Bajaj Pulsar NS 400Z - Fastest Pulsar At An Unbelievable Price But...

Nine months ago, the Pulsar NS200 and the Dominar 400 went to Oyo room and the result is this, the Pulsar NS400Z, or is it Z, I don't know. Anyways, jokes aside, this motorcycle is very attractively priced at just rupees 2.33 lakhs on a Mumbai for a 400cc motorcycle giving exceptional value which has been the case with the Pulsars since day one. Straight away coming to the motorcycle, the reason I did that introduction is because this motorcycle actually has the chassis and the engine from the Dominar 400 and the rest of the parts actually come from the NS200 and that's the reason why the price is so attractive, they have shared a lot of cycle parts from other motorcycles in their range and that's what Bajaj does best. Anyways, the light has this Z treatment for the LED DRL, meanwhile, this is the projector and I'm just going to flash the projector right away. As you can see, the light is quite effective, it says NS400 right there, all LEDs, in fact, these are hazard lights on right now. Meanwhile, the front disc is actually 320mm, front tyre size 110-17-17, alloy wheel design looks nice, tyres are crap, MRF tyres, not good at all here. Now, this engine is obviously liquid cool, state of the art, offers good performance, that's the reason they have to give it. Traction control, the seat height is 805mm, meanwhile, the ground clearance is 168mm, the tank size is small at just 12 litres and golden coloured USD forks, 43mm, so yeah, those are thick, which is a good thing. The overall design and this finish actually looks quite nice because it's sort of a carbon fibre finishing, you get this belly pan treatment, whatever you call it, I don't even know that, there's a small crash guard here and the swingarm doesn't look that attractive. 230mm disc at the rear, the rear tyre size 140-70-17, again, the alloy wheel design is similar to other Pulsars, in fact, the taillight is very similar to other Pulsar motorcycles, so yes, they have shared a lot of stuff in the NS400Z, stepped up pillion seat, grab rail towed onto, tank guard has been given as well, this motorcycle doesn't look that big because the wheelbase of this motorcycle is less than the NS200, which is quite shocking, meanwhile, that is the monoshock suspension, it has a LCD screen here, no, it's not a TFT, it's an LCD screen right there, lot of buttons here, not the easiest to operate, this is obviously for the indicator, the horn, that's nice and loud and this is, this is actually for the light, so I've turned it on and then obviously, instrument cluster also becomes lighted up, let's turn off the hazards right away, very busy cluster, too much happening here, this looks like an afterthought, I mean, what is this and why is it even there, I can't even see it, that's so badly done and I can browse through a lot of information here, so it gets Bluetooth connectivity as well, yeah, it has ride-by-wire, that's the reason it has got four riding modes too, but yeah, it's super-duper busy, it has a clock and all but unfortunately, this is out on a distance to empty an average fuel efficiency meter, so yeah, that's a bit of a problem, let's rev it, okay, okay, there's a lot of buzzing happening there, it says PC, means take care of yourself, just kidding, that's traction control, Grimica is the brand of the brakes, so yeah, I'm hearing it for the first time, call me stupid or living under a rock, anyways, the bike looks very similar to the NS200 but it is a rocket ship, let's start riding right away, wait, before that, let me make you listen to the exhaust now, because it's an underbelly exhaust, every time I rev it now, yeah, it can get a bit crazy, can you see that moving because of the wipe, so underbelly exhaust, that's a neat touch, let's go, why is it not focusing on the motorcycle, I think it is also going for a toss right now, the camera, all right, let's turn on this motorcycle and it says, let us ride, there's actually a USB-A charging socket here, the levers, both of them are actually adjustable and if I get into this menu now, there's actually a lap timer as well, but I'm going to get into vehicle info right now, get into ride mode, I'm going to set it to sport, yeah, therefore ride mode, road, sport, rain, off-road, so sport mode, I think it just alters the throttle response and yes, we're going to come out of that into first gear, pegs are a little rear set here and off we go, so actually find the bike to be quite light and very compact as well and yeah, it is very compact, quite light, 174 kgs, but it feels lighter than the numbers suggest here for sure and around the corners, it feels a bit uneasy, I'll tell you why, they have actually given it a shorter wheelbase when compared to even the Pulsar NS200 and the underpinnings are of the domino, I don't know why this bike has such a short wheelbase, which obviously feels kind of ridiculous, maybe Bajaj's strategy is shorter the wheelbase, lesser the material used on this motorcycle and more aggressive the pricing, I know I sound very stupid right now, but yeah, I can come up with any shit anytime, so around the corners, yeah, it doesn't feel that great because the rear suspension is all over the place, the front damping and all is good, the rear is a bit weird and that hopping happens even under heavy braking, so that's a bit of a problem, so while this is definitely an engaging Pulsar, I don't think this is the best Pulsar yet, the best Pulsar is the Pulsar 220F, yes baby, nothing beats that, now response is good, in fact, it has traction control, which you can turn off, but it needs traction control because it has so much power now, that it will definitely wheelie without giving you any intimation of the same, now it gets Bluetooth connectivity and all that is obviously, what am I up to, yeah, yeah, the front is a bit, on the stiffer side is what I feel, the rear is a bit on the softer side, both of them are not in sync for sure, so the rear hops, the front end feel is decent, it's not great, but what really ruins the experience of riding this motorcycle are the tyres, they are just rubbish here, they don't offer grip at all, because of the cost cutting now, they have given it really bad rubber here, the cheap rubber, which just doesn't offer you the grip you would expect, bike somehow is not giving me confidence, the front end is a bit loose, it's not very engaging as such, but then it is about the engine, where it absolutely excels, because the engine is second gear, it's doing 82 kmph, this bike definitely reminds me of my KTM Duke 390, the first generation, the OG, because it definitely pulls hard and strong, now it uses the same engine, I mean the internals might not be the same, but 373cc single cylinder motor, which is liquid cooled, produces 40 horsepower and 35 Nm of torque and you can feel it, you can feel the performance, you can feel the punch, you can feel the grind and you can feel how it absolutely pulls along strongly, you will forget the tyres, you will forget everything, once you pull this motorcycle hard, because it is absolutely stellar in terms of performance, but unfortunately the tyres are actually the connection between you and the road, and that is where the problem lies, you need to really swap out the tyres, the money you have saved by not paying much to Bajaj can be invested into better rubber, because this motorcycle definitely needs better rubber, I am not going to absolutely argue about that, so handling is okay, not great, it's light, but the short wheelbase really ruins stuff here, if it had a longer wheelbase, now definitely this motorcycle would be more stable, it doesn't feel stable, the brakes are not that great and handling is okay, okay, mirrors give you a decent view of what's around, but it's giving me a view of my jacket more than anything else, so that's a bit of a disappointment there, motor is not the most refined as such, but it has that character which is amazing, let's see if we can filter through traffic here, gearbox is smooth in terms of shifts, yeah, ride by wire here, which is a nice addition for sure, so we're just going to go through here, I think it will manage quite easily, because street fighter motorcycles are just the best in this regard, but what, there is no space only to maneuver, where do I go from, but Fortuner is hogging all the space, but remember one thing, no matter how crowded it is, there's always the space, so we're just going to hog and try to make some space here, yeah, thank you so much, let me go, bro, you also, let me go, because I want to see how this bike is to maneuver, it's actually easy, nimble and then we have to launch it, so I have to always be at the front here, here we are, sport mode, will give you better sort of response and off we go, sorry Fortuner, you're too heavy, first gear 59, I hoped it was 69, second gear 82 into third gear, which takes it past 100 kilometers per hour, 107 kilometers per hour, which is fantastic, fourth gear 120, done 31 kilometers per hour, insane, absolutely insane, there's a lot of windblast here, there's no windscreen here, so obviously there has to be windblast, so this is a street fighter motorcycle, which is more apt in the street than out on the highway, because out on the highway, obviously, there's so much windblast you have to contend with and that hopping which is happening from the rear now, makes it quite uncomfortable, I think top back would be easily around 145, 150 kilometers per hour, I mean comfortable, yeah, it can go past 160 kilometers per hour as well, you need a really long straight road to actually achieve that, yeah, I need better brakes here, because the brakes just don't inspire the confidence, yeah, the clutch is actually light here, Bluetooth music connectivity, this is a motorcycle or a gadget, I know, motorcycles are becoming gadgets nowadays, lap timer baby, what is wrong with you, this vehicle information is just about fine, yeah, the buttons are a bit hard, it's not the easiest to operate and the screen, that's kind of weird, what is this blue color here, reminds me of my 50-year-old DOS computer, which was using C++, it's relatively refined at idle, we're going to give an indicator, come into first gear and time for a u-turn right away and yeah, the front brakes actually feel a bit tight somehow, it's light enough for taking an easy u-turn and off we go, that is what a Pulsar is all about, sheer performance, unadulterated, very raw in that regard and that's something where it absolutely excels, I really like the performance, but I'm going to launch it one more time and here we go, now, past 140 kilometers per hour, the front end starts to become quite loose here, but as I see it, this bike is far from being perfect, but Pulsars are never about being perfect, neither is a KTM or a Triumph, at least the ones which Bajaj makes, but then, what is so special about this bike, it is actually the price, yeah, for this price, nobody can give you this much power, yeah, it's insanely powerful for the price, okay, we launch it once again and off we go, clutchless shifts, yo baby, so the most powerful Pulsar is finally here, it has been a real long time coming, because it was shown in concept form as a CS400, but I don't know why Bajaj is like, no, we'll call it Kratos, no, no, no, Kratos doesn't work for us, let's call it Dominar and the Dominar hasn't really sold as much as it should have, but if it, the Pulsar was launched as a, or rather the Dominar was launched as a CS400, it would have done a phenomenal job, because the Pulsar brand name is super duper strong and this bike will sell, but only if there is no 220F in the showroom, which is not the case and that's the reason why everyone is still going to get the Chhapri Pulsar, the Pulsar 220F, the Pulsar which was once the fastest Indian, but people still think it is the fastest Indian anymore, I mean still, so that's another thing, but then, this is a street fighter motorcycle which offers crazy bang for the buck, you can just go through filtering through traffic, because it's a very small chain to mint to motorcycle, which has a lot of grunt, a lot of power, and on that bombshell, it's time to end, the Pulsar is back, and hopefully this one sells, so we'll get a Pulsar 800 someday, which will be priced at 4 lakh rupees for 800cc, single cylinder engine, with approximately 55 horsepower, bye, oh by the way, this motorcycle will return roughly around 24-25 kilometers per liter, with a 12 liter fuel tank, you're looking at around 220-240 kilometers of range, which isn't that good, but then, who's gonna go grand touring on this motorcycle, so yeah, that can be forgiven, I realized that it kind of sounds rough, this bike, so that is actually the character which I actually like, yeah, it doesn't sound, it doesn't sound smooth, but it sounds very Pulsar-ish, so yeah, Bajaj has retained the character, that's a good thing, na, chalo, nikalta hu,