,but I was in firm belief that they would post me in Pune, which of course did not happen.
Last post on this blog was in last year October, and in the meantime nothing much has happened except that I completed (successfully) treacherous training and my relocation to HYD as they say.My bike is still lying idle in Ahmednagar barring some short rides by my dad,and he is taking good care of the baby.Thanks a ton,dad!
I plan to bring the bike here shortly as this being a very vast city and me being a lazy bum :).
By the way all was not perfect with my P200 one very odd incident happened.Everything was going OK when one day all of sudden all the bulbs in front fairing (main+2 pilot lamps) went kaput.At first dad suspected wiring fault and took the bike to local Bajaj showroom.There it came to light that the wiring was perfectly OK , the lamps were burnt.I still don't know how it happened, nor did the bajaj people knew.
As there is no ProBiking there in my town, dad fitted normal bulbs.
This doesn't make big difference, in fact yellow beam feels more powerful according to some people.But if you ask me, I would definitely like to see original bluish lights,and will fit them ASAP.Other than this there have been no expenses or anything till now.
Ohh, and yes,this is for readers from HYD, does anyone know where can I get K&N air filter here? I am very curious to see what difference does it make actually.I remember every biking forum flowing with K&N queries and such.
This brings me to end of first post from Hyderabad.I don't usually like posts without any pictures in it and neither do many people out there,So here is one nice pic,taken by my dear friend and an avid biker,Tushar aka Sunny.
Thank You!
Keep riding with appropriate gear!

I am in Mysore, toiling! (part 3)

2007-10-31T10:23:00.000+05:30

Life sure has taken me to places ,albeit without my bike! and when I saw superb highways here, I miss my bike even more.
If things appear to be taking more time here, next on my agenda would be to ride to mysore from pune.Although
that seems to be long shot.In near future I am looking forward to meet my friend sandeep from banglore, who is a great bike enthusiast and also owns a P200.He will be riding from banglore to here.
lets see how it goes.

I am in Mysore, toiling! (part 2)

2007-10-30T23:21:00.000+05:30

The thing is that I am on roaming and friends and family of mine have been calling up like never before.Add to that unlimited gprs, all raking up huge bills.But as they say old habbits die hard and I can't resist net surfing and just now I discovered that blogspot works nicely from mobile, shrewd minded of you must have guessed that I am blogging from mobile,hence every post can have only 450 words and thats why I am breaking up the posts.

I am in Mysore, toiling! (part 1)

2007-10-30T21:33:00.001+05:30

I guess there are some loyal readers if not many to this little blog of mine.So hello there everybody! and sorry for no activity on blog for some time, but you see, yours truly is holed down here in Mysore,karnataka at lovely Infosys campus as me happens to be employed by them.And yes the bike is currently enjoying holiday at home,free from my thrashing!
but no worries bebe wll be back soon and me promises a huge review on p200 very soon.
bbye!

Meddling with carburettor

2007-10-13T10:11:00.000+05:30

Last few days of mine were lost into digging information about Fuel Injection and Carburettor and thankfully with help of some of my friends and netsphere I was able to get a good dose of knowledge.
P200 being a carburetted one I concentrated on carb mostly.As you might be knowing, carb plays a vital role in welfare of your bike's health.A detuned carb can greatly reduce the performance and efficiency.While a neatly adjusted carb can do wonders.
The fact also helps that carbs are much easy to tune/alter than FI.It doesn't need all that electronic gadgetry which FI needs. Once you get to know the basic hardware of carb its easy to do a makeshift operation on it in case anything goes wrong.
In my case the fuel efficiency had gone awry and engine was jerky in 1st and 2nd gear.When I enquired with some, it turned out that carb was set for too rich mixture(which meant it was forcing more than necessary fuel into engine).
Locating the volume control screw is easy.In fact its the only screw on LHS of carb other than the one for setting idle.Besides its bronze color so no mistaking!

As from the pic, I don't need to say the obvious, But will say it nevertheless!
Turning right the carb will channel less fuel and more air making it lean while turning it left will channel more fuel and less air(as in my case).
So adjust it accordingly.
However don't go overboard on either side. Maintaining it on a perfect position is best and will give you right amount of performance coupled with efficiency.
(Remember one thing turning it completely towards right or left doesn't mean peak efficiency or performance respectively) For engine's health you must maintain the balance.
There is one cliche though. Before you embark onto this learn to read your spark-plugs.Don't panic!!Its easy and a must know for enthusiast biker.
Remove both the sparks and check their electrodes for color.
If its more on the brownish side your bike is running on leaner mix if its way too much black your bike is running on rich mix. So ideally it should be dark-brown(almost black but not black!).
When you adjust the volume control ride the bike for a few kilometres and then check for color of the spark plugs tune it accordingly until your bike is running on balanced mix.
One more precaution to take- Don't turn the volume control like you do with normal screws.Do it slowly and only by half or a quarter turn at a time.Its much sensitive.

Update On Fuel Efficiency After some tune-up

2007-10-03T21:18:00.000+05:30

Time for quick update, I am in hurry(some of you might be wondering)!As usual I went to Pune last week.Yes it is one place I am always ready to go, superb highway from my town to Pune is one of the reasons.Other reasons follow -
Once there I wound up some unfinished businesses of last 3 tumultuous years of MCA.:)
Then I went to new Probiking authorised service station in Pune.(readers if any from pune - Its on sinhgad road behind IBP petrol pump.name-B.K.Automobiles).I had a prearranged appointment with Mr.Vivek Pendharkar of BK auto.
I had already called him and told him about my bike's falling fuel efficiency and front disc brake that was way too much effective.
So upon reaching there , they quickly went onto business and opened the front disc caliper.Due to rains and my recent trip to konkan had deposited a lot of dirt in it and there was not much lubrication also.
So the calipers were polished with sand-paper and front wheel's axle was greased.
Secondly, carburettor was cleaned and checked for fuel mix.It turned out that the mixture was too rich.Thus channeling much more fuel into engine than necessary.This was the primary reason behind fallen efficiency.
Although I don't know how did it happen.
Anyway it was corrected and also Idle RPM was set.

All said and done, time for real road testing.Here's the cracker - Right after the tuning, bike returned 42kmpl in Pune's horrible traffic.Then I embarked on return journey to home.Believe it or not , on highway at a steady 65kmph she returned astonishing 48Kmpl.

When ridden hard like some occasional bursts to 100kmph or above and steady at 80kmph , it was down to 40kmpl, but still me think it is very very commendable.
Whoever said that performance comes at efficiency's cost, I am sorry, eat your words.

Welcome bebe!

2007-09-29T09:57:00.000+05:30

Its raining bikes!In the market also and in my close vicinity also!! In recent past many of people that I know very well ,have bought some kind of wheels(me included).
But what is even more startling , from this buying spree by my friends and all , 4 vehicles have been...yes you guessed it the Pulsar 200.
It all started with when tushar aka sunny bought first P200 amongst us.Followed by me , one more friend and now this.
A black 200 and that completes the circle.Now every colored bike is there (at my disposal? hehe ).
So here I welcome another of 200's example in black color bought by chetan.
And as always I can't stop uploading pics - here we go then!

Here's chetan with his newest possession.
I wish him happy and safe and hopefully trouble-free riding! :)

We Won! and how!

2007-09-25T20:24:00.000+05:30

Yeah its slightly off the topic.But who says bikers cannot be cricket fanatics? I am no exception , and letting this wonderful happening slip away will be a sin.
Yeah yeah I know you all were glued to stupid box and are still watching re-runs,but still its not stopping me from publishing this post after all we are in damn democracy(largest at that) and more over this is a personal blog.So here I present you , once more , an opportunity to rejoice!.
Here are some pictures, forver engraved into my heart already.

what a celebration! I wish I was there (as an spectator of course!what you thought?)
Glory glorified.
Robin uthappa looks like a wax-statue while Gambhir seems to have lost something.(is it man-of-the-match trophy that he never won? - inner me)
But check out dude in left most corner, who is he? he is so intriguiged by someone else's .. what to say ...a**!

we are the champions!yeah indeed.I was never in doubt.(Ok I am lying here, never in my dreams did India lift the cup)But some sentences have to be there just because they have to be there.

Just like what SRK said after the match - "I always believed India would win the T20 world cup"
How lame! but just because he is great SRK (and I am just me,how sad) he can say it and world has to believe with him.
While we are at it, SRK is here with his son aryan(lucky dude - he met with every indian player)waving India's tri-color madly.Yes, after "chak de India" he is a sports icon also, me thinks!
( "hey he is wearing velvet jacket from DON" -courtesy ever so eagle eyed Tushar.Ok.is it so ,SRK?booooooo)

I feel a little bit of irony though, on SRK's side.
Just imagine - Chak de was sort of waking call for other sports, especially hockey was coming of age and people were actually delving into hockey and all, such was impact of chak de.
And here's our great hockey hero in ..err how do I put it?
But as it is well known that he is a true sportsman it won't hurt him too much,Right?
Here's a kudos from me(with yours truly at his humble most) SRK,clap clap.

Cricket is all over again and me for one doesn't mind a bit(whines all around?) but thats how things are sometime, in life.

Ohh!Poor Misbah.Do I feel sorry for him?Now common I am little stubborn at times as some of you might be knowing, But I am no way inhuman , robotic like damn aussies.So yes I do feel sorry for him guys.
He had almost drown us once again in endless cycle of India's history of choking.I guess some times history just doesn't repeat it.
Why did you hit like that misbah?(On serious note , Ohh thank you misbah for your brilliant shot selection)
Yes poor Misbah , I would say it again - but thats how things are sometime, in life.

All in all , India not only won it , me thinks Team India provided real enjoyment for all those mortals present actually and other milions watching on teevee.They have been biggest entertainer of all and thats what T20 is all about.
Now I am coming back to my biker self , and an inner voice tells me thats what P200 is.A true entertainer.(A very lame attempt to somehow go into bikes).But still, believe me guys she really is that intriguing and that fascinating.

And like all posts here , I can't help wihout my beloved P200's nice photo.Here it is.
Finally for you poor souls also I would repeat "but thats how things are sometime, in life"

Q & A - My bike's fuel efficiency has dropped suddenly what do I do?

2007-09-22T13:37:00.000+05:30

Seems like a pretty stupid question , and I am sorry for making you feel like one but the fact that various people all over face this problem and don't know what to do , lessens it's stupidity.
And another fact that yours truly himself asked this question , puts it into very legitimate terms, ahem!
So here we go.
I asked this very question to people who are in business and know much about such things.
Following is summery of what I got -
possible culprits -

1. The brakes.
2. Tyre pressure.
3. Clogged air filter.
4. Adulterated fuel or filling stations cheating you on quantity.
5. Riding style.
6. Spark plugs with incorrect gaps between electrodes.
7. Carburettor.

A very sedate list?Well thats what experts are, starting with basics and getting them right.
Now I go along the list and check for eliminations , Brakes? No the front disc seems to be in love with caliper :) or is it vice versa? anyway time to get it aligned.
*Tyre pressure? checked Ok and same for Fuel, Spark plugs.
*Air filter looked clean and well soaked.Besides If the air filter icon on dash is to be believed then there is no reason to clean it again. But then again I am not leaving any stones unturned and clean it as directed to me.
*Riding style? well now, time for self check.But considering the fact that my bike is only 2600kms old and me for one is not the type who thrashes his bike like anything puts me(or my riding) into safe perspective.
*Moving onto spark plugs.Opened both of them and checked their color.They showed a very dark brown almost black tinge.Indicating that my bike is running on rich fuel mix than necessary.
But the gap in electrode was perfect, so only cleaned them.
And ahh the fuel! yes there are some filling stations that do sale adulterated fuel and also fill in less fuel than your money is worth.So I filled in petrol from 3-4 places and right now settled on ESSAR.

Time for carb.One of the most important part.This little thing can turn things upside down if not set properly and also gives a very visible change in performance when tuned perfectly.
From my observation of sparks I had come to know that the carb was channeling very rich air-fuel mix into engine and that meant I had to control the fuel mix either by myself or by some mechanic.
As some of you might be remembering that I am far away from ProB showroom. And local mechs are such risky proposition, all this made me do it all by myself albeit with a helping hand from Sandeep and Mr.Venkat shyam of autoservice, Banglore(or bangluru...is that right?)

The whole thing as one can easily make out is vastly general and anyone can use it as a guideline on any bike or vehicle for that matter.
P.S.
**Prior to this the bike was returning about 34 kmpl.
**And now after all the trouble (which seems to have paid-off though) the bike recently returned 39kmpl.

-: Phantom menace.The fear is in the eye of beholder :-

2nd service (and aftermath)

2007-09-17T09:37:00.000+05:30

I had planned for a 1 day return trip which was of about 400kms.(Check that ride here).
So I thought of getting the 2nd service done before going onto the venture.
The bike was running fine actually but neverless got it serviced at something like 1890 kms.Took my bike to ProB and thankfully thay delievered it within 2 hours.
Although the manual doesn't say to change the oil, it was done.One good news - Pune ProBiking now fills 'Motul 3000t ' as standard oil at no extra cost.This oil, I was told is very popular amongst enthusiasts, but due to its non-availalbility I never had chance to fill it in my bike ever.
While I write this the bike has run 2533kms.

Coming back to point, This is what the mechanic did in front of me-

1.Opened the drain nut and drained all the oil.
2.Cleaned the air-filter.
3.Checked tyre pressure and both the brakes.
4.I had told him about hard gear shifts, so he loosened and then again tightned the clutch cable...thats all.
5.Checked the battery,lights,indicators and horns.
6.Lubricated the chain.
7.Filled in the oil and washed the bike.
Done!
And I paid Rs.260 for this...anyway,

The changes I noticed after 2nd service-
1. The engine is now infintely more smooth.Overall sound output has reduced considerably.The gruffness that you feel in new bike is fully gone.
2.The gear shift which was edgy and rough (especially 1st -> 2nd and vice versa)to my choice is more or less same.
3.Throttle response has sharpened.or is it the smoothness that's fooling me?But its welcome anyway.
4.Sadly and amazingly, Fuel efficiency has gradually dropped since then.To be frank I was expecting a rise. Previously I was getting efficiency in the region of 45kmpl.Which has now come down to 38-40kmpl!
How did this happen is beyond me.Next time I go to pune, will surely go to ProB and consult them. I suspect some screw setting in carb has gone awry or is it the spark plug or is it the air filter or is it..... :)
5.Fuel gauge that was faulty from day one is still faulty.The sensors are out of stock(still).Bajaj please do something!
6.I heard Starter motors were being replaced in all P200s.Again those starters were out of stock, no luck here also! In any case my starter is working perfect so no gripes about it.

And yes the ProB people are not that great at washing the bike.May be rush and very narrow space there freaks them out!
All in all its mixed bag of things after 2nd service.Smoothness is welcome but at fuel efficiency's cost?No sir I am not game for it.
OK!Now drool -

P200 v/s Karizma in Overdrive Sept '07 issue

2007-09-10T12:46:00.000+05:30

The 9th anniversary issue of 'Overdrive' is out.Its a huge 500 page special issue well keeping in with OD's tradition so far.
Me being an ardent fan of OD since last 8 years,I can surely tell you its a must read.
There are many good articles but the one of interest is here the P200 vs. Karizma report.I was expecting a full blown comparo but its nothing like that.Although you fairly get the idea.
According to OD, P200 feels more powerful and lively compared to ZMA.Besides being a tad faster on both 0-60 and 0-100 runs.I agree with this one fully.Pulsars have always been like that since the first incarnation in 2001-2002.Fuel efficiency is also somewhat better in P200 although real roadies will never bother about it.
Where it P200 lags behind is the comfort levels.ZMA is lot more roomier and plush.P200 is more of the tighter side both space and suspension wise.Sitting position of P200 is such that it makes you lean on handle bars and you feel like riding hard.However this cannot be exactly termed as a negative.This solely depends on rider's liking.

Things turn upside down when ridden over broken roads.P200 clearly scoring over ZMA.
Now comes the most controversial topic of all time.Who is faster in the end?
According to OD, the ZMA can clock a real world top speed of 125kmph (which is almost 7kmph more than that of P200's).This slots 200 in sub 120kmph catagory.Now I can't really comment on this as of now.Till now I have touched only 105k before I ran out of stretch.But I have heard from various people all over that P200 can well go upto 123 to 128 kmph anything in between.I even remember reading one forum where one P200 owner went well beyond 130kmph.But this claim looks a bit far stretched to me as even P220 brakes into sweet to go beyond 126kmph.
So this makes a real close competition.(I have clocked something 122kmph odd on the ProBiking Dyno before the sales guy stopped me.I am not sure how 'real' is that dyno thing though)
So as soon as I try this top speed thing I will let you know,till then you people keep me informed.
Now are you one of these - young,restless,show stopper,challenge lover?

UPDATE - Sandeep from Banglore has reported 126kmph on his 200.

Time For Some mod - HID lamp on P200

2007-09-03T09:50:00.000+05:30

After the launch of P220,What had people talking about it most, was its fairing and the great head lamps it houses.Not only do they look good but are also superb when it comes to illumination.No other bike in India has such powerful beams up front,reason behind it is Projector lamp(albeit for low beam only.High beam is regular halogen).
Now with HID kits making their apperances in car shops, one can have such powerful lights on almost any vehicle that has battery.Unlike Halogen (or incandescent) bulbs, HID(stands for - High Intensity Discharge) bulbs do not have filaments.Instead of heating a filament, HID bulbs emit light by bridging an arc between two electrodes similar to the energy transfer of lightning. This arc stimulates a mixture of Xenon gases and metallic salts, producing a phenomenal bright white beam of light which is approximately 3times brighter than conventional halogen illumination, while lasting 10 times longer.

A lot of people have been wondering including me, whether these lamps can be fitted to P200?because the P200 already shares most of its parts with P220 but not those fabulous lamps.However it does not imply that P200's lights are weak.They are alright, but ride it on hilly roads with lots of ups and downs and you will crave for better lights.Add rain soaked wet roads to equation and the lights feel even more inadequate.On the normal city roads though P200's headlamp is very fine.
May be the next P200 will sport those HIDs!But till then here's way to do it.
As you might have guessed,This is not as easy as just going to Bajaj spares and buying 220's HID and then fitting on P200.It needs some clever mods to its electrics.
But after saying this let me tell you that its not impossible either.
And one fine guy from down south has done it successfully.Namely Sandeep K. Ram of Banglore.
Here is the link to Sandeep's guide on Xbhp.

YouTube video of HID in action on P200.

The diagram for changes made in wiring to fetch the current directly from battery.(Sandeep drew it on his own,great work!)
As for the expenses, these kits cost anything upwards of Rs.3000.The one Sandeep used is of VisionX Bi-Xenon ,which he bought in Banglore.This kit cost him close to 11K.
Contents of kit usually include 2 bulbs, 2 ballasts (amps), one relay coil, fuse, connecting wires etc. According to him many vehicle specific kits are also available and prices vary vastly.
Kits with only one bulb and ballast are also in the market for around 3K.(But these low range kits have only single beam bulbs that is - low beam.For high beam you will have to use another bulb, a halogen.The kit that Sandeep used has bulbs that have both Low and High beams like usual halogen, that's why the additional cost)
But apart from this, other expenses are minor.The wiring needs to be slightly altered, because HID lamp needs DC current(It runs directly off the battery) and not usual AC of P200.This mod however is easy and most mechanics will be able to do it at negligible cost.Availability can be and issue though.Suggested places are up-market car accessory shops.(Yes, these kits are basically for cars).Happy Night riding!
Thanks to Sandeep for wonderful article and the video!Keep it coming.
For the whole guide and pictures of HID kit see his blog here-
http://sandeepkram.blogspot.com/2007/08/new-hid-silencer-and-starter-motor-plus.html

one week in Pune and around

2007-08-27T22:59:00.000+05:30

The odometer showed something 1400kms odd.I hoped to cover next 600 kms in my Pune trip before the 2nd servicing was due.And that I did,at the end of the my pune trip odometer is showing 2400kms! 380 Out of those 1000 kms I clocked in one day,that too on hilly roads of Pune-Konkan(diwe-aagar to be exact) on Saturday 25th august.Just a day before I had got my bike serviced from ProBiking,FC road.
There were no serious problems as such save faulty gauge which wasn't repaired in 1st service due to non availability of fuel sensors.
If you are curious about what happened to long awaited fuel-gauge issue's result,there's bad news.Those sensors are still not available meaning that I have to wait even more before they replace it.

But otherwise the everything was pleasant.They delivered my bike in 1.5hours flat.I waited there itself and watched my bike getting serviced.
So nothing special about 2nd service.What happened after it,is exciting.The bike became even more smooth and its acceleration noticeably improved.Besides the gear shifts which were a bit too clunky to my choice,smoothened out.
(*Special note - people who drain the oil (which ProBiking people fill in) and put in their choiced oil like Motul/valvoline or any other brand here's a good news for you.The ProBiking now houses Motul 3000t oil as standard.So each bike they now fill up with Motul with no extra cost.This oil is supposed to be long lasting and give more performance,although I could not verify it)

Now coming back to my konkan tour.There were only two of us besides of course my P200.
We started our journey in morning itself at 8am.The destination we chose(diwe-aagar) is 150kms from pune.
Right from start we witnessed some scenic views and clouds were floating literally on the roads.
Every kilometer of that whole stretch runs through mountains.A perfect road for any tourer.There aren't many fuel stations though so be wary of the fact and fill up your tank up to the brim.
Once we reached diwe-aagar we did normal rituals.Like finding a good inn to have lunch.
You have to tell them in advance to cook the food.These are not regular run of the mill hotels.Instead these inns are family owned eateries.You get finest of fish recipies here.
As for the sea and beach front, I can't really comment.All the beaches in Konkan are so good that favouring one of them will be an insult to others.So I will just say this is one of my favorites.
But alas,due to rainy season the sea is too risky and water is muddy.Local people advised not to go in the water.As you may have guessed these people know probably a hundred times better than us.So we did not dare to cross check their claim,and remained on sand itself while watching the roaring sea.
However,Instead of writing everything,I will let the pictures do the talking.

This is somewhere en route to konkan

The famous tamhini ghaat.

The road to clouds.

Mulshi lake.

Diwe-aagar beach,bewitchingly empty.There were only 3 of us.Me,chetan and the 200.

The sea was dangerous to say the least.Parked my P200 well off the water.

Clicking a self portrait is tough job.

Clicking in macro mode is even more tough!The fish that we didn't catch!
(The furious sea had pushed hundreds of fishes onto the beach most of them died since the sea never reached them again)
The morning was sunny and no rains while we reached there.Bike remained clean even after 150 kms of journey.
That provided for nice photos.

Riding on sand is fun.Check out that grin on my face!
Even a slightest push on brake pedal leaves a huge scar on sand.Fabulous.But strictly no to Front disc.You will be knee deep in the sand even before you realise.

Now the question arises,whether P200 is a good touring machine?
Just to say it is one terrific tourer will be an understatement.It is so good that never once did I feel something missing.Not even once.
Handling and suspension is near perfect for typical Indian roads(even with pillion).
Disc brake worked like magic even though most of the time it was soaked in water most of the time.
The whole journey it took into its stride as if it were regular city roads.The occasional potholes,pools of water,loose gravel,mud,sand not withstanding.P200 rode through all this like anything.
Not only this, I really opened the throttle open whenever I got the chance.And after all this torment she returned 42kmpl.Now seriously what more can you ask for?
I know a serious tourer will hardly care for fuel efficiency,once he is astride his beloved machine.But still it amazed me.
The only gripes I felt were slightly hard seat and those grab-rails.After riding continuously for 4 hours my bum started aching and I needed to stop and descend from the bike.Besides,Those grab-rails can be best termed as fashion accessory.All show and no go.Clutching them for support is useless.You just can't hold onto them.But these are really insignificant glitches and almost non existent.P200's other virtues more than make up for it.

The question is answered then.P200 is one of those rare breeds which can handle almost anything you throw at, with ease.She is a top notch motorcycle and I will bet my last penny on it.

This is what 200 leaves behind...

Dead and burried : The classic fork breaking controversy

2007-08-20T12:09:00.000+05:30

Ohh I am really sorry my fellow updated-every-minute-bikers,But I must for this damn cool bike's sake invoke the ghost of that fork!( But I hope to clear all doubts this final time so...)
Much has been said about the P200's front forks.Ever since photos of some P200's with broken forks were published on Internet, people, especially the bikers community has been chewing it restlessly.Nothing wrong about it though but one sad aspect that I came across in this whole scene was that people who had never even ridden the bike or seen the broken fork, were maligning the Bajaj's and P200's image by giving "valuable" insights.
And like it happens with every hot issue people got so carried away that they actually forgot (conveniently or not I can't comment) what had Bajaj done in the meantime.
While we were all busy in discussing how P200 is bound to be doomed, Bajaj redesigned the front fork(Or rather the mounting points that hold the Disc brake calipers).These revised P200s were out in the showrooms even before anyone got any hint about it.(or like I said we were too busy to take notice of it).
I along with many other like me, have been writing about this in many other sites,blogs and orkut all along but no one seemed to take notice.The discussions continued as if those comments were written in invisible ink!

But as things stand today,I would really like to tell the world with all my vocal cords strained - that please wake-up and take a look at current scenario.The fork controversy is nothing but a dead meat.
Here are some picture taken off Internet(most of you would have seen it probably a zillion times and don't give a zilch, but just for the sake of it and P200 they are here again!)

Front-fork broken!(what a sorry picture)But forget about it now.Its just for your curiosity.
Notice the 2 separate mounting-points for caliper.

Close-up of previous illustration.

And finally the picture that matters now.See the newer design of mounts,wherein they have been connected to each other by same material as fork itself.

So herein lies the ghost of broken fork.May it R.I.P..Thank you all!!

Fool-proof remedy for saving your Starter relay! (DIY)

2007-08-16T00:06:00.000+05:30

You might have read my unfortunate previous post about starter relay.Here is what I have done to stop the water getting into it.Including the pictures as I promised.

1)Open the left side middle panel
2)Look for starter relay on the left side of the battery.Its small, plastic box in black color and bolted onto the inner part chassis.

3)Pull out the cable and plug from bottom of the relay which connects it to battery.

4)Next remove the bolt that holds relay in place.

5)Take any thick plastic sheet which you find suitable.(like the small oil-pouch that you get at fuel stations)
6)Cut a smaller piece of that sheet.Make sure that it can fully wrap the relay.
7)Wrap the sheet fully around relay leaving the lower part exposed(plug needs to go in there!)
8)Put a hole in the sheet with screw-driver exactly where the relay has(there is a small extention on relay's upper part which has a hole and a nut weld behind it to house the bolt).
In picture below look how the plastic sheet has been tucked inside the bolt-housing along with relays holder-

9)Now holding the sheet and relay together with one hand in its proper position,screw in the bolt with other hand.Then you can use spanner to fully tighten it.
10)Insert the plug again.
this is what final assembly looks like-

11)You are done!Fit the panel.

A few glitches here and there - Starter relay

2007-08-15T10:21:00.000+05:30

Well, this was truly unexpected and frightening.OK,I already knew a bit about fuel gauges that didn't work well from my friends pulsars but I never had heard a starter relay that went kaput and that too on day 2...read on-

I came back from pune myself all wet and the bike looking like a she just came from ladakh tour.So naturally next on my agenda was to wash the bike before I show it around.Instead of taking it to washing centre I washed it thoroughly then dried and polished.
showed it to my friends who all had ride on it and were clearly taken by its beauty.
Just then one of my friend reported that tail-lamp were not working besides the orange display was not lit-up.I had no clue about it.We stopped to check and turned off the bike.Then restarted the bike and gosh!The engine started making a terrible sound as if someone was rubbing the insides of engine with a heavy-duty polishing paper!(Frankly speaking I was terrified beyond imagination)what the hell?One of my friend turned ignition off...and ...and even more surprise!The engine went dead all rite but scraping noise continued-YES even after I had turned the ignition off and removed the key from key-hole.
I understood everything in a moment that it was the starter that was still trying to crank the engine despite the fact that the engine kill switch was in off position and ignition turned off.But how?that was beyond me.I just stood there out of my senses.Thankfully one my mate quickly opened the left panel,unlocked the rear seat ,took out tool-kit and dis-engaged the battery.Only then did the starter stopped.
what next I thought?P200 having no kick lever meant that to start the bike either I had to start it down the hill or push it hard.We tried pushing but it didn't start.Only option was to connect the battery.So I turned the ignition on and put the engine kill switch in on position.
As soon as I touched the cable to battery terminal, starter got into action and bike started!again I put aside the cable and starter stopped leaving the bike alive.(However none of the electricals were working including headlight).With help of my friends bikes light I reached home all heart broken and ego hurt!

Next day I decided to take the bike to local Bajaj dealer as there is no ProBiking here in Ahmednagar.(word of caution for would be buyers- normal Bajaj dealers wont service your P200/P220).
My fear turned true there.Guys at Bajaj dealership refused to touch the bike.
I was exasperated to say the least.After some requesting head mechanic there came to my rescue.I explained the problem and also showed him "practical".He just looked indifferently as if it was routine!But thankfully he ordered for his tools and checked the wires for any short circuit.There were none.Next, he pulled out the plug connecting to starter relay and then took out the whole starter relay.After that he bought one spare starter relay from P150 and inserted the plug into it(the one he had pulled out earlier).Connected the battery,turned on the ignition and cranked the engine.The bike started perfectly and the starter also came back to normal...
Conclusion? He told me , some water most have seeped in through the gap into the relay making it short thus it drew current from battery directly with no concern whatsoever from ignition switch.
Then he took out that new relay and blew some air into my own relay and deployed it to work.This time the relay acted as if nothing had happened.Every other function also worked perfectly.
I rode the bike home without any problem.
(Coincidentally a call came from ProBiking that day in the afternoon asking me wheather there was any problem.I told them exactly what happened.They took notice of it and promised me to rectify the problem on 1st service)

Note - You might be wondering how the relay got cured all by itself?Well it didn't.The relay was still short.What happened exactly is this - When that mechanic fully disengaged the relay from battery,it went into reset postion as there was no current at all flowing through it.So when it was fitted again,everything was normal.
In the end it turned out to be a minor problem with what only the relay needed to be changed.

(After this incident I created a home made cure for the starter relay's problem of getting wet.Interesting pictures of it are here)

A few glitches here and there - Fuel gauge.

2007-08-14T23:10:00.000+05:30

While taking delivery it is extremely important that you check your vehicle thoroughly.Following is my personal experience at the time of delivery on 3rd July.I hope you get some help from it.This article is not to try and convince you that every vehicle has faults and gripes.But just be careful.

So here it goes.I completed the formalities like signing some forms and signing the register book.One of the person there then brought my bike.He explained me usual functions and parts locations which I already knew by the way!
After that he told me to inspect the bike and take a ride.My dad was there who instantly noticed a scratch on silencer of about 3-4 inches long.When we brought that scratch to their notice,one of the person there tried to 'wipe it off' saying it was some kind of paint.Even after rubbing for some time it did not go.And I insisted on changing the silencer.After some talks they agreed and took my bike into the servicing area and replaced the silencer with newer one.After that I again checked the bike and took a ride.Everything was perfect.

My mission was to ride the bike to my home in ahmednagar which is about 120Kms from pune.I got ready for the take off just when the rain gods decided to step in,leading to instant termination of my mission!
I then decided to stay for the day in pune and leave early next day.
That decided,I went to petrol pump on FC road and filled in Rs.100 petrol.To my surprise the fuel gauge didn't show any bar.At first I left it thinking that it most need more than 5 litres of petrol.
That evening I rode the bike for about 40kms.
Next day I woke up early and got ready.Went to petrol pump and filled in Rs.250 worth of petrol.With my fingers crossed.But no!This time also it didn't show anything...conclusion?a faulty fuel gauge.
went to ProBiking and showed them the bike.Service engg. checked the fuel level in the tank and agreed that fuel gauge was problematic and they would rectify it on first servicing.
Ok,I said and started on my first journey towards home.

There's nothing much to tell about that journey though as I restricted my right hand from twisting the throttle.The whole 120kms I did at speeds below 55kmph(due to run-in period) taking occasional stops.(performance and other reports will follow soon in different topic)
One thing I may add though - its fuel efficiency.The bike returned an astonishing 48kmpl.Frankly speaking I had never expected a kay above 38.I was like,gasping.Its an achievement of the sorts for a bike still in run-in period.
("Run-in" is of utmost importance and would need a seperate article altogether,which is what exactly I am doing now a days.keep watching this space)

A word about raised stickers

2007-08-14T14:04:00.000+05:30

New Pulsars (both 200 and 220) come with different style for stickers.They are at their minimum and get 10 on 10 from me.However its really a thing for concern.Unlike normal stickers(like on 150/180) these stickers are made up of thick rubbery material and are raised above the surface.When you rub cloth over them for normal cleaning fibers get stuck on it,and the corners start to peel-off.

Apart from this of course there are nuisances done by public when you park your vehicle somewhere.Large dimensions and attractive looks of the bike catch the eye of the onlooker and they come to admire it.up till now,OK.However when they see those stickers can be very easily plucked people just cant resist...and whoa gone is your pulsar and so is 200 sticker.

Here's example of what I am saying.Below is my friend Sunny's silver 200 whose sticker(Bajaj logo) has been peeled off by someone in his own apartment parking.

Not only it is heart breaking to see those stickers gone,they leave behind ugly marks of sticking material used.That can't be easily wiped away.You need patience,Petrol or (nailpaint remover) to clean it.

Small things that make Big difference

2007-08-14T12:46:00.001+05:30

Head lamp assembly with Blue-tinged parking lamps and main bulb.

Parking light -Blue tinge visible

Main bulb-White

Split seat and split rear grab -rail
All aluminum silencer.Also notice slightly curved rear-sets.

Sexy brake-lever its bolted on rear-sets.Instantly Giving you super sporty riding position.

120/80 MRF zapper-G tire.Huge!

Extended swing-arm to accommodate bigger tire.

A small extension on front mudguard.

220spec disc-brake and bigger forks as compared to P180.And they are black.

Most visible change.The tank flanks.Excellent!if I may add.

Raised lettering is nice touch.However they are a cause for worry-can be very easily plucked.Little oil-cooler.It is nestled perfectly between those flanks.

Zip-guard on the tank.

Features and general overview

2007-08-14T10:29:00.001+05:30

Beauty is not only skin deepHere comes the most important part while buying.Just why one should prefer P200 over P180,which itself is still a very competing product?

For a discerning biker the difference is huge,for others who have been confused by very close pricing here's feature list and some explanation -

First and foremost - P200 has many parts lifted straight off P220's parts bin.So its more 220 than 180. Chassis for instance is almost all P220(or is it the other way round?). So make no mistake,Pulsar family is now clearly broken in 2 chunks.Both these chunks are different from each other on many counts.The P220/200 duo forming the upper crest and P180/150 making lower part of the spectrum.

For those who came in late here's some insight on P200's feature list.(*I have listed some of the basic and important features only.There are many other minors.)

1)The most visible change in 180 and 200 is the tank-flanks on 200.They look simply fabulous.Bajaj,over the period of time since its launch has changed almost every panel in pulsar except the tank.Not that the 15 liter tank looks out of place,but its getting too long in the tooth nonetheless.So those tank-flanks are very welcome.

2)Absence of full chain cover and high performance exposed O-Ring chain.
This endows a truly sporty look to the rear.Also absent is ugly looking wheel hugger which is present on 150/180.(a la 220)

3)Large(I mean huge) tires. 90-90 section upfront and 120-80 section on the rear wheel.Both tires are tubeless and made by MRF.(Zapper).(a la 220)

4)White colored lamps in head light assembly.Both the parking lights and main head light bulb have bluish tinge and look very cool.Headlight is pretty powerful and throws whitish beam.

5)Split rear grab-rail(a la 220)

6)Split seats.(a la 220)

7)Even more flatter handlebar than 180.(but no clip-ons)

8)Extended black styling.Now front forks and rear shocks(including nitrox tube) are black.

9)Oil-Cooler (a la 220)

10)Digital console with added functions.It now shows battery-low , High engine temp, Air-filter clogged and low-engine-oil warnings.

11)Extended swing arm.(a la 220)

12)Thick front forks.(No worries at all, fork breaking ghost has finally been put to rest)

13)Larger disc-brake.(a la 220)

14)Nice looking huge all aluminum silencer lifted straight off P220 FI.This superb piece of engineering gives P200 a throaty exhaust note.At above 3.5k RPMs it just thunders.wow!

And biggest part is that , that all this stuff comes at additional premium of 4500-5000Rs only over P180.

(To directly see elaborated pictures of various features go here)

Color choice - Silver v/s Blue v/s Red (and black)

2007-08-14T08:50:00.001+05:30

Black was never on my list,some people may find it difficult to digest...but thats me for you!The reason being that black 200 doesn't stand-out like other colors and one thinks its a 180. So that left me with Red,Blue and silver(Grey) options.Very limited choice I must add.Bajaj should really consider adding more colors.
Out of these colors, silver was striked out because my previous bike was silver.So the actual contest was between red and blue.(Both are superb mind you.And are different than Pulsar150's colors).ProBiking on that day had 3 different 200's in 3 different colors on display,barring blue.The red one was standing in innermost corner beneath those whitish yellow spot-lights and god!was I taken away by the beauty.After that fabulous first impression it was a real simple decision and we right away booked a red one,with those color fading rumors not withstanding!(And judging by the color quality I don't think the color will fade away)

Black P200.Looks like a beast.But for onlookers its just another 180.
Silver is a pretty neat option.Not many people go for it,and that makes her very exclusive.
Red is my personal favorite.Black styling is best suited to red panels.
Blue was second on my list after red.Its a nice color overall.

First encounter

2007-08-13T18:45:00.000+05:30

I will be hereby sharing my experiences with Pulsar 200 as honestly as possible.
This is a blog to help understand P200 better for those who own it and also for prospective buyers.
Here's me on my bike-

Currently I have done first service only and as of now it has done 1400 odd kms.I will post every little detail about the bike and its real world performance in subsequent posts.
But before that let me elaborate on my buying and ProBiking experience.So here it goes.
I had booked my bike on 28th june 2007 and got delivery on 3rd july.
Price OTR in Pune is Rs.71230.The overall appearence and atmosphere at ProBiking showroom,Pune is very good.The air being lively and nice music playing.Perfect.
Colors used inside are also in tune with ProBiking theme.And the sales-personells are well informed.
To cut the long story short,I would say ProBiking concept is very nice and Bajaj has executed it even more nicely.

You get to experinece 3 different Bajaj bikes there namely - Avenger,Pulsar 200,Pulsar 220 on the dyno.
Its an exciting thing to do really and is one of its kind.