Jun 29, 2016 09:12 PM
2125 Views
This is suppr bike I hv more fun with this bike The Indian biking scene has seen a great overhaul in the last couple of years with the advent of the quarter liter class making inroads into a predominantly 100 cc -150 cc market.
With this evolutionary trend, the flagship Indian brand obviously had to shrug off their “Hamara Bajaj” image, put on a new Dolce and Gabbana suit and spray copious amounts of Armani Performanti. What resulted was a Pulsar that could take to the streets and tear off any other so called Indian Performance bike’s sheepskin clothing and show them who the real boss is.
In my mind though, in pursuit of moving ahead of its known and accepted image, Bajaj has inadvertently carved a piece of the performance biking fraternity’s chunk for itself and made us more hamara than ever.
The earlier Pulsars, even the very performance oriented ones, namely the 220 F, and the original 220 were what you call okay-ish. The design was not something to stand out, and to my eye the 220 F was outright disbalanced in proportion with its projector headlamp, ironically though, this was also one of the most utilitarian.
Let us get to the 200 NS then. The overall bike looks absolutely proportionate, with quite a lot of design cues borrowed from earlier Pulsars and heavily inspired by the 2011 Honda Hornet. The aptly named bikini fairing up front is bang in place and makes for one of the most enticing front ends to be put on an Indian motorcycle.The design of the 200 NS has a linear flow from the front to the back with the bulges and lines at exactly the right places. It is a perfect marriage of form and functionality which was not prevalent among bikes in India till date.
The tank looks gorgeous in exactly correct proportions; the coolant indicator is on the right of the bike when seated, as well as the battery compartment cover with a mesh on it looks purpose built.The split seats are more function than form, because of a small under-seat storage compartment, which houses the first aid kit and important documents.
The rear of the bike is taken straight off the 135 LS with a shot of Botox in the right places, to make it look more muscular and meaner. It carries forth the same LED rear tail lamp assembly and this is the only part of the bike which sticks out like a sore thumb. Lack of inspiration, perhaps?
On the face of it, the 200 NS is a butch looking and mean, street brawler. And it has to be, because the small NS in the name meaning “Naked Sports” which in my mind is very apt for a machine of this class.
The alloys are not the best of design and are the same design as on the Bajaj Discover ST 125. The Y spokes do not look downright ugly, but a better design would definitely look more suited to this bike.
