Bajaj Pulsar - Growing Older and Meaner

Tracked By ABHISHEK GUDIMETLA

Bajaj auto initially known throughout the decades for its scooters and a few commuter motorcycles in the late 90s gave the Indian biking scene a new boost, a performance motorcycle revolution after the turn of the century in 2001 with the launch of the Pulsar.

Originally launched with two engine options 150cc and 180cc the bikes grew to cult status in India. They joined the Hero Honda CBZ in the 150+ cc performance bike segment in the domestic market which was still largely an Economy-Commuter two wheeler dominated market till then, except for a few models of 2-stroke performance bikes from Yamaha and Suzuki. The 180 was the fastest bike on sale then. From the strategy point of view, this was the time when Bajajs mainstay, the Chetak scooter sales were dropping rapidly in the competition from the competitions  100-125cc 4-stroke bikes  which provided far better fuel efficiency figures, ergonomics, and other modern advancements. Customers looking for performance bikes had very few options.

The Pulsar range was to change this all and it far exceeded expectations. Both the 150 and 180cc versions of the bike were highly successful. The bikes offered in your face macho styling (and hence the caption ‘Definitely Male’) and very sharp handling and high power for the Indian biking enthusiast of the day. People loved it. There was nothing people could complain about. The bike was cheaper than the competition, faster than it and also more fuel efficient. The market did not have much on offer for the starving Indian motorcycle audience and the Pulsar flew in so rapidly with yearly and even half yearly updates of the bike!  The liking to Pulsars taken by the enthusiasts and commuters alike can be clearly seen from the sales figures achieved by the Pulsar bikes over the years. Many have turned Pulsar loyalists! The Pulsar is one of the main reasons for the sudden bloom of performance motorcycle scene in India as they offered class leading performance, fuel efficiency at a price cheaper than competition. The bikes since then have gone through a number of facelifts, modifications, iterations and developments, Bajaj never failing to innovate their product in the wake of competition and customer needs. Pulsar 200dtsi and 220dst-fi were subsequently launched in 2006 for the ever power hungry Pulsar aficionados. Both the bikes had higher power and performance figures than ever. The Pulsar 220cc flagship bike has the distinction of being ‘The Fastest Indian manufactured bike ever’ and the title still holds again today.

The advertisement campaigns themselves were perfectly suited to the Pulsar. Bajaj launched a string of ‘Pulsar Mania’ ads which very a huge rage and ground breaking. The after effects of the campaign was the number of informal Pulsar stunting/racing/owner groups spawning across the country!

Models launched till date - 

2001: 150cc and 180cc single spark

2003:  150cc and 180cc Digital Twin Spark Ignition (dtsi) and 2005: Upgrades to Suspension, Wheels, Electricals etc

2007: Launch of 200cc dtsi(discontinued in 2009) and 220 dts-fi  

2009: Pulsar 135 dtsi, smallest and lightest Pulsar yet

2010: Launch of Pulsar 220 DTSi , the current Fastest India Production bike

2011: Expected anytime the KTM-Bajaj Duke 200

Present and the Future 

The market dynamics have seen a major shift since the days of the Pulsar launch in 2001 and how! Number of bike manufacturers in the country has seen a huge increase with the top names on the globe making a beeline for the ever growing Indian 2-wheeler market and the number of models and variants available are again impressive. The Indian customer is now spoilt for choice in the bike market with everything from a simple 100cc commuter HH CD dawn to a 1800cc Suzuki Intruder. Everything your heart desires is right here with manufacturers and models flowing in numbers every year, provided, you have the big deep pockets to afford these super powerful and super expensive bikes especially the Ducatis, Harley Davidsons and super bikes from Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Hyosung.

This is one of the biggest reasons the Bajaj pulsar still makes sense today and will for some time to come. It’s still a very good handler combined with the powerful and efficient 220/180/150/135 engines, is much cheaper than the competition in terms of ‘performance per rupee’, and is easier and cheap to maintain. But with the ever toughening competition in the same segment from Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki, TVS and Mahindra, Bajaj has plans to step up its Pulsar brand for better performance, looks, technology and quality. Its also being said that Bajaj is going to remove Bajaj from the Pulsar, ie give Pulsars a completely different brand identity!

Bajaj and KTM Alliance:

Gauging from facts such as Bajaj’s recent 38% stake buy in KTM, the Austrian Super/Adventure bike maker, Bajaj is going all out for the new Pulsar range. The alliance together with Kawasaki and KTM, enhance the company’s capabilities multi-fold to deliver the next lineup of fiercer and faster Pulsars. Currently Bajaj has developed a Duke 200cc sport bike with KTM, which in undergoing testing currently and the next Pulsar is speculated to sport a 250cc engine which will go head on with the Honda CBR250, Kawasaki Ninja 250 and other upcoming Yamaha and Suzuki.  

Engineering and Design dna of both the manufacturers will be fused or combined to bring out very exciting performance models in the future. KTM is known for its super sport bikes such as Duke 690, Super Duke and RC8. Adventure bike line up of KTM is even more impressive with Adventure 690, Adventure 990, Supermoto 690,990 and other motocross motorcycles. KTM also has impressive track records at Motorsport such as the Dakar rally which it won many a times. One can only imagine what world class bikes will roll out in future from the Pulsar stable! Very exciting times indeed for the Pulsar loyalists and the biking enthusiast!

   Adventure 990 Dakar Rally Special >>>>>>>

<<<<<<Super Moto 990

Super Duke 990

RC 8

Bajaj has also launched the Pulsar family Internationally together with certain models in Sri-lanka, Bangladesh, Philippines, Colombia, Central America, Iran, Nigeria, Uganda and Angola. With 6,33,463 2-wheelers sold Internationally during 2008-2009, the Pulsar brand is poised to make further inroads across the globe.