Not sure why the other bikes are brought into comparison and the asked for opinion, are the CBR250 and Duke are as identical as Duke and P200NS?
We forget one basic thing while commenting on this thread, this thread is about P200NS and Duke 200. Which are from the same Bajaj stable which are almost featured identical. The answer lies on the product differentiation point which is the COST. Decide which one fits your budget for purchase, running and maintenance costs. This deciding factor drills down to the word AFFORDABILITY which is not accepted my a few heads around here. Its common sense a person ready to invest a lac on a bike will certainly be a person who is worth a few more lacs under his head and not below the poverty line. Its just the Trap set by the seller to attract customers at the Price point. If you are contented enough choose the P200NS and if you like it complete pick the Duke 200.

There are few exceptional ppl who select the bike according to the rear seat, tank capacity etc. Even I am one of those exceptional ones, coz back in 2008 I selected an R15 instead of FZ for the rear seat without knowing any other difference about both those bikes.

At last the user has accepted that P200NS suits his purpose and his Budget. Boss, this is what I am trying to say from the 1st post. Now what if the Duke is sold at the same cost and hence fitting your budget? Now don't respond for the sake of it and stating I like the rear seat, side mirror etc..Think about the mass consumers and respond. Cost factor is the only thing behind this game.

Regarding my English, I apologize bro coz its not my native tongue. Also I am lazy to read comprehension books, so better I will go back and sit in 5th std once again and come back if you like.

I'm quoting the exact text below.


Yes, let's not take this further. But I was one of the buyers, who changed his buying decision to buy 200NS, not because I was short of cash, but simply because, I found 200NS to be a more practical bike. To put things in perspective, I may take my bike to a place called Hasimara. Expecting KTM dealership / SVC at that location will be too optimistic. Where as I'm sure within a few months, 200NS will be a common sight even there.

Q: Now to answer you specific question: why is this cost-cutting initiation from Bajaj? coz as per your theory a person who can afford a P200NS can also afford a Duke right?

Ans: Because, not everybody is interested in FI, Lightweight swing arm, or WS USD forks, especially if they don't have a good enough practical on road benifits.

Q: What if Duke and P200NS are priced and marketed identical ?

In that case, Pulsar would also had all the extra equipment to justify the price. In that case I would have still preferred the Pulsar!

Bro, I never intend to respond here again, but your prosecution takes new heights every time and it seems to amuse me. Just because Bajaj did not add the FI, Aluminium Swing arm, USD Forks under the price tag you mean to say "not everybody is interested in FI.....". Bajaj has done the respective cost-cutting accurately on P200NS and rounded the product very well at 1 Lac aiming to compete with all the competitors upto 1.5Lacs.

Everybody will be interested in new technology but not the price tag. There is no impractical technology used on the Duke compared to P200NS, kindly refrain from using such terminology. (Yamaha R15 is the living proof)

Ha ha ha...very well said. Shows your intention here. So if Pulsar and Duke are both sold at 1.3Lacs Pulsar will have extra equipment than Duke, what a refrigerator? There is nothing called extra equipment in Duke, what all present in Duke are present in P200NS, but slightly lesser in complexity and technology.

Both the bikes are manufactured by Bajaj in India, If the P200NS is made with identical features/quality as that of Duke 200 it will cost almost be priced almost the same.

(The import duty thing cannot be pointed here coz Duke200 manufactured in India is exported and retails over twice the same cost in Singapore. If a component has to imported for accuracy/quality then it has to be, else those parts can be sourced locally and used on Duke as well. )

Anyways, both are ideal bikes at their price point.... and let me back off... Thanks.

This thread is now long enough to get closed and probably made sticky. Enough information (in the form of arguments) has been shared on this thread to enable anyone to decide pretty easily to what to go for. If someone is still confused between NS and Duke then he/she will probably never be able to decide.

Let's try to sum up with the basics:

-- Duke is quicker to 60, to 100 and to its top speed. NS is pretty quick too but slower than Duke till the top speed. However, both seem to have similar top speeds.

-- In your face styling of Duke versus more contemporary styling of NS.

-- Instant hard acceleration in any gear (short geared Duke) versus more relaxed gearing of NS.

I believe these are primary differences between both motorcycles. Talking about myself, rider/pillion comfort is secondary. At least Duke is good enough for the rider's comfort. Now, last two pages are filled majorly with argument's related to a person's buying power. I urge everyone to understand here that xbhp is not the only place where intelligent bikers prevail. Equally intelligent/initiated/educated bikers or people who ride motorcycles can be found outside this forum as well. And either the Duke or NS is not purchased only by xbhpians. People outside this forum buy these motorcycles as well. With certain brands, budget is not the only purchasing criteria. Awareness about the brand is extremely important and is one of the very basic things to consider for anyone, which I believe, is being missed here in all the arguments. Even when Bajaj has partnered with KTM, we can be sure that large number of people would still be unaware of this partnership and the KTM in general. For many people, the NS could be logical choice not just because it is around 30 grands cheaper than Duke, but it will be easier to get serviced at most bajaj service stations or probably even by a specific mechanic of a locality. With KTM, this risk cannot be taken. Please correct if I am wrong in this point.

Secondly, the styling or the looks part. As pointed above, while the NS is a more contemporary street bike design, the Duke 200 is true to the KTM roots. Duke 200 carries KTM's design elements and heritage to the perfection which is a minimal body work (for a street bike), bright orange color combo and aggression. I mean the body work in Duke appears to be so minimal due to its styling, that one can be forgiven to believe that some body parts are still to be put on the bike if the parts are not painted! This sort of styling has a specific audience and takers. Duke 200 of KTM is like R15 of Yamaha, perfectly signifying the sporty roots each manufacturer has and giving the less privileged (financially) bikers a chance to experience their sporty heritage. KTM Duke shall have more takers in future when more people become aware of the brand and how it offers a more specific experience.

And in my opinion, it's useless to argument between FI and carburetor. We have enough relatively affordable FI motorcycles in India for quite some time now that it shouldn't be a matter of apprehension. Regarding the triple spark technology, it is my personal belief more than anything that Bajaj just want to make a statement of their own with a first of its kind technology (at least in India). As long as this technology works as intended and doesn't malfunction due to its design, I will have nothing to complain. And this only time will tell. So, in the end it again becomes a matter of personal preference whether you want to go for FI or not. Both these technical set-ups, if done properly, are good to have though FI will probably perform more consistently in varied conditions with minimal or no tuning at all. I personally wouldn't hold budget as the deciding factor between a carburetor and FI motorcycle. But that's me.

Rest of things like which frame is better, perimeter or trellis, depends purely on how well each one is made and how well it performs in coordination with rest of the elements like suspension. Being technically a noob, I would like to believe that both frames are more or less equally advanced and good. It's more of a matter of design preference that engineers choose to take. Ducati and KTM have trellis as their signature frames. Only with Panigale has Ducati taken a different route for their road going motorcycles. And I think going a different route is good, it gives engineers a chance to play with their imagination.

This is it.

FYI, the guy who started this thread, has already settled for NS.
While the others keeps on Fighting

To add, When compared to Duke the P200NS should have more appreciation during resale in any city/town or village in India. While Duke can be sold at a reasonable price only to a potential customer who knows about it well.

hahahaha but its fun watching others fight while i am enjoying my popcorn...
@antz.bin: at a budget of rs 2 lacks i would have bought a very well maintained used ninja or wait till january for the ktm duke 350/375... I geuss then we'll have another thread called pulsar 350ns vs duke 350 lol.. Or better still wait for the yammie 250 or the upcoming suzuki gw250 with that parallel twin engine... Now if you tell me to buy a bike within 2 lakhs today only then i'll go for the duke if its my money and buy the cbr250 if you gift it it to me...(just kidding) but in no way a cbr150...
@assassin: you sure about mortien cheaper than goodnight?

The bit in bold would be me. I was the one who made the thread yesterday to serve a purpose. The purpose being to keep Duke and 200NS ownership threads free from intercomparison clutter. As far as I, Duke owners and 200NS owners are concerned, the thread has worked clean up their threads.

But now since this is no longer a 'What Bike' thread and has taken a totally different turn to becoming a general discussion, thats where it is being moved to.

Thread Moved to 'Pit Stop:General Biking Discussion'

Happy Discussing.

Then who is this Guy?? @faisal 93

It was a good argument nevertheless, now let the perspective buyers decide!

Well, there should be a Poll option on top of this thread to figure out how many decided the P200 or D200 based on this thread.

Regarding the HUGE debate on the "triple spark" thing:

>> Once astride on the 200NS, it hardly matters to the rider if the power, pickup, fuel efficiency, smoothness etc. is delivered by a single/twin/triple spark

>> But when one will need to replace the silencer of the P200NS, he will have a broad smile that he needed to shell out just Rs. 3,000 for it (I once had to spend about Rs. 8,500 for the silencer of my P220)

>> The third spark plug shaves off Rs. 6K from the bike's price (because the Cat Con that needs to be installed is much smaller)

>> If one have doubts about the spare cost of the silencer of the P200NS, 200 Duke and P220F, he is free to check it out

>> And please don't give the crap that the cost of the 200 Duke's exhaust is higher than the 200NS because it is KTM ()

>> Proof that the Cat Con on the P200NS is small: Check out the silencer exhaust of the P200NS when it cools down. You don't get to hear the "Tick Tick" sound that comes from the exhaust which has a (Big/normal sized) Catalytic Converter

>> Why did no other manufacturer has put the third spark to reduce exhaust cost..?? Well go ahead and ask them (am sure this time Bajaj must have the patent for it).


Posted by HariskK long back here:

Here is your answer HarishK: The third spark saves around Rs. 6K of the bike's price, since the Catalytic Converter required to adhere to pollution norms is very small. Also when the consumer will need to replace the exhaust, he will have a big smile on his face.. thanks to the Triple Spark.

And if the R15/RTR180 .. whatever bike has got that "Tick Tick" sound from the exhaust while cooling off.. it means that it's got the Cat Con inside them.




But do you guys realize this..??

As long as one chooses between the 200 Duke or the Pulsar 200NS; at the end of the day it onlys add to the sales numbers of Bajaj.

There is a poll (not exclusive to DUKE VS NS), which will give an opinion about what prospective buyers preference


Yahhhh...
If any Honda/Yam/Hero/TVS official reads it, it will be a nightmare for them.

contradictory statements, few posts ago you said you will go for Ninja if you got 3.3 lakhs, now in this post on one hand you list your priorities as city use, acceleration!! in that case even with 3.3 lakhs you got only Duke as option (provided that you don't ride much with pillion). Now, you understand that Duke is not just for those who can't afford CBR250/Ninja?? same goes for your statement made some posts ago with Duke & P200NS. By the way if you didn't like the way P200NS accelerates, you wouldn't like the Ninja as well, coz it accelerates in the same linear manner. Duke is different in that aspect. Moreover, for your city use, you can never explore Ninja's powerband. It goes absolutely mad after 10k rpm, and I don't think you will ever hit that mark in city.

Yes Sir, I too got the same response from a guy at BAL. His answer was the same, 3rd spark is to burn off every bit of fuel present in the exhaust as well to neutralize the mono-oxides (was too techy into chemistry so forgot it).

Then my intelligent question was, why 3 sparks? why not one or two better sparks with Iridium tip?

The answer was the iginition/spark timing and valve operation helps the 3 spark to work, there is no need for better sparks rather the timings can afford another 3rd spark to do the job.

But this is triple spark technology has already been used in many automobiles and discontinued. You can google and check. Lets see how the P200NS fairs on a longer run , not to forget the word of appreciation to Bajaj coz its not an UG4.5.50 upgrade anymore.