Jul 21, 2010 02:16 PM
35818 Views
(Updated Jul 19, 2012 01:43 PM)
Pulsar was never my choice initially. I wanted a Hunk as I felt Pulsar became obsolete, every street has 3 or 4 pulsars. When I went to Hero Honda showroom, they said that Hunk is out of production, CBZ Xtreme is out of stock. I have to pay an extra Rs. 6000 to get it immediately. So I turned towards Unicorn, which again ended up with high waiting period and black marketing. Having booked the Apache RTR, the TVS failed to deliver the bike on the date I badly wanted a bike, Apache is also ruled out from the choice list.
However unlike the HH and Honda dealers, the TVS dealer is polite and aggressive in giving my booking payment back in just 5 minutes after he committed that he cannot deliver the bike. Suzuki GS 150R is not considered as it is a 6 speed vehicle and too heavy for me. Yamaha FZ seems a perfect choice for my age, but not for my purpose. I am 24 year old, working as a Lecturer, married. FZ is ruled out because my wife did not felt comfortable sitting single side, on the pillion seat. Finally Bajaj is the only dealer offering a spot delivery, and I have to go with it. Remember that Pulsar is not even in my choice list, but the offerings from Bajaj dealer made me positive. I will discuss them in the later phases of the review.
Price & process: They delivered the bike in Cocktail Wine Red (or Sports Red) at a price of Rs. 76, 000 on road in Guntur a city in Andhra Pradesh. The finance documentation etc etc is over in 1 hour and the bike selection is done by a mechanic. He tested 3 to 4 bikes in a row and opted one for me. He told that he felt engine smoothness, no scratches on the body, Odo is reading less. The bike looked solid, making its presence felt. I opted the same one my mechanic suggested with out any doubt.
Offers: There is literally no cash discount as the bikes are on a huge demand. To sweeten things the Bajaj offered 3 free, 9 paid services, a total of 12 services over three years. Quite really satisfied with that as HH and Honda are far away from this service range. The Bajaj dealer offered me 6 more free services with out the need of paying a penny, and this attracted me immediately. So a total of 45, 000 km service is offered (30, 000 bajaj + 15000 dealer). So for every 5000 kms Bajaj offers a free service, in between that for every 2500 kms the dealer offered a free service, almost covering 40000 kms of service. Please see the updates to know service feedback and history.
Build Quality: The build quality is more than enough to call it strong. The welding is on par. Safety rod given in the front is rock solid. Parts are also good. Well done Bajaj, they concentrated well in this category in which they are on a little shorter side previously. But the NVH levels (vibrations start at 55 kmph, continues to 65) still reach the handle and then the hands. Unicorn may be a hands down winner in this category, but I am generally not a top speeder and can live with it. Best in this category: Unicorn > cbz > Apache and pulsar
Gear Box: this is where TVS and Bajaj loses to the Indo-Japanese bikes. Gear box is smooth but noisy. no big effort is needed to change a gear at any RPM but the cluck-cluchak kind of sound kill your joy of riding. good news is that false neutral is almost nil in the new model. I never faced one in the first 1000 km. well done Bajaj. of course gear pattern is same, 1 down, 4 up
Engine: Bajaj's biggest gain is also their biggest loss. DTS-I gives excellent mileage and performance but still kills the engine parts. this model has 15.06 PS == 14.8 bhp (previous one is `14 bhp approximate). in hunt of power bajaj forgot the fact that for Indian roads 150 cc with 13.3 bhp is enough. Don't know why they are going for stupid power upgrades. May be to beat cbz and Apache. The engine sound is more smoothed. vibrations creep in at 65 km speed but we don't maintain that speed practically so no problem. Engine idle RPM is 1400 in manual, but I kept it at 1000. Engine heating is a common complaint in pulsar that due to the DTS-I which is some what seem rectified. new model is not that much hot. Oil change interval is 10, 000 km if we use the recommended Bajaj 20-50 graded engine oil. For other brands, 5000 km is the interval. How ever top-up interval is for every 5000 km using bajaj 20-50 oil. So maintenance will be very less compared to the other Companies as we change oil for every 2500 km in them. Well done (this feature is already in HH Glamor's quantum core engine) best engine in 150cc category is : unicorn = cbz > Apache > Pulsar (based on refinement)
Tank: Tank uses 1.2 lit as reserve. Tank capacity is now reduced to 15 liters making it more sleek to zip into the traffic. I can't forget to tell you, this bike has the worst knee recess on the tank in its category. Literally, almost nil recess.
Best in category: CBZ > Apache RTR > Unicorn
Head light: superb quality head lights are given. thanks to bajaj
LED: white LED on the switch gear is a good idea to attract. In the night white lightened switch gear looks beautiful
Breaks: They are calm but good at work. No noise any where at all when I hit a break in panic avoiding an accident 3 days ago
Mileage: So far (10000 km on the Odo) I am getting 57 km-pl as my ride is 70% high way (keeping speed at 45-50) + only 30% city drive. I would say this mileage is excellent because 15 bhp is big power. Even in 5th gear the bike pulls effortlessly. Also most of my ride is doubles (with pillion)
Update3: Service at 5000 kms. cost is 320/- for the engine oil drain out and fill. service tax Rs. 20/-. A total of 340/- which is not a big amount
Update4: Service at 7500 kms is over. Cost of service is 10/-. They filled engine oil for free as they promised at the time of purchase. Bike is neatly washed every corner. Autoshine guys had their second coat, with that some of the scratches, lines are disappeared. Next service at 10000 kms.
Update 5: Free service 3-Engine oil seal and gear lever oil seal costing 30/- were replaced. Engine oil cost 330. total of 370/- including service tax. 3rd service time is expired 20 days ago, but the showroom manager on my request done the service for free. Service quality is also good
Update 6: Service at 17500 kms. So far no major problems. Maintenance wise a don't spend a penny. Mileage is uneffected, so I guess bike's health is 'Fit and Fine'. Every thing is as it should be.
update 7: 20000 kms done. The chain sprockets just started to show their age. But I am living with the formula-"Use it until it is completely dead". Can anybody tell me what is the typical life span of chain sprockets in pulsar 150?
