Technocrat

This Thread was posted back in March 2007 when P220 was very new & there were hardly any online reviews

==================================================

I had a chance to ride with a P220 to Lavasa last saturday.

This is a review of the P220 based on my experience with it. I have compared it with ZMA wherever felt necessary.

To know the details of bike & rider check out this thread

P220, ZMA, Unicorn's Early Morning Ride to Lavasa(Lots of Pics)

Overview

The bike looks good & it’s stunning. It feels big when you sit on it, infact it gives you a big bike ka feel the moment you sit on it, mainly due to the clip-ons & slightly backwards footrests. BAL as again has got a winner here, the fit & finish levels are very good infact much better than HH or for that matter ZMA. The digi Speedo console looks great & the self test looks charming The first things that you notice are missing choke lever, fuel knob & a new pass beam switch along with the backlit switch panel & of course the LCD Digi console.

The Riding experience

My biggest worry was since this bike doesn’t have kick starter how good would the self be & am glad to say that the self lived up to its expectation. The bike starts very smoothly & almost effortlessly.
The gear shift is smooth & precise but still doesn’t not slot like CBZ\ZMA, some like it some don’t. I was fine with it as I had used this type of shift on my pulsar 180 but yes this one was better than the one on mine. Not a leap of change in the gear shift but nevertheless a good one. Those who like slotting gears may still crib but I was happy with it as I had no false neutrals & no wrong gears.
The engine is smooth really smooth & the bike picks up really sweetly, the exhaust note is nice but whether one likes it or not may differ from person to person. Once revved up the bike gets the typical pulsar vibes near tank & fairing though they are minimal but can still be felt on the knee touching the fairing near tank. These vibrations come around 70kph & above.
Just like its smaller siblings the RVMs on P220 become useless at these speeds as they vibrate so much that you cant make out what you see in the mirrors but since you cant see much anyways its not much of a problem. Oh that reminds me did I tell you guys that the RVMs are absolutely useless especially if you are wearing a minimalist riding gear, reminds me of classic Pulsars which had stylish mirrors but very poor visibility wrt the ones sported by DTSI versions, Yeah BAL did it again

The bike picks up really well on roll-ons, the most amazing thing was that even at 5th gear the bike picked up at 25kph, though it pinked a bit but still picked up without any jerks


Riding Comfort

I found the suspension to be a little stiffer than the ZMA while Pawan felt otherwise. The roads had no bad patches so cant say about how they would feel under bad road conditions.

The Bike has very sporty feel to it. The seats have good support & it holds you well. The bike is really good if you want to ride it fast (which of course you would ). I rode the P220 for around 10-15 kms & my right shoulder started to pain, does it make it really bad for long riding ?? To answer this, it reminds of the first two days when I had bought my 180 DTSi (which was my first bike ever) & when my arms pained like hell for two complete days  so it’s just a matter of getting used to. So does this make the P220 a good tourer ?? Or to say will it be more comfy than a ZMA for long rides ?? In my humble opinion with a guy of my height (am 5’10”)NO. Although the engine is really refined with enough power to take long stretches effortlessly the riding posture is not what you would want for such long rides. Having said that it’s still a matter of personal choice, I mean Sunny & Ken keep doing long rides on SBKs which in common perception are not good for long rides.
Disclaimer: I am not comparing it to the SBKs just the riding posture

All those who got disappointed here’s another way to look at it. Those who are shorter in height may find the bike to be better than the ZMA for riding comfort since they wont face the issue which taller guys like me faced i.e. crouched position & knees touching the fairing. So I think it can be safely put that it would be more comfy for shorter people that taller people for long rides

Handling

I took the P220 on ghats & on straights; the bike has really good handling when compared to the smaller pulsars especially because of the better swing arm & the riding posture & not to forget wider tubeless tires. The bike is very eager to lean when compared to previous Pulsars. So is this the new Handling champion ?? Sadly No here where I hated BAL the most, they have actually ruined a great handling bike into a non handling one, the reason ?? The stupid main stand aargh the mains stand scrapes at slightest of the lean I am very sure infact confidant that if the main stand is removed the bike will be an awesome handler

Ok just before some shouts that he has taken curves without scraping the stand, I will like to make it clear that the stand scraping happens when you are taking tight twisties uphill or downhill i.e. it won’t affect much on straights but then you only need the leaning aspect on such twisties

Braking

Full marks here no comments it simply rules here Excellent breaking supported by a wide profile rear as well as front tire(Yes the front tire is broader too )

Headlights

10 out of 10 or may be 11 out of 10. The lights everywhere including the headlights are superb. Let it be tail lamps or the LCD or the backlit switches

Drag Results

Frankly speaking the drags which we had were very amateurish & should be taken only as indicative & not as a proof because:

- The bikes had diff mileage on odo
- The drag was done on a strip which was barely 100-200 mtrs
- We had no timing device. And a few launches were not synchronized properly
- My ZMA is stock but has heavier & broader rear tire.

Result 1: P220 VS My ZMA

P220 won on 2 runs

Result 2: P220 vs. Modded ZMA (Vivek’s)

ZMA won 3 times
P220 won once when Vivek rode the P220 & Pawan rode the ZMA

Conclusion

Well am no journalist & this isn’t any magazine so I am really not sure what to post as a conclusion or verdict, rather I would put it as answers to commonly asked Qs

Q1: Is the P220 worth buying its price?
A1: Yes the P220 is a very good piece of machinery.

Q2: Is it better than ZMA?
A2: This is still debatable, while the engine is more powerful & has more torque than the ZMA, it still has niggling issues like poor RVMs & vibrations at higher revs which the ZMA lacks, Also the handling though very good is marred by the stupid stand which I believe can be fixed.
At the end one has to decide his priorities & go for it

Q3: Should I trade my ZMA for the P220
A3: Unless you want to go for all the gadgetry & that extra power NO. Remember the slightly mudded zap beat it in the unofficial drag

Phew that was one long write up

Here is a few comments which I had posted when I had my first brush with the 220. First Impressions

Here are a few high res pics of P220 & ZMA








I hope you guys enjoyed this report Also ask me if I have missed out on any stuff .
Techno

__________________
Racing Throttle Response

shivam007

guys my bike done 4k km
am extremely happy with the servicing stuff...it has improved exponentially (in all aspects) from the time i got my bike
i have switched to motul 5100t
so far it has been an amazing experience
my bike was able to do 137km/hr
and returns me a mileage of abt 33kmpl...(which is very good cosidering the traffic of kanpur..those who have ridden here will know what i am talking abt)

@payeng waiting for it bro

SKSy_Biker

Topic approved (4:33 PM 9/24/2008)

mitesh_singh

found this while surfing some random pages ... it looks beautiful

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________


- = - = - = - = - Everyone crashes. Some get back on. Some don't. Some can't. - = - = - = - = -


Ride safe, wear gears.

flyingabhi

today my bike stalled suddenly with the tachometer needle struck at about 3k rpm .
all the display on the meter are gone, no lights...like battery is dead or something...
i don't know whats the problem...i tried checking for any loose wire or the fuse but all seems fine...although i may have missed the loose wire
please help

mitesh_singh

Strange eh ... Im sure loose wires could be the cause ... when u turn the key and turn the switch on... do u hear that FI's humming sound from the tank...
also i suggest get your battery checked maybe the acid level is low or it is dry .... could also be the ECU ... i hear many people saying their ECU gone KAPUT one of my friend's ECU too got smoked .. he is getting the replacement on Friday

__________________


- = - = - = - = - Everyone crashes. Some get back on. Some don't. Some can't. - = - = - = - = -


Ride safe, wear gears.

mitesh_singh

MG can u please highlight some more information on engine oils.... I have just Castrol Power 1 ... it doesnt have any grade on the box .. but my dealer said that it is used for any and every bike that is API, JASO, MA-4 compliant. Bought 2 litres of OIL ... use abt 600ml to FLUSH the engine ... and rest in the engine ...

The dealer also highlighted that he has been hearing complains abt MOTUL Oil and recommended that not to use that brand ...


MG more info would be appreciated

__________________


- = - = - = - = - Everyone crashes. Some get back on. Some don't. Some can't. - = - = - = - = -


Ride safe, wear gears.

chetanpulsar

Recommended oil grade for P220 is 20W50 API SL, JASO MA2

Castrol Power 1 is 15W40 grade oil, many people are using it in P220, runs good for sometime, but I have heard it creates problem in gear shifting.

Castrol Axtiv Xtra 20W50 is the oil to be used in P180/P200/P220 as Bajaj recommends.

We get many other oils from Mak4T,
Valvoline 4T Premium(semi synthetic) and Motul products. I am personally using Motul fully sythetic, and very satisfied with it. Never heard any issues with Motul as such.

Motul has 3 variants, Motul 3000 4T Plus - 20W40 (not recommended for P180/200/220 as its 20W40), Motul 5100 4T Synthetic Blend - 15W50 non-synthetic based Oil and Motul 300v 15W50 - Fully synthetic.

All the above oils comply with Jaso MA2, API SM/SL.

PS: The grade 20W50.... the first 2 digits can go down to 5 or 10 or 15...... thats ok.... but the last 2 digits need to be at 50.

If I missed something or wrong info, somebody please add to it or correct me.

__________________
Chetan

prakash_mvpa

I can only find Veedol 20W50 here...even Bajaj service guys uses the same

__________________
Get GNU/Linux

rx100.7050

Hello All.
This is rx100.7050. I have a 86 model RX100. Still, Engine is pretty good. Last Friday, that is 19.09.2008 at 1530 hours a new member came in my life. A BLACK Pulsar 220. 0905 Regn, no. Already done 380 kms. This Bike ROX!!!! Absolutely. A huge transition for me. A tiny little RX (comparitively), carb engine to a new Big , FI. Just loving every KM of my ride now. I had purchased an XBHP T Shirt from Bunny (Hot Shot from Bike India) 6-7 months back. Wore just for half day. Packed it & promised to myself that next time I am gonna wear this T Shirt is when I get my P 220. So Friday, took leave from office, woke up at 04:00 am, hand painted Pulsar 220 on the T Shirt (You guys wont believe that it is not printed but handwritten) & proudly wore that T Shirt when took delivery from Pro Biking Serv Station Okhla Ph - I.
Just wanted you guys to know.
Thanks