Bajaj XCD DTS-SI. Review on Bajaj Pulsar

I’m a girl who loves bikes like crazy so when I knew that my loving father was going to buy me the all new Bajaj Kristal I almost had a heart attack...well now wait a second my dad is a full blown bike enthusiast and has owned BSA, Norton, Triumph  Thunderbird to name a few, so I felt it was kind of an injustice to end up with a teensy light non geared scooty thing....(no offence intended) listen I had an activa during this time and I love activa too......!!!!!so there was a 19 yr old girl acting like a baby just because my dad was dragging me to planet Bajaj to buy the Kristal...sob sob no I mustn’t cry I told myself... “Dad”, I said meekly, “if you are buying a non geared vehicle why don’t you buy the Honda Dio its much better  than the Kristal”...my dad looked at me and gave me a glare that told me to sit quietly from now onwards and only open it when asked to or else when I die......we finally reached Planet Bajaj at mumbai-pune road and my dad told mum and me to sit at the customers lounge and there I was thinking, “oh well something’s better than nothing”.. I was sitting and looking at the pulsars there and drooling at them and then I saw a bike and my first thought was pulsar ka chota bhai lolzzz...well the looks were sleek and good but I felt it was too slim and short to take anyone’s weight well (especially mine he he he)....well my dad told me that all the formalities were over and he had paid for the vehicle and I just had to sign the papers. I was in such a sad mood that I signed the papers without reading it properly wherever the sales associate asked me to. Dad then asked me to go at the back to the garage with the associate to take a test ride of the Kristal (grrrrrrrrrr)...I gave the associate the dirtiest look I could muster and went along with him with my parents towing along.I saw a Kristal parked in front of me and thought it was the same one I’m supposed to take a test ride of...but then the sales guy said that here is the bike and told me to take a round and I gave him a blank look because he was pointing at a Bajaj XCD, I told him that why should I take a test ride of an XCD  when I was going to buy a Kristal?????he gave me a bigger blank look and I looked towards my dad and mum and they were giving me wide smiles and I sweetly gave them an angry look and then my dad came over and said fooled you ha ha......oh my god I realised what had just happened, my dad had roped in everyone to play an ultimate prank on me and I happily fell for it....I ran to my dad and hugged him and he told me to go ahead and try the bike. I sat on the XCD and started the bike and it started smoothly I put it in first gear and accelerated slowly and it started moving ahead smoothly and then I put it in second gear and the gear shifting was a smooth transition...I fell in love with the bike immediately....

The bike was brought home after two days my bike was amongst the first XCDs in pune roads as we had purchased it the day it was put for sale at the showrooms I guess it was the 8th or 9th of October..Though I was a bit disappointed that it had drum brakes instead of disc brakes I put it aside I talked to my dad and asked him why he gifted me a lower cc bike and he said that “I want you to start with a lower cc bike so that you learn to love and respect your vehicle and know each and everything about it including maintenance et all”..he said that he wanted me to get familiar with a lower cc bike and then he would upgrade me to higher cc one  mostly in a years time...I took my bike to my weekly meeting of my bike club in pimpri..The club which I am a member of  is called  Absolute Insane Riders which has been running since the past two year or so...We will be completing our second anniversary in Jan 2008.Our members include people of  all areas united with passion of true biking...We go for long rides and some of us are also into stunting and drag racing...Well everyone loved the bike and said it had good power and also awesome mileage...I  must add that that it doesn’t give 109 kmpl as said so by the company, I think it gives me around 60 km/h in the city and though I haven’t gone on a long ride out of the city area yet I have heard it gives around 70 in the highways....To get a good mileage one must keep the XCD at a constant speed of  45-50 km/h...The first few times were a little weird as I would reach the fourth gear without realising and then try to change it into a higher gear as the speed was slow and then realise that there were no gears left. Those were some funny and frustrating moments... I like the spunky look of the XCD with its spoilers near the tank...though the LED light is something to work on I don't know why Bajaj put an LED light that looks like a deformed version of the new pulsars and looks as if its been squeezed from the sides..But I guess it adds to the freakish look of the bike and also adds appeal to it.

The  all-black engine plus black alloy wheels makes the XCD one good looking bike and I have got lots of compliments for my bike as of date for its looks...The brakes are not that strong though and I will be writing a letter to Bajaj regarding the brakes and clutch which are faulty in my opinion...whatever its faults I love my bike though and its a great city bike and light and spirited enough to help me avoid traffic by zipping through congested areas...The power is also good so it picks up speed soon and the digital speedometer is also good though it  shouldn’t have been designed so plainly and basic looking. All in all, I would suggest that if you are looking for a  good city bike in the 125 cc range with pretty good mileage and sexy looks then go for Bajaj XCD, I promise you wont regret it...And though it looks slightly smaller than the pulsar don't forget good things come in small packages...ha ha...happy and a safe biking to all. Don’t forget to wear helmets...This is Urvashi Patole signing off...Would like to thank Satadal Payeng for giving me  an opportunity of writing in his wonderful blog...Check me out in the December issue of ‘Bike India’ magazine...