There have been many motorcycles that played a huge part in shaping the motorcycling culture in India. But one name that turned things upside down and brought leisure motorcycling to the masses is Bajaj Pulsar. Things changed forever after the launch of the Pulsar twins. And the Pulsars were the biggest reason why xBhp came into existence; and in case you don’t already know, xBhp started as BajajPulsar.com in 2001. In fact, I myself stumbled upon xBhp, then known as Bajaj Pulsar.com, when I was doing a bit of research on the internet before buying my first motorcycle, the Pulsar 150 DTsi. 

Photos: Debanjan Mondal
Text: Sunil Gupta

Here’s the video review, in case you want to watch the video:

Ask any Indian motorcycle lover, like me, who started riding motorcycles back in the late 90s or early 2000s as to what was their dream Indian motorcycle, and a lot of them would tell you that all that they wanted back in the days was a 400-500 cc Pulsar, preferably  a twin cylinder.

It took almost 2 decades for Bajaj to finally hear us and give us a middleweight motorcycle with the Pulsar name tag. We are talking about the Pulsar NS 400 Z, which was launched a few days back in Punew. It is the biggest Pulsar that has ever been made, but comes with a not-so-big price tag of INR 1.85 Lakh ex-showroom.

And it also has got a new tagline ‘Definitely Daring.’ And daring it definitely is when you see that it is a good 30 grands cheaper than its elder cousin, Dominar 400, which has the same engine with exactly the same power figures as this new Pulsar. But can it really match the legacy of the Pulsar or the track record of the Dominar? Let’s find out.

First up, let’s talk about the design. The Pulsar NS design was introduced more than 10 years ago when Bajaj launched the Pulsar 200 NS. And this new Pulsar NS 400 Z carries most of the muscular design DNA from the original 200 NS with the recent design upgrades whether you look at it from the front, the side, or the rear.

And this Is where people might have problems with Bajaj , as Bajaj already has 125, 160, and the 200 in its NS lineup and there is very little to distinguish visually among them. And as a premium customer of the brand, you would want your bike to stand out from the other bikes, but if the 200 and the 400 start looking the same, you would not like it. But that being said, we can confidently say that the Pulsar NS 400 is an aggressive looking motorcycle, which should get a lot of heads turned when you ride it on the road. It looks mean and muscular. And when you look at its price, you’d happily forget your complaints regarding the design.

And there are some new design elements incorporated into the NS400 that make it look apart from its younger cousins, and the biggest of them is the new LED projector headlamp with DRLs, the Champagne Gold USD forks and the carbon fiber graphics. 

One thing of special note is that when you sit on it, it doesn’t feel that big which you might expect from a 400 cc motorcycle.  It feels compact and unintimidating, which is a good thing for new riders or riders who have upgraded from a smaller motorcycle. 

Talking about features, it has got different riding modes (Street, Sports, Rain, & Off Road), ride-by-wire technology, along with dual channel ABS and slipper clutch. Then we have the fully digital instrument panel along with new 4-way switches to play with the settings, and also bluetooth connectivity for phone calls and music. And as mentioned above, you also get a full LED lighting suite with these aggressive looking DRLs. 

Let’s talk about the engine, which of course is the biggest highlight of this big Pulsar. It uses a 373.3 cc liquid cooled DOHC engine, the same engine that is used on the Dominar 400 with identical power and torque output with the peak power of 40 ps at 8800 rpm and 35 Nm of torque at 6500 rpm. Speaking from our own experience when we were riding across 11 countries during the #xbhpDominarOdyssey, at no point did we feel that we needed a more powerful bike to complete this ride and this engine proved more than enough whether we needed power to overtake bigger vehicles, or to climb steep mountain roads or to cruise on the long and boring highways.

 And if you consider the fact that this Pulsar NS 400 Z is no less than 19 kg lighter than the Bajaj Dominar, You realize that you have a very very potent machine in your hands.

All these specifications and numbers look good on paper, but does this bike perform in the real world? Well, if I have to summarize my experience of riding this Pulsar NS 400 Z today in one word, I’d say IMPRESSED. I got to ride it on the Chakan test track for a few laps and then on to the streets of Pune all the way to Lonavala. And impressed I was. First of all, the engine feels very refined and at ease. There are some vibrations that creep up in the footpegs at around 6000 rpm mark, but that is not something that should dissuade you from buying this motorcycle. You see this same engine on the Dominar 400 as well, but it has been tweaked to match the streetfighter character of the NS 400.  The bike packs more punch now at the lower end of the rev range and feels eager to move with slight movement of the throttle. The bike would easily pull from as low as 30 kmph in the 4th gear. What it means is that you would need lesser gear shifts while riding through the city traffic. 

And although Bajaj  has increased the numbers of the teeth at the rear sprocket for better low end torque, I was able to clock 165 kmph on the speedo on the back straight of the Chakan track. The bike feels quick to lean into the corners which would help you in easily cutting through the traffic in the real world. The 40 ps of power and 35 Nm of torque felt more than enough to overtake any vehicle as and when I wanted to. The tyres also seemed to provide good grip while leaning in the corners and I didnt notice much slipping or sliding even under heavy braking.  Talking about braking, most of the users won’t find any reason to complain about this bike, but if you are someone who likes to push the bikes to its limits, you’d find the grips from the brakes a little less than desired. But don’t be disappointed, for customers like you, Bajaj will introduce the option of going for sintered brake pads.  

CONCLUSION: o summarize, all we would want to say is that the Pulsar NS 400 Z seems like a great overall package for anyone who wants to upgrade from their smaller bikes and are looking for a thrill inducing machine that doesn’t burn a huge hole in their pocket. It has the proven engine of the Dominar 400 and the legacy of the Pulsar and it ticks all the right boxes whether you talk about power, looks, handling, or affordability, though a little bit low on the oomph factor. 

I would suggest that even those  people who are considering Dominar 400 for touring must take a test ride of the Pulsar NS 400 Z. The money they save on purchasing this bike can be used to put touring accessories on this to make it to accommodate your touring needs. 

A few things of additional note is that although this pricing is ‘introductory’ pricing, but it was later revealed by senior Bajaj officials that this pricing is here to stay for some time and isn’t going away anytime soon unless there are some unavoidable circumstances. And also if you are wondering about the addition of the letter ‘Z’ in the name of the Pulsar NS 400 Z, Mr. Rajiv Bajaj himself confirmed that there will be variants of this bike coming in the future. 

Bajaj Pulsar 400 NS Z versus competition