2026 Bajaj Pulsar N250SS First Ride Review | The Grown Up Pulsar | Times Drive

Now, the Pulsar lineup of motorcycles are generally known for their sporty quotient. And how is it sporty? Well, in minimum value, the maximum performance is sportiness. So, the money is generally less compared to their rivals and the performance is quite good. But, the N250 which was launched in 2021 was slightly different. Well, it was launched to mark 20 years of the Pulsar and more importantly, it was a more relaxed Pulsar to ride. The displacement has been increased but The power wasn't increased accordingly and the idea was a Pulsar if you want to tour on it, if you just want to ride in a relaxed fashion, if you're one of those people who grown up on a Pulsar and now want a more mature version of the same, the Pulsar N250 was the motorcycle you should have looked at and in 2026 it's become the N250 SS. Now what does that SS mean? What changes are here, how has the riding experience changed, how has it changed, ultimately Should you be considering this motorcycle? We are going to talk about all these things in this video. Hi, my name is Dhruv Paliwala. You're watching Time's Drive. Let's get rolling. Now, before we move ahead with this video, I have a small request to make of you. If you like the kind of content that we make, please hit that like button, so YouTube also knows the same. If you know someone who is a fan of the N250 Pulsar, well, share this video with them and subscribe to the Time's Drive channel for more such engaging automotive content. So, let's start with the design first. And honestly, Nothing has changed, the motorcycle still looks the same as it used to, but let's revisit and actually I think this is a good looking motorcycle, especially in this striking red colour. If we talk about the start, well it's an aggressive front end, you get LEDs here, the front fascia is quite aggressively channelled, it looks quite... Sporty, and then you've got this TFT cluster, which we'll talk about later, standing out over here. It's not visor-type, so it doesn't look visor-like from the front, but it definitely looks quite sporty. Let's talk about the tank over here, you've got those regular Pulsar shrouds over here, which we've seen a lot of times. The tank is a clean design, not too many lines running on it, but it has a muscular appeal to it. Let's move towards the seat, the seat, again, once again, this area, Kind of narrows over here, but then broadens out, gives the rear end of the Pulsar some meat, some substance to it. Last but not the least, let's come to the back and again, the typical Pulsar tail lamp at the back, twin lights, which can be recognized even from a distance, this motorcycle is a Pulsar. So, honestly, I would have preferred if Bajaj would have done some design updates here, but I think their mantra is, if it's not broken, why fix it? I don't agree with it, what do you think? Do let me know in the comments section below. Now let's talk about its powertrain. There was a 249cc engine that used to come earlier and now also you get a 249cc engine. But the major change is that the setup has now been made from 2 valves to 4 valves. What that means is, well, you've got a bit more power, earlier it was 24.5 PS, now that's been bumped up to 25 PS. And earlier, the torque was 21.5 Nm. It has increased to 22 Nm. Well, people might think going from a 2-valve to a 4-valve setup, changes should have been made in terms of power output, but I have to say this, that the N250 has always been a more mature motorcycle and the power upgrade here is done to, well, not really make it the fastest in the segment, but just to make it a better motorcycle to ride and be a more able touring machine, I would say at that. Talking about touring, earlier this bike had a 5-speed gearbox, now that's been upgraded to a 6-speed unit. You'll get to see a change in the sprocket as well, earlier you'd get to see a setup of 44 at the rear and 15 at the front. Now that's been changed to, at the rear there were 44 teeth but now there are 14 teeth at the front. Now last but not the least, and this one is a big change, earlier there was a mechanical throttle body, now that throttle body has become electronic and obviously you know what that means, this bike Now comes with Ride modes. Now let's come to the feature updates. And as you must have seen in many Pulsars this year, there's a new 5-inch TFT display right here. Basically, the old setup... It didn't have that much functionality. Now, you get a colourful display with a lot of menus inside it which you can browse through your trip. You can connect Bluetooth to it. There is a pairing of Google Maps. Basically, your phone can mirror Google Maps here. You can also switch on the quick shifter, the traction control. All of those settings can now very easily be controlled through the TFT on board over here. Along with that, you've now got adjustable levers on the N250. At the same time, you get to see the hazard light switch here as well. Last but not the least, a feature of panic braking alert has been added. Basically, if you go too hard on the brakes, it's sudden brake. The rear brake lights kind of light up in a fashion to signal to the traffic behind you that you have done a hard brake. Now, these are the meat of the changes when it comes to the features on the N250SS. Let's drive the motorcycle and find out how is it to ride. So now we've spent some time in the saddle of the Pulsar NS 250 SS. So what's it like to drive? Let's start with the engine. Well, I think this is a really nice engine. The 250cc motor has a lot of torque, low down and in the mid range. So you don't really need to rev it out. That makes the motorcycle quite friendly to ride in traffic condition. And most of the times when you need the torque, it's just a A small twist of your wrist away. So I think this is a very easy engine to ride. The 6-speed gearbox which has been added over here also feels quite smooth to use. Now there is a quickshifter on the motorcycle, it's called sports shift over here. When you are really hustling the motorcycle, the quickshifter works really well. Even the clutch action is quite light, didn't really feel any problem and I preferred using the clutch on this motorcycle. One complaint I do have though are the brakes. Now stopping power is more than enough but the feedback is almost next to zero. Now most of the times when I was braking in traffic I didn't really know how much force I was putting through the system because there was nothing coming back to me. So I think if that area had been improved it would make this a really great all-round motorcycle. Even in terms of suspension, the motorcycle stays stable. See, it's not something that's set up for outright cornering or it's set up for outright comfort. It's somewhere in the middle and also does tend to feel a bit vague. But the motorcycle stays stable for most parts. There is one issue though and it is when you are kind of doing higher triple digit speeds on this motorcycle. And you do induce a bit of turn into the motorcycle, you can feel the rear get a little twitchy. Which doesn't really feel dangerous if your skill level on a motorcycle is moderate to high. But if you're a beginner, it could catch you unaware. It's just something you will grow out of. It's not something that will hamper your riding experience too much. Now, let's talk about the ride modes. Because of the electronic throttle body, the ride modes have also been added to the bike. And the sport mode here is tuned with immediate crisp throttle response in. In the Tour mode, the same throttle response dilutes a bit but most of the power remains there. There are other modes like Rain and Off-Road as well, we didn't really spend too much time with them because we had limited time with the motorcycle. So, in Tour and Sport mode, your majorly work will be done. Now, let's sum up this video, let's come to our verdict and before talking about the verdict, let's talk about the price. Previously, the 2-valve version of this engine came in at about Rs 1.45 lakhs. This one is Rs 1.59 So, we have seen an increment of Rs. 14,000 to Rs. 15,000 here. Well, for all of that money, you're getting two extra valves, you're getting a whole new set of features, there's a TFT display on board, and the general refinement has also improved. And that feels like money well spent, because the Pulsar, especially this, the N250SS, the one factor that has always worked in its favour was the fact that this was a really valuable money motorcycle. It gave you the performance, the ability to tour, Without really spending big bucks and that quotient remains the same. Abhi bhi at 1.59 lakh rupees this is almost a steal of a motorcycle for everything that it is offering. So if you're looking for an all-rounder machine which is not really asking you to break the bank, then the Bajaj Pulsar N250SS makes a great case for itself.