Bajaj Pulsar was first launched in 2001. Before
Pulsar, the company was known for its scooters. The reason behind developing a
performance bike by the scooter manufacturer was the success of then “Hero
Honda” CBZ. Success of CBZ
encouraged Bajaj to develop a performance bike and they came up with Pulsar in
2001.
The first Pulsar was a 150 cc, air cooled motorcycle with circular headlamps, spoke wheels and front wheel disc brake. It cost around ₹50,000, which was a hefty price to pay for a bike then but its popularity spread like wildfire.
In 2006, Bajaj became
the first Indian two-wheeler manufacturer to fit a LCD display on its product.
Known as the UG-3 within the company and also in some overseas markets, the
2006 Pulsar looked futuristic for its time. Bajaj still follows a similar
design for its 150 cc and 180 cc models of the bike. A senior guy used to bring
it to my school but he did not like to flaunt it. He used to come early, park
the bike, go for classes and come back within 5 minutes of school’s last bell
and leave. Man.... if I had that bike then, I would have parked that thing out
of school and sat on it till everyone (you know the gender preference) knew
that it was mine.
The only Pulsar that I
would say failed to live up to the expectations was the 220 cc variant. It was
around a lakh rupees and was awarded by major Indian automobile magazines when
it was launched in 2009 but it did not appeal to the customers that much. After
2009, Bajaj introduced only one new design of Pulsar till 2011. 135 LS was
launched in 2011 and competed in low capacity performance motorcycle segment.
Bajaj had signed a
cooperation deal with Austria’s KTM
in 2007. The deal bore its fruit for Bajaj in the form of Pulsar 200 NS (Naked Sport). 200 NS was the first major design
change in the Pulsar range since 2009. Between 2009 and 200 NS, all variants of
the bike saw minor cosmetic upgrades only, barring the FI (Fuel Injected)
version of 220. 200 NS was developed with KTM’s collaboration and was based on “Duke
200” bike of the Austrian manufacturer. It is still on sale and has a 200 cc
liquid cooled engine which produces 23.7 bhp and 18.3 Nm of torque and a
company claimed top whack of 136 kph. It was the first Pulsar to come with mono-shock suspension.
Bajaj-KTM partnership
has been substantially beneficial for the Indian manufacturer in terms of
technology. The partnership resulted in what can be called the “third wind of
Pulsars”. First being the one when it was launched in 2001 and second being the
UG-3 one in 2006. Bajaj recently launched Pulsar
RS 200 which is based on KTM’s RC 200. KTM’s bike is available in the
Indian market for an ex-showroom price of ₹ 1.5 lakhs. RS 200 is available for a price tag of ₹
1.18 lakhs for non-ABS and ₹ 1.3 lakhs for ABS version. Bajaj will soon launch
its cruiser sports bike CS 200 and
its adventure sports bike AS 150. It
is also expected to launch Pulsar 160 NS
(or 150 NS) this year in ₹ 70,000-75,000 price range.
Rs. 200 will compete against the likes of Honda
CBR150R and Yamaha R15, which are available for a similar price and offer
similar performance. By the end of the year, Bajaj will launch its competitor for
CBR250R. Based on KTM RC 390, it will be called SS 400 and will sport a 375 cc. It will cost a little less than ₹
2 lakhs and will upgrade Pulsar to the premium performance bike segment in
India.
The reason behind the success of
Pulsar is regular technological, performance and cosmetic upgrades it has been
provided by Bajaj. The company sold more than 6 million units of Pulsar till
2014. Hero Honda and now Hero MotoCorp have failed to regularly update their
performance bike in terms of technology. They are using the same 223 cc engine
for their flagship bike Karizma
since 2003, except for minor tweaks. But they have started investing in
technology now and we might some major new launches in recent future from Hero
too. Till then Pulsars are expected to rule.
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