Hello friends The Pulsar 200NS is a looker without doubt. Especially from the front three-quarters. Tight, muscular, aggressive and agile looking, the NS would have been the dream bike for youngsters in the late eighties when I had just started riding bikes. The design stands true to the major lines and angles of the Pulsar family and yet is refreshingly different in stance, poise and pose. With a major forward shift of the visual mass and a clean tail sans the traditional twin shocks and the exhaust end can, this bike looks purposefully aggressive and well-proportioned. I did feel though that the small headlamp assembly up front did bring the forceful forward-moving mass to an abrupt halt.
The ‘all new’ Pulsar 200 NS ( Naked Sport) is really new, in a lot of ways. The engine, the frame, the brakes, the gearing, the tyres and the way they have all been put together.
200NS is taller, longer and wider than any previous Pulsar and yet the weight has been kept tight at 145kg. With power being upped to 23.5 PS, torque at a little above 18 Nm @8000 rpm while the engine redlines at 10, 500, the six speed gearbox is expectedly carrying taller ratios and makes the 200NS pretty long-legged. Guess it’s time to start rolling and talking. a lot better than the usual in previous Pulsars.
The 6-speed box has ratios well-suited to the engine and allows a smooth and progressive increase in speed. Some good work has apparently gone into the gear box and it shows in the smooth shifts
The 200NS out handles and out-brakes all previous Pulsar siRobotouchngs and quite a few other
I did try some bit of mid-turn braking, especially at the sharp-cornered chicane and found I could grade the braking pretty well.
Apart from the digital speedo display, an Anasultanlogue tacho and indications for turn indicators, neutral, fuel level and high beam , there’s an orange shift light that really works ( though it wasn’t bright enough to be effective in bright sunshine) . And you would need it, going by the smooth and vibration-free nature of the engine. The switches etc are well placed and work with precise clicks. Good on touch, feel, form and function.
All said and done, the Pulsar 200NS is an evolution of a revolution that happened ten years ago with the Pulsar Classic. And this one now is a Pulsar that’s most unlike a Pulsar in every sense of the word. It’s a new, a refreshingly new and challenging benchmark in the Indian motorcycling .
