Many a time a
successful product is very difficult to replicate and take forward.
History has shown more products biting the dust in their second evolved
avatars and mind you many rivals would be thinking the same about the
second generation Pulsar. Sadly the second avatar is not an evolution
but a revolution, probably the nicest of them all, and maybe that�s why
the urge to think out of the box yet deliver in time honoured brand
strength is what this stunning new Pulsar 200NV is all about, says Adil
Jal Darukhanawala who got first crack at this most important new
motorcycle of 2012
A decade of dominance is one way to look at the
legacy of the Bajaj Pulsar but an even greater significance of this
sporty motorcycle is the fact that it created the sports bike class in
Indian motorcycling unlike at any other time in Indian motoring history.
The first gen Pulsars were great for their time and truly set the cat
amongst whatever one would care to term the competition but today the
latter is more evolved, more determined and more eager to break free and
try to usurp leadership of the Pulsar class.
Right at the very start I must pour cold water on
the above assumption of the competition because the spanking new Pulsar
200NS (the suffix standing for Naked Sports) has redefined what a Pulsar
is and stands for while pushing the envelope so further away from the
rest that the fact that the Pulsar continues to remain a dynamic target
is attested once again. First off there is nothing remotely close about
the new Pulsar from its predecessors barring the name! In fact, even the
typescript is subtly changed and while the apparent visage is stunning
and tightly packaged, the technology across the bike has helped the
Indian motorcycle cause leapfrog itself into the next decade! When
Joseph Abraham, chief technology officer of Bajaj Auto and head of Stars
Ahead, the R&D department of the company does things, he doesn’t do
things in half or three-fourths but goes the whole hog and this has
been the case with this stunning second generation offering.
ZigWheels.com has not just the complete details
about the new bike but we also managed a short riding session aboard
this new powerhouse to bring you this exclusive no-holds-barred story of
what promises to take Pulsar power to a whole new level and beyond
anything the competition has on offer.
It might be very easy to say Bajaj Auto had the help of its Austrian
partner KTM to help it design the new second generation Pulsar when the
real story is that Bajaj Auto in fact did the whole shebang with the
stunning new small capacity KTM Dukes! Also not very well know is the
fact that Rajiv Bajaj is very strong on design and knew that his team
had to have a top class design team and while he wasn’t averse to
getting many international consultants to help out in the past, he then
went and hired some of the best in the world to work and set up a truly
modern state-of-the-art design studio within the company. Among the many
things incorporated within Bajaj Auto’s Stars Ahead set-up was the
coming on board of none other than ex-BMW Motorrad design whiz Edgar
Heinrich and he worked closely with Joseph Abraham to perfect the
overall stance, makeup and proportions of the new Pulsar (Read : First Ride).
As can be seen from the exclusive images of the Pulsar 200NS, the lineage can be made out to a certain extent but then the bike and its stance and proportions are different, radical, wild and appealing in the way the mass centralization has been taken to a whole new level. The most apparent bit about the new bike is its striking style with the wrap around tank shield, the split seat, the Darth Vader headlamp, the colour coordinated theme and sculpted front mudguard, the delectable rear registration plate carrier, etc. The bike is in the streetfighter mould and makes no apologies about this fact of its makeup. In fact it thrives on its aggressive, in-your-face appeal and the extent to how far the stylists have gone to can be found in the rear view mirrors which have been specially drawn and sculpted to carry a homogenous look all across the vehicle.
Courtesy: zigwheels