Not an experience I’ll forget anytime soon. It was totally one to savour for some time! The first hurdles were locating a place that’d lend hogs at a decent rate – and also be close enough to my hotel. It took a bit of time, but I finally got there – after half a dozen phone calls!

The eve of the day (weekend) of reckoning, comes news that weather’s gonna be not so good – and 80% chances of rain. Ah great! Rain. Just the thing I was hoping for. But, there was this tiny voice that said “wait a minute, your last ride which was highly enjoyable was partly in the wet too…”. But a 140 kilo 180cc animal is slightly different from a 250+kilo Hog with 6 times engine capakitty, innit?

Well, Saturday morning opened to a nice surprise – it was sunny!! for the first time in a week nearly! And the change in weather signaled a good ride – in nice sunny weather.
So out I went to get the hog – got all the paperwork done, which, by now, it was kinda familiar to me.

Well, it was only till getting onto the bike that it was familiar territory. From then on, it was unexplored and very, very sensory. They don’t say “you know its a Harley when you hear it” for no reason! (more cliches found true, but we’ll come to that l8r) And I discovered the pleasure of hearing the hot-rod throbbing when I fired it up. Now THAT sounded sweet!  As were the vibes from the bike – I’d gone there expecting a bike that threatened to throw me off at first start-up, but the vibes were muted, pleasant -and gave the right amount of feel. Perfect!

The first ten miles back to the hotel, were SWEET. I had a mile wide grin plastered over my face for the whole journey. My cheeks didn’t hurt even after having that grin plastered over my face for ten miles. The initial turn-in seemed a bit laborious, from the Pulsar’s sporty stance – which’s what I was used to. After the first couple of turns trying to figure if I was on the right street, the rest of the time was spent, cruising, being stared at. (Helped that I’d dressed as a propah “biker” – leather n denims). Cruising on the hog with a full lane for me, hogging the attention of folks around me, in cages – was sweet. The cool Pacific Ocean draft set it out to be the perfect ride. (That the draft might be a bit too cool, I found out later).

Lunch dispensed with, maps printed from G-maps, and all-set to go, only to see the sky opening up. Rain. A short nap was beckoning when I discovered that the rain had stopped.  For good. Hoo-hah! Time to hit the California-1.

But now it was time for a bit of reality check. The first was the IRON of the clutch. Eooww! If someone wants to build up(?)/exercise their palm muscles, nothing better than the Harley’s clutch. It’s not so apparent when in normal traffic, but a 3-car pile-up meant I was forced to use the clutch a lot, and as a result my left palm took a good beating. Round 1 to the Sportster, for reminding me to have got some gloves along as well. Should try it Bangalore’s traffic. Palms and fingers sure to toughen up, and we can just junk the protective gloves after that, maybe.

But, the pile-up was soon dispensed with, and I was now onto CA-1, or the Pacific Coast Highway. One of the best roads I have been on, till now – ocean and beach on one side, tiny hamlets on either and the mountains opposite the ocean. Add in the ocean draft and it was perfect weather for cruising. Or so I thought.

Trouble was, I didn’t have gloves. And at a steady 50mph, that ocean draft bites in a while(and it was 8 deg C). But a Pizza/coffee /directions stop kinda took a bit of the sting away, and we’re on the road again – trying to find my way to the temple located amongst the hills in Malibu – which I’d heard about from my pals of being located in an awesome location.

Turned out that the temple amongst the hills, or, the Malibu Venkateshwara temple, if you so prefer, was just a couple of turns from the PCH. Ah nice, that meant not so long a ride – and an easy ride. Or so, I thought. Trouble was, one turn was into the hill country, the second one put me bang on the hills, with a signboard reading, in a rather friendly manner, “Landslide zone, next 4.6 miles”. 4.6 miles? Ah, not so bad. I’d get off the road in that time. Time to check the map again. “4.6 miles on that road, before the turn to the temple”. Yeah, so much for calculations. The first few corners were spent trying to avoid my fear of heights, and thinking of the rock that might send me and a 250kilo hog plummeting down. After those initial fears seemed a bit too much, out came a small tunnel to set things in sweet motion again – Nice! The roar of the bike on the tunnel was good. My hands were somewhere between being numb and totally numb, but trying to pull the levers made of IRON helped in bringing them back to life, in bits.

And finally, there it was, nestled in the hills, amongst the best locations for a temple that I’ve ever seen. The most delightful part of it, of course, nestled inside. And that was the tap with hot water streaming out of it. With fingers back in motion, and paying my respects to the deity there, I headed back home, er, to my hotel. The ride back was mostly eventless, and an actual cruise with just one break to see a panoramic view of the coastline all through Malibu up until Santa Monica(or so I guessed). The only sad part was that I didn’t have enough time to snap it – a slight drizzle and a cloudy sky meant I didn’t want to tempt the gods into dousing me with water.

The Sportster’s lights were just about okay. If I had one, I’d complain about it as much as I’d complain about my 180′s lights, or maybe slightly lesser.

Fuel consumed: 1.8 gallons

Rental paid : 106$

The Experience : Priceless.

Which’s why whenever someone talks of riding gear, I sometimes think back to that incident all those years back and wonder how much better it would have been if we’d riding gear back then.

Back then, folks my age only wore helmets cause

a)  Their  parents forced them to

or

b)  It protected them when in rain.

Jackets were only worn due to rain. There was hardly any awareness about injury prevention, defensive riding/driving etc., Things have improved but still not to the extent they should. Which’s why this post.

This is what happened then. I was a *very* inexperienced rider, but full of b__s. Or so I thought. So there I was doing 60kmph which was not far off from the top speed of the scoot, the front wheel hit a rock, and I took off. Luckily for me, my helmet saved my life. But, one of my arms lost a chunk of skin – about 8 inches in length and 4 inches wide – just a light tee-shirt. My right ankle took a hit (I was wearing sandals only). Both palms got deeply bruised. Luckily nothing was broken, and nothing ran me over.

It took 45 days for all the skin to grow back. Even now,  I still have a 6 inch scar on me arm to show for it.

I had probably a 1000km’s under my belt then. I now have more than a 1000 times that experience. But still, I need my riding gear, and I wear it too.

Consider how lightly my friend got off, the other day. We were out on a 1000km ride. On the first day we’d done quite a bit of riding – about 350km. the last 75-100km were mostly on bad/no roads. And then, when returning back to the hotel that day, my friend – veteran of 50,000 km+ fell. Probably at about 50kmph, front wheel hit a ditch, instinctively hit the brakes, wheel locked, fell.

Whats the damage?

Helmet took the full blow, chin part and the visor scrathed, visor partially broken. Gloves okay, just scruffed up. No major impact to the jacket – but apparently it slid up a bit, and a slight tear in the riding pant. Steel toed boots take the hit, and now we could see the steel inside.

And he? A scratch, on the elbow. He’s slightly dazed because it was his first fall. Nothing else. That’s it. A couple of nights’ rest, some painkillers and he was good enough to ride back home!

The bike has a 6,000 Rs repair bill.

Helmets save lives. The rest of the riding gear minimizes recovery time from an incident. (More posts to follow in this direction…)

Some of them also lead to some funny comments. Like one biker pal saying “I was just waiting for someone to buy the Hunk so I can pass some comments on it!”. Yup, a silly name like the “Hunk” would inevitably lead people to get smart!

But, that is the name, and that is what the “Hunk” owner – male or female – would have to live with.

All is not lost however – the bike looks pretty good, on its own – though not as modern as say the Pulsars, or as Racy as the RTR, it does hold its own ground -which’s somewhere in between modern and racy. Thankfully, it certainly is not styled extremely like the Xtreme! It has got nice sculpted body panels to go with the fuel tank. These help one grip the tank easily – giving for much better control over the bike. What I loved was nice tough to the Speedo – by giving it a red background. Slick.

Most people who rode the bike were rather pleased with the handling – and yes, Hero Honda has got it spot on.  The ergonomics is pretty much on the ball – while I’ve often felt the CBZ to be smaller than my P180, this one didnt seem smaller – and the seat to foot peg to handlebar positioning was just right.  As was the knee recesses. You’d grip the fuel tank just so – and the result was amazing flickability.

The Hunk also did not feel so much underpowered compared to the P180 I’d just ridden – which meant it was a good one in performance – although I did not drag it too much. But a longer ride should convince me on the performance aspect – but it’s gear changes are spot-on and go thru with a convincing air – except for the first to second – which is rather hard – and involves a good deal of effort.

Is it the best in the 150cc segment? Not sure – but it sure as hell is good – and just maybe something I might consider – if buying a 150cc bike.

“Sun Soaked Departure – Rain Lashed Arrival”

Any trip log starts with the description of an ‘itch for a ride’ reason. So, lets go ahead and say that a bunch of bikers/wannabes wanted to ride and ride long.

[image above: the team]

Introducing the riders (from right to left)
1) Kamlesh aka ‘Sherpa Kamli’ –> the snow trekker –> Bullet 350 (Standard)
2) Guru aka ‘Guru bhai’ –> ice cool biker –> Bullet Machismo 500
3) Sai aka ?? –> Pulsar 180 (UG3)
4) Nasir aka ‘Nazi bhai’ –> team photographer, fog clearer, super entertainer, official account keeper (MBA works!!) –> Pillion on Kallu’s bike
5) Joe aka ‘Joe Rocket’ –> globe trotting navy man –> Bullet 350 (Electra)
6) Calvin aka ‘Kallu mama’ –> true dreamer (the one responsible for all 7 of us in the above frame) –> Bullet 350 (Electra) (getting a pillion who does not happen to be your girlfriend is a true achievement … its friendship … hats off to you)
7) Sumesh aka ‘somer sault man’ –> official timekeeper –> Bullet 350 (Electra 5S)

Life is very funny.
It gives you a lot of friends and lot of TIME to play around with when you are studying (ie., not financially INdependent). And now, you have a decent sum in your pocket not knowing how to get back those engineering times.
We are a lucky group (touch wood) and this discussion would always happen when we met at least twice a month. This trip is a very pleasing conclusion to that question and i pray that i keep concluding like this frequently on our future trips.

Kallu and Joe took the initiative and planned out the trip. The below power point presentation being a testimonial to that.
[slideshare id=210601&doc=cut-thru-breeze-part2-119835783220189-2&w=425]

Day 1 (15th December)

Me, Joe, Kallu+Nasir and Kamli meet up at HAL and ride to Madivala to meet the others (Sumesh and Guru). After an initial chat we start our road trip at 5:30 AM.

[image above: Band of bikers (including the photographer) at the starting point at madivala]

The ride from Hosur to Krishnagiri was very flat & smooth (literally speaking). A very well maintained road. Nice cruising, being invited by the dawn. Calls for another butt break right?

[image above: "N the road becomes my bride", the bikes thundering down hosur road]

[image above: We cross Krishnagiri where Joe, 'rocketed' ahead and found us a good place to have hot hot breakfast for the morning]

Finish breakfast and head out towards Salem. The road WERE GOOD (more on that later). We keep a good pace and stop for narial pani + celebrate a milestone.

[image above: Guru's 500 doing a 1000 for the first time]

This is the point where the evolution of ‘seating arrangements’ begin.

[image above: Nasir being coaxed to reinvent the wheel again - a butt cooling mechanism for our only pillion rider]

Once we get moving, we observe that the road widening has forced everybody to ride only on one side of the road and given the TN bus drivers’ penchant to push off the bikers from the road (yes i am stereotyping… any body want to refute?) one bullet goes tumbling to the ground while trying to avoid a beast bus coming head-on trying to overtake and being very indecent to the oncoming traffic.

We all stop to comfort the rider, access the damage, thank God that nothing serious happened. We resume our ride, simultaneously planning the stuff to be taken care of regarding the damaged bike – a completely broken left footrest and a cracked crash guard.

Destination Salem. Bike repair and food.

[image above: Happy biker without any postoperative trauma]

[image above: "Chilli Parota.... WHAT THE HELL..." the waiter chewed on it before it reached our table???? (pardon me... still a n00b, learning photography)]

A pretty uneventful ride till the foot hills of Yercaud. Then starts a very pleasant, cherish able ride uphill through the 20 hairpin bends to the top.

[video above: riding up to yercaud]

[image above: Mother nature, view from road leading up to yercaud]

[image above: Reached the top before the mist descended on the hill, to be invited by eager eyes who thought we were a "bunch of insanes coming on bikes to this place"]

Now, what happened after we checked in…
What would you guess a group of friends on bikes would indulge in? Lots of food and lots of liquid to quench our thirst!

Day 2.

Ready to go!!

[image above: Glued to the TV and sharing a good moment before we left..]

[video above: warming up the engines in the very chilly morning at yercaud]

The ride to Munnar was stop go, stop go, since it involved a lot of enquiring for directions. Scorching heat of TN, to the point of driving us to dehydration. Our average speed dips and gives rise to the general apprehension regarding our arrival time at munnar. Hence the group decides to ride nonstop through udmalpet (the awesome swarms of wind mills) all the way to Munnar. I did not like the sudden rushing up. But an individual decision comes second when compared to a team decision.

The uncomfortable heat is replaced by a pleasant chilly green atmosphere of the Chinnar forest. The best forest road i’ve travelled on. Till now i had only heard of the good Kerala roads. Now, i’ve experienced it first hand.

Lots of ‘picture postcard’ moments lost.
The mix of the setting sun, the mist, the mountains, the forest and then the small waterfalls here and there was just divine. Wish i had a cycle and stamina to ride through this stretch all the way to munnar. The waterfalls were like these gold watches embellished with diamonds. Sometimes the clouds focused the sun rays on some mountains as though God held a flash light in a dim surrounding to show us the beauty of nature. Also spotted some black faced langurs waiting to be snapped on camera, but alas, i aint stoppin now monkeys

[image above: An unsatisfactory try to quench my thirst]

Once you cross the chinnar forest, there is another check post after which you reach Munnar through the tea estates of Kannandevan. The good roads don’t seem to end at all. They keep getting more and more twisty turvy but the grip and quality of the roads were worth applauding.

[video above: ride to munnar]

We reached Munnar by 6.

[video above: reached munnar & view from balcony of our home stay]

We walk through the temporarily put up weekend eating stalls of munnar and purchased some food. The night spent on food and some hydrating and dehydrating liquids The round table discussions were full of things ranging from Joe’s foreign escapades and other stuff… no details, censored you see.

Day 3.

Kallu comes back from the Mass in a church at the foot of the hill we stayed on. I am basking in the sun to get off some hangover. Every one else is asleep, its 7 and the sunlight is playing with green tea estates and white mist, which made us pull out our bikes and go out on a small ride. By the time we started our bikes there were two more companions on the mini ride. So, 4 bikes head out.

[image above: Our home stay bungalow basking in the morning sun]

One of the bullets makes the cardinal sin of using the front disk brakes on a high speed, super leaning, tempting, well-tarred corner. The fall was a scary one, the first one i’ve seen first hand. The bike takes a lot of damage and luckily the rider is safe. We cut short the ride and get back to the lodge to find to our surprise that there is a small tin hut with a bullet and its internals opened up for repair.

out comes Jerry, a student of MS Ramaiah college and a very knowledgeable mechanic. All of a sudden everybody start seeing problems in their bikes which weren’t talked about till then. He gets on with every body’s problems patiently while i take a tablet to stop the headache and dose off for an hour or two. Getup after that to watch the group still with Jerry, in the hot afternoon sun.

A proposed short munnar trip got postponed from 11 to 4:30 due to the heat.

We take a beautiful ride through Munnar – Madupetty – Eco Point – Palar – Kundala – Top Station and back. The view at the Dam was amazing and so was our group dynamics while on the ghats…. evenly paced and evenly distanced, with every bike in view and riding up and down the roads like a snake with red dots on its body (our tail lights!).

[video above: Ride on amazing roads from Munnar to Mattupetty dam]

[image above: view of mattupetty dam]

[image above: "Nature's playground", anaimudi peak in the distance]

While biking back from the ‘Top Station’, there was one sunset, which was half visible due to the tall trees. This was the only time my mind got into destructive mode … it wanted to chop down the trees so that the view was a complete one. I can understand why heavy pocketed celebrities buy villas and want to cut down trees for a better view.

[video above: Night ride from Mattupetty dam to Munnar]

[video above: Dinner at "Lonely planet recommended Rapsy Restaurant", Munnar]

Day 4.

The sun bathing ends here. Give way to the rain lashing!

I decide to leave a bit early than the others so that i can catch up with the lost opportunities on my way to munnar. Kamli and Sumesh agree to do the same.

We leave Munnar at 6:15. The weather is dry and we cross the first hill. All of a sudden we are in the mist of munnar and getting pretty wet too. I am confused, we were not mentally prepared for a rainy weather. We still force ourselves into assuming that its just mist charged with water… hence the wetness.

We cross two more hills and the truth finally hits us. I forgot that there was a camera pouch dangling on my shoulder. Take a quick stop, and put it inside the saddlebag which i always water proof from inside no matter where i go.

Now, when its raining cats and dogs in a beautiful forest, what do you do…. i saw a sign board reading the direction to a water falls 2 Km ahead and i grabbed this opportunity with both hands!

A wonderful experience. Thigh deep, crystal clear water… all the pebbles washed and laid out as in a costly aquarium. I always think twice before getting my feet wet (given the distance we have to cover in a wet sock and wet shoe). But here? No second thoughts. I readily jumped into the stream, which initially sent a shock through my spine due the chillness. Enjoyed the water while Sumesh was mobbed by a big band of monkeys… it had spooked him enough… he was ready to hurl his helmet at them in case they had come anymore closer to him.

Me at the falls (shot on a K750i)

By the time we were out of the falls and heading to the check post at the tea estate we see the rest of the bikes already heading towards us… we were overjoyed since it was raining heavy and now the group is complete.

We had the best breakfast of trip in the smallest of the huts with the smallest expenditure.

Freshly made vada… what more can you ask for when you are soaking wet and a hotelier is ready to entertain you with hot crispy food. The icing on the cake was ‘Palam Puri’ which Nasir’s probing eyes discovered. They are hot crispy banana fry whose taste cannot by described.

Holla?! Whose there??

A camera less journey ahead.
We take nearly 13 hours to cover the total 336 Km to our destination – Yercaud.
You would ask, why come back again? Well i asked myself the same question even before the trip started. You need to look logical, so i put it this way. Every good place has to be visited twice no?

Destination Yercaud. Every body is wet to the bone. The only consolation till then was a very good food served at a ‘irani hotel’. Me, Kamli and Sumesh had waterproofed our luggage. The same was not the case for the rest. We immidiately ordered for room heaters and then for an iron box.

Kallu gave us a scare by showing us black fingers when he pulled out his biking gloves. And to our relief, it was no frost bite or what ever, it was just that the new glove’s color had given way and got on his skin

We get warm, have food, no one wanted to have a conversation … so we hit the bed pretty fast.

Googled up the weather map for that day (thanks Sumesh)

Day 5.
I had enjoyed every bit of the rain infested ride, but was feeling bad for the group who were shivering with no dry clothes to wear. I can understand the discomfort they have been through. I just hoped that every thing would be back to normal by the morning and i was right. Every body woke up with a smile and determination enough to get us back to Bangalore even though we knew that the rain would not stop.

A chilly one, tough to capture on camera

Joe, Nasir and Kallu went out shopping for raincoats and were back by 10:30. We decided to leave by 11 since the checkout time was 12 noon. But to our surprise we find that the checkout was 24 hours from checkin. Hence we decide to leave Yercaud at 3 in the noon so that we dont have to bear with the traffic after hosur towards madivala. We did this factoring in the ok experience we had with the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch.

After having the most comfortable lunch of the trip at the hotel itself. We leave Yercaud as planned and reach Salem.

We did not expect the roads on the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch to change so drastically in a matter of two days. It’s surprising that all the seven of us had a doubt that we had chosen the wrong route. This niggling thought was despite watching the same landmarks on our way. The stretch has changed that bad.

The roads looked like mine fields laid out for the bikers riding it. Again the rash TN bus drivers gave us a hard time. I say hard because, you are not riding alone, but are riding as a team. Any bodies weakness is your weakness. This stretch, with the rash driving busses were hell bent on exposing those weaknesses… and adding to the complexity was darkness.

You had only two options:
1) Ride with the helmet visor down…. find yourself in a pothole.
2) Ride without the visor down…. bear with the slush hitting your face when you overtake or get passed by an oncoming vehicle.

Obviously, we chose option 2.
We took nearly 6 hours to cover the first 100 Km (all the way to Krishnagiri). But even the good roads ahead did not help and we took three hours to cover the second 150 Km.

Reached Bangalore at 11 in the night. Exchanged celebratory hugs and headed back home. Not a memorable way to call it a day. But we were tired and shivering, and could manage only that much jubilation.

A lot of firsts on the trip.

1. Group dynamics. It gave me a good perspective of team work, role of a leader, what it takes to keep a team as one. The birth and death of conflicts. Importance of formation riding, laying out the basic rules, forcing to conform to it (i am much better prepared for all the three in future). The importance of a close interaction b/w the first and the last person in the formation – i was ten minutes from peeing in my pants since we lost contact with one bullet while on the Salem – Krishnagiri stretch.

2. The joy and scares of riding on a fog filled ghat section with visibility to less than 5 meters.

3. Stretching my mileage in the rain. New experience with the hostile bus drivers. Hadn’t done a 13 hr bone drenched trip so far.

4. A journey covering three states (my previous being only two)

5. A trip that gave me many more biking buddies

6. Finding the weak links in my waterproofing armour. The cramster jacket needs a lot of tinkering around and so does the saddle bag. Finally found out a comfortable way to protect my neck using a muffler – 5 days gave me a lot of time to ‘live test’ my ideas.

The ‘dry feet’ idea – contributed by guru and sumesh

7. Need for new methods of cleaning my visor quickly for improved low light visibility. I will have to purchase an AGV due to the famed protection and the ease with which you can pluck out and snap the visor back in. This way i can keep the tinted visor on the present helmet and use an AGV with a clear visor.

8. Need for a spare camera (the best would be a mobile phone camera – water proofing would be very easy).

9. Importance of a small umbrella in case main camera is required.

10. Pair of sandals. Without them on a rainy day and a wet floor in the hotel, you are screwed.

————————————————————————————-
Trip Stats.
————————————————————————————-

14th Dec
Filled 11.65L of fuel (Rs 600 @ Shell)
Tripmeter reading – 0 Km

15th Dec
Odo Reading 28594.8 Km
Started the trip at 5:31 AM
Reached Yercaud at 4:01 PM
Tripmeter reading – 261.3 Km
Distance travelled – 261.3 Km
Time taken – 10 and 30 Minutes

16th Dec
Left Yercaud to Munnar at 8:02 AM
Reached Munnar at 6:01 PM
Tripmeter reading – 571.5
Distance travelled – 310.2 Km
Time taken – 10 Hours

17th Dec
Second day in Munnar
One trip in the morning
One trip in the evening
Tripmeter reading – 653 Km
Distance travelled – 81.5 Km

18th Dec
Left Munnar to Yercaud at 6:25 AM
Tripmeter reading – 0 Km (Running on reserve fuel)
Refuelled for 2.17L (Rs 100 @ Maryoor, Kerala)
Tripmeter reading – 113.3 Km
Reset trip to 0 Km (Running on reserve fuel)
Refuelled for 6.32L (Rs 300 @ Palladam, TN)
Reached Yercaud at 7:15 PM
Tripmeter reading – 223.0 Km
Distance travelled – 336.3 Km
Time taken – 12 Hours and 45 Minutes

19th Dec
Left Yercaud to Bangalore at 3:05 PM
Refuelled for 4.2L (Rs 200 @ Yercaud)
Reached Bangalore (Madivala junction) at 11 PM
Tripmeter reading – 476.6 Km (Including the distance to my house from madivala)
Distance travelled – 253.6 Km
Time taken – 9 Hours

Total Distance Travelled –> 1242.9 Km
Total Time Taken –> 42 Hours
Average –> 27.7 Km/H

Pulsar Mileage Statistics
Mileage for the initial full tank
Fuel 11.65 Liters
Distance 653 Km
Mileage 56.1 Km

Mileage for the second refuel
Fuel 2.17 Liters
Distance 113.3 Km
Mileage 52.2 Km

Mileage for the third and fourth refuel put together
Fuel 10.52 Liters
Distance 476.6 and counting

Projected average mileage (worst case scenario for the third refuel) – 51.2 Km

So after getting a brief test ride from Khivraj’s Indirangar outlet in Bangalore, here are my first impressions.

It is a big step up from the P180 – and in all the right directions – okay with just the seating, maybe.

Design & styling are in the by-now familiar Pulsar family mode. Although the P200 gets most of the same attributes of the 180DTSi, it sports some additional – and very welcome changes. The foot-pegs are rear-set - and this is heaven-sent to anyone who complained about the foot-pegs on the Pulsars -

I hate the way one has to twist their ankle towards the brake pedal, it should’ve been more straightforward, or at least, the recesses in the tank should’ve been better.

The rear-set pegs combined with just the toe-shifter meant shifting, and riding was a breeze – especially for the knee. The brake lever falls right into the space. Its the first time my legs have snugly fit around the Pulsar’s tank – and it made for delightful riding. The original Pulsar, or at least the DTSi should have had all this. Better late than never?

The seat is split – and that robs some joy from the sweet riding position. There didn’t seem to be enough cushioning or space – I wanted to slightly move back, but couldn’t. There’s a split grab rail as well – looks cool, hope it is useful too. Oh, there’s the lovely looking Tank scratch pad too.

In sum, a sporty, comfortable design.

Onto the engine and mechanicals then – this is essentially a 20cc upgrade in terms of capacity from the P180, but boy! Does it seem like a different beast altogether! There’s the nice growl when you accelerate. Now, you’re talking, baby! There is definitely more power on tap on 200 vis-a-vis the 180, even though it has a weight disadvantage – it accelerates harder.

The accelerations is smooth, comes in a hurry almost all the time – and with the sweet exhaust note for company. The ‘box is slick, and precise. No missed shifts, no false neutrals, nothing. The brakes are very good – both for bite and feel. There isn’t the sudden bite one found in the 180 with the front brake – it is more linear. No vibes up until 8K rpm – that’s all I pushed it to before shifting up.

One difference between the 200 and 180 was that the 200 wasnt screaming its guts out at 8k rpm – although that impression might change when more time’s spent with the machine.

And the whole package is just 3000Rs dearer compared to a 180. IMO, well worth the money!

Update: Spec sheet up here, at Bajaj’s site. Brief overview – 200cc, 18PS, 15 litre fuel tank, oil-cooled engine, 145 kilos, tubeless tyres on both ends ( F 90/90, R 120/80), brakes (F 260mm Disc, R 130 mm drum)

Related post – The 2006 Pulsar 180 DTSi

The gearbox – silken smooth. Knife thru hot butter, call it what you will, but its the slickest gearbox I have seen. And after having ridden the earlier Pulsars you’d be forgiven for thinking Bajaj stole someone else’s gearbox! Shifts are very clean, precise. No judders, false neutrals.

Power delivery is very linear, although this author felt that Power wasnt coming with the hurry that one is used to on the older Pulsar – maybe it was just need for running-in on the test bike.

The engine has, I’m sorry to note, a very weak note(no pun intended). You can hardly hear it at times – which can be good sometimes, but wouldn’t you wanna hear your baby screaming as you rev it up? I sure would!

The suspension seemed better. The bike’s slightly heavier – about 4 kilos or so which might have helped matters just a wee bit.

Looks. The new fairing looks all the more aggressive. The tail-light is very unique, but looks kinda wimpy, and if my experience is any guide, one cant really see it, if one’s in a taller vehicle. The illumination of the tail lamps is lovely.

The digital speedo looks great with orange backlight, but unfortunately the idiots that they are, folks at Khivraj have disconnected the speedo cable – but NOT the rev-counter cable. So one could see the revs going up, but nothing on the very good-looking dash!

On the whole, a better bike indeed, although one hopes the note of the older(2005) model can either be retained or re-introduced on this model!

Read the long term review of the 2005 180 DTSi.

Update: The Pulsar 200 DTSi is reviewed here

So in comes Hero Honda Motors with a new product that it advertises as the CBZ Xtreme. Taglines like “Blink, and you will miss it!“, or “Once you see it, impossible to forget!” hyped the product up, like never before. If you had followed the Indian biking scenario, and saw this kind of advertising, you would be thinking the CBZ Xtreme to be at least a quarter-litre bike delivering 25+ bhp (One wouldnt expect litre class bikes from HH, after Honda has entered India on its own).

Ah! But that is the twist in the story. The CBZ Xtreme is a bike in the 150cc class, which is.. the same class as the original CBZ was! Shaking your head in disbelief? Dont, not yet! There’s more to it.

First, the power – reportedly a increase to….14bhp(from 12.62)! Didnt you jump with joy? No? Not even for that extreme hike in power? Well, never you mind, I have more info for you to jump with joy on.

The snaps, courtesy Xbhp. All of them showing how xtreme the product is, indeed.

Tank from the Ambition, side panels, wheels from the TVS Apache, Tail lights from the Libero probably, and a grosteque fairing + headlamp. Add in garish stickering and the dials, and you get – an Xtreme-ly bad looking bike.

No wonder they call it the Xtreme. It disappoints Xtreme-ly!

Update: Hero Honda has specs up at the CBZXtreme site. 150cc 14 bhp 143 kilos and claimed 0-60kmph time of 5 seconds. When it arrived, the original CBZ was a 158cc, 12.6 bhp, ~130 kilo machine. With the same 0-60 claimed time. Thats what Hero Honda call progress!

Engine : Awesome. Sheer delight. (add superlatives). It just begs to be revved, and boy, its got a good tune too! I have taken it to 8,500 rpm (redlines at 9K rpm) and there wasnt even one bad vibe (in all gears except the 4th and 5th - havent gone beyond 95kmph even at 105+ in 5th). And its deceptively smooth and silent when you’re taking it nice and easy – rev it, and it turns into the hooligan that it is! 16 horses are more than par for the course. The best part about the bike, is its seamless acceleration. Traffic lights are a delight, cos you’ll always be leading the junta. (There’s a new 200+cc engine supposedly for the bike)

Brakes: Will stop the bike on a coin. Really. The front brake has MASSIVE bite – and the rear’s good as well. But one should really get used to the braking before you try stoppies or hard braking – the rear brake pedal isnt positioned right, so a lil slip there, and you’ll end up getting deep bruises(gravity and inertia arent always good).

Ride & Handling: Its amongst the best in class, tackles the bad roads well and is very stable at all speeds, thanks to the new longer wheelbase and the lower ride height (because of the smaller 17″ wheels). The wind is pretty much directed at your shoulders, so there’s not much wind hitting your chest, even at 90+ speeds.

Looks and design: Well, its a great looking thing, especially head-on, with that “I’ll chew you up for dinner” looks – that beaky fairing. The rear lamp’s good – and the new Pulsar this year will probably sport LED taillamps and ducatesque headlamps, which’s amazing. The current 180’s also come with an all black look on the mechanicals – something that I dont quite fancy, though the black wheels look cool!

Living with it:

The engine’s grunt and growl are awesome. The lights are great. The headlight beam is even and pretty well spread. The average is good too. I’m getting about 48km to a litre of unleaded – driven sanely, start revving it and expect more like 38-40kmpl. The mirrors are okay, I would’ve preferred wider ones.

The best part about the bike is that you can leave it idle for a few weeks, and then get her started on first kick, or on first thumbing of the starter. And there’s no change in the engine note either. You can take it out for a revving session, just like that.

I hate the way one has to twist their ankle towards the brake pedal, it should’ve been more straightforward, or at least, the recesses in the tank should’ve been better. The tyres are pretty grippy in the wet, and on most dry surfaces, but if there’s a bit of sand around tend to easily loose traction on sand/sandy surfaces.

One more thing to watch for – the bike doesnt appreciate fast gear changes from 3rd to 4th.

As a parting shot, I’ll let the Business line caption the bike:
Suave but savage

Local Bajaj Dealer Information can be found at Planet Bajaj

If there’s a ProBiking showroom in your city, I recommend that you buy from them – it is Bajaj’s premier company showroom for their premier bikes.

Few bajaj dealers in bangalore:

KHIVRAJ BAJAJ, 10/2 KASTURBA ROAD, Contact: (080)2214753 , 2213781 , 2212397
(Khivraj was the only dealer to sell the P-180 back in 2005)

POPULAR BAJAJ,
No.123/107 2nd Main 7th Block Jayanagar
No. 515 20th Main 8th Block Koramangala
Contact: (080)26689845 , 26689846 , 26689847 , +91 9845589079

JATTI BAJAJ, 73 BASAVESHWARA ROAD , (MILLER ROAD), Contact: (080)2264403 , 2264404 , 2252743 , 2252743 (spares)

Update: A comparo between the old and the new Pulsar 180.