BAJAJ PULSAR NS200 AND RS 200: STILL A THRILL!

The Bajaj Pulsar NS200 and RS 200 refuse to show their age even a decade later as we take them for a thrilling ride around Delhi-NCR

- KARAN SINGH BANSATTA

A lot of people, including us, believe that the Bajaj Pulsar revolutionized the Indian motorcycle market. Big on style, big on performance and bang for the buck the mantra brought unimaginable success to the Pulsar brand. But after a while, when it started to show its age, Bajaj brought about another revolution. Revolutionized the market again? Yes. But along with that, they revolutionized the Pulsar brand as well.

The arrival of the Bajaj Pulsar NS200, and its faired sibling the RS 200 after a while, was a big change for the Pulsar lineup. These 200s were aggressively styled to capture the imagination of the youth once again, packed scintillating performance leading to best-in-class figures, and still retained their value for money aspect. If the original Pulsars ushered the Indian market in the performance motorcycling era, these 200s heralded the Pulsar brand into the modern performance era.

2021, BS-VI, a plethora of premium motorcycle manufactures, an evolving Indian market, and yet, the Pulsars are still here. And still going strong! So, in order to try to understand what it is that makes these Pulsar 200 twins work, we decided to give them a go in various walks of motorcycling. And in the process, we figured out the reason. Reasons… plural, to be more precise.

The first thing you realize is that the Pulsar NS200 and the Pulsar RS 200 can be used virtually anywhere and in nearly any way a rider likes. A streetfighter for the city, they work. A performance motorcycle for open roads, they work. A superb handler for the mountains, they work. Fetching grocery (unwillingly), they work. Making daily commute a little more exciting, they work.