I am or rather was a proud owner of a silver grey Pulsar 150 DTSi. It is a May '04 model, with round headlamp and has clocked 43k kms. I got it 3 years ago with 17k kms under its belt.
A bit of background: The story starts on 6th April 2009. I was delivered a 5 year old, shining P150 at my doorstep. It belonged to a colleague of my dad who was retiring shortly and didnt want to use a heavy bike at all, wanted to move on to an Activa. My dad heard his offer to sell his bike and decided to buy it for me.
The bike was in very good shape but had a rusted silencer( a common Bajaj problem) . Also the stock shock absorbers were replaced with the new gas charged ones.
After buying, I changed the lock set and started saving for a new silencer set. The bike was very peppy and stable but heavy and difficult to maneuver in city. Tried once and attained 115 KMPH indicated, before running out of road.
I changed the silencer to a new Exhaustec one( Rs.3050) and there was a significant change in the driveability in the lower gears. The bike pulled cleanly from 2k RPM with a sudden surge comming post 3k RPM( almost like a turbo-spool) . I loved it and the new silencer was definitely worth it.
The downside was I felt the top-end had become blunted/restricted. The bike wasn't free/happy beyond 90kmph, though it did go upto 100 kmph whenever I took it. I never ventured beyond. The sweet-spot was cruising at 70-80kmph all day long, with no vibrations and a sweet burble behind you.
Performance:
Acceleration was good but was a bit in-sufficient for the new-gen 150cc/180cc bikes. But I was happy with it. It lacked a bit of top-end but I used it in the 70-80kmph range and the bike had quite a punch.
Handling:
The bike was very stable on the highways and wasn't much affected by the cross-winds. Corners were never its forte and you need to plan before approaching a tight corner. The bike was heavy and wasn't very nimble in the city, compared to the Caliber.
Braking:
The front disc was a life saver for me on several occasions and were pretty much adequate for me. The rear brake was also fine. Panicky situations didn't bring any drama.
Fuel Efficiency:
Now the best part. My Caliber used to return anything between 40-50 kmpl in city and 50-55 kmpl on highway. To be noted: I use heavy throttle and like ripping the bike in the city.
The Pulsar returned a min. of 45 kmpl in city and max. of 53 kmpl. On the high way, it returned min. of 57 kmpl at speeds 60-70kmph and a best figure of 69 kmpl. It hovered over 60 kmpl many a times.
Will be putting up a list of spare-parts change and regular maintenance that I did during the 3 years.
