Unlike most other reviews based on few kms of Test ride, my review is based on what I have experienced with my new Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTSi. I purchased the bike last week for an on road price of Rs 80,200.00 (Chennai , Nov 14 2009). Luckily the showroom had stock of Black Pulsars, but none of the other colors were available. The Manager was not even ready to take order for anything else. But considering that my original choice was black, I decided to go for the All black Pulsar 220 DTSi.
Before going to the Bajaj showroom, I went to the Hero Honda showroom to check the availability of Karizma, as I was considering either Pulsar/Karizma. They had two colors of Hero Honda Karizma (not the ZMR) on display , a yellow one and a fiery red. To my disappointment both looked extremely plasticky (including the hood) and I felt if I remove the half fairing the bike would look exactly like Hero Honda Super Splendor. And the Karizma ZMR orders not even accepted till December, So I had to go to Bajaj showroom to get Pulsar 220.
First impression – the bike is definitely bigger than most other bikes (including my old pulsar) and much heavier. And most places I got lots of stares, and enquiries. And the hood made it look like a totally different bike and not the usual pulsar (see the picture below)
The following are the major things I noticed with the bike on the first few days :
1. Extremely powerful headlight, it felt like Im driving a car due to the wide coverage and power of the headlights.
2. Headlight and hood is fixed to tank, so when turning you will feel odd as the hood/headlamp assembly is not turning.
(but since the coverage of headlight is wide, it doesn’t affect in terms of illumination).
3. Mileage seems to be surprisingly good compared with my earlier 150 cc pulsar, I got 45-50 km/liter in the first 250 km.
4. The fuel indicator is precise unlike previous models.
5. Bajaj recommends not exceeding 65 km/h for the first 1000 km and 75 km/h for 1000-2000km, which is extremely disappointing.
6. Reaching neutral from 2nd/3rd gear always lands me into first gear, Im not sure whether the problem is with me or the design. (we need to push down from neutral for first and push up for all other gears. Neutral is between 1st and 2nd gear)
7. Front and Rear disc brakes are excellent.
One good thing is that, almost all of my friends were impressed with the looks, inspite of the fact many hated the Pulsar as it had become a very common sight. This is definitely a style statement.
Will update more details very soon, overall this is a definitely a good choice over Pulsar 180 cc considering that Pulsar 180cc costs around Rs 73,000 on road and 150cc costs Rs 68,000.