I was enjoying my sleep when an SMS woke me up, it was from Suyash a fellow nomad. It read - "Me at cc", CC => Chandni Chowk (A meet up place for fellow bikers). Small ride to lavasa had been planned by Capt Chitnis, but I was fickle minded about the trip as I had some work the same day. Suyash was first to reach, couple of messages later, I was all set to go. Only thing was that CC is 35KM from my place and by the time I would have got ready and reached I would have to do a good catch up. But I was betting on two facts, one that Praveen Sathaye would be late and then Nav would refuel his bike. I started from my place at 7:10 and then later had a brawl at the petrol pump where I had asked for fuel worth Rs 300/- but the guy poured in for Rs 246/- I got the rest of the fuel anyhow.

I was hoping to catch the group not before Mutha ghat, as I was on the road to Paud I saw a guy with a Black helmet and BN sticker. It was Suyash, I stopped next to him and asked where are the rest. He said nav is getting the fuel, Praveen sathaye is late and Capt has gone ahead. Soon the Capt came back with the Angona urf the reporter as stated by Suyash. The ride started of well, Capt Chitnis on his bike was fast for his age. I am impressed.


(Praveen Shirali, Nav, Angona, Captain, Neha and Suyash)
We stopped at the Lavasa dam. Where we took some pics and Capt Chitnis asked me if I would like to ride the bike, I was in hurry but I said to myself : what the hell". Very generous him to offer the ride.



Pulsar 220 Experience:

Having ridden the Pulsar 200 before, getting the feel of the bike was not a problem, but like with the karizma (zma), the front faring felt odd. Here I ride 3 bikes and all three of them have a faring which turns with the handle bar like most others, but on this bike the faring stays at its position independent of the angle of handle bar, so it took my brain few seconds to be ok with it.


(Me on the 220)

Ignition and roll: As I switched on, the bike, it did a self diagnostic check like the RTR and 200. After that I switched on the main engine and turned the throttle, the grunts of the bike made me smile. The bike doesn't vibrate that much, but still grunts which I found pretty nice thing, unlike my old Pulsar which roars and vibrates.

Brakes: First thing I did after the initial start was try the brakes, the front was like any other pulsar but it was the rear that I was more interested in. The rear felt tight, I prefer a brake which is not too tight so that I have more control over degree of braking. Despite this the brake seemed very impressive. Later on, when on a turn, I over shot the braking point; the bike braked nicely and gave me a good control. (By this I don't mean that other bikes can't do the same but that this bike's brakes are very good). But then again I didn't get a situation to test them good.

Power and Speed: After a few turns it was time to rev the bike. I was going uphill on the Lavasa hill and power was very much evident. One good thing that I have seen Bajaj do is reduce the fast acceleration and deacceleration that was on the Pulsar 180. The sudden acceleration sometimes gave more power than needed and sudden deaccelerations felt more like braking, this might be of advantage to a pro but otherwise I feel it made the bike unstable.

The 220 has no such issues which was very much evident when i powered it up the hill, the bike started smoothly then picked the pace. I found the bike being able to go up the hill with curves pretty nicely. Fuel injection seemed to help as with increasing speed the acceleration was still maintained, which in most bikes would seem to die down. (Fuel Injection injects the fuel to the engine as required unlike the normal fuel flow which are tuned for either better mileage or power, FI enables better fuel flow at varying speeds.)

Handling: This was the fun part of the bike, going uphill I was able to turn the bike very aggressivly, it was like the bike wanted me to do that. It came to a point that I thought that my feet(paws) might touch the ground. Which didn't sound too good. I now remember Kedar saying at the Bajaj factory meet to the engineers that the main stand of the bike he was riding touched the road. Though he is heavier than me, I still wonder what could happen if one's feet touch the road.

In all the bike handled very well. I was confident on the bike

The design and features:
The design and features are cool. There is a lot to show off for a salesman. You can read more about the features at my older post on Pulsar 220 DTSFi

Overall feel:
The bike feels nice and powerful. The grunts are great with the vibrations low. The seat felt nice so did the gear and brakes. Light seems to be promising, but as it was day, I could only compare the bright light. Handle bar felt good too. The bike has a done a top speed of 131 KMPH, ridden by Praveen Shirali, I have still have to try my go at it ;)


(nav trying the bike)

Verdict:
I am not a pro, but since I have been riding the likes of CBZ, CBZ Xtreme, 200, 180, Avenger, Fiero, this 220 seem to be the best among these. So far no neagative points only positive.

Is it better than karizma?
Well I don't know. Pulsars have always handled well on good roads, the main difference I found between CBZ and Pulsar is that CBZ does good even on bad roads, unexpected bumps and all. CBZ also have been more stable over cross winds and any other air movement, like what one would feel while overtaking a fast moving truck, the pulsar, I feel lose the edge it while with CBZ its pretty convenient. According to me its how a bike handles on unexpected events that differentiates between good bike and great bike.

I rode 220 on great roads and no cross wind or any other air flow. Also there was no traffic. But with experience what ever I have I think the 220 should be good. But real comparison could be done with a bit longer ride one way on 220 and then back on zma. And if two bikers can do this and later discuss, a better judgment could be made. I hope to do the same once Vibhu comes to town and Capt Chitnis would volunteer either to participate in same or let me ride his bike.



Picture time: I asked Suyash to take few pics of mine on 220 before I could hurry back to the work I had. Suyash took some great pics in the very short time. And after that I left back in a hurry.
A good ride and thanks to Capt.. a great Pulsar ride.