Something else I’ve felt is the scary high speed experience. It is not that stable or confidence inspiring.
BHPian OffPoynt recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Almost exactly last year, a friend bought an N250, at the time when it was only offered with single channel ABS (the stupidity). To add insult to injury, the brake pedal is set unnaturally high causing constant brake activation (SVC replaced the rear pads at just 7k km. There was a slight metallic grind noise around this time which was a sign) and apparently there is no way to adjust the pedal. There are many instances where my friend or another friend has locked up the rear tyre; it is comically easy to do so. It gets worse in rainy weather: friend has had a very close call once while emergency braking for a speedbump.
During 2k to 5k km, sometimes in second gear the engine rpm would rise for no reason and the power delivered was actually reduced (similar to when you start pressing the clutch). This was an uncommon occurrence we got fixed at 7k km, when we changed SVCs and found a really good one where we had a general checkup done (the same one where the rear brake pads were replaced).
At around 3k to 4k km, my friend reported something strange. With a random chance, attempting to start the bike would make the console flicker, dim and turn off, without the starter motor even engaging. And this did not have any pattern for us to identify the cause. Bajaj SVC later did something with the battery that fixed it.
And then, at 9k km, the bike started to sputter and die 2 days before a Mys-BLR ride. Took it to SVC who found out the air filter was gunked to high heavens.
But surprise, they didn’t have a new filter in stock. Mr.Compressed Air was pressed into action by the SVC and we hoped our derrieres were saved. But, alas. Somewhat in the midway, on the expressway, the bike lost all power. We made an emergency stop and cleaned the filter for half an hour, to ensure we could reach BLR without issue.
In Bangalore, we went to a Bajaj showroom who said they didn’t run an SVC there and directed us to one. We went there and it wasn’t a clean SVC, only had a couple of NS200s, and i knew we wouldn’t get the filter for N250. Checked with them which confirmed my suspicion.
One friend navigated us to a store that sold genuine parts from all OEMs. I did not have confidence again given the N250 is a new product. The shopkeeper gave us one and with happiness we proceed to perform the lung replacement (or is it the nose?) when we find out the filter we bought wasn’t for this bike, it probably was the NS200’s. I returned the filter, told the guy to check and call me back (didn’t take the money back yet). Now we drank some cold mineral water from a bakery nearby and proceeded to go to another Bajaj showroom who did have a service center, but they said they don’t do OTC sales not wanting to spend an extra 200 just for them to replace the filter, i asked them where else i may obtain one, and he directed me to their Nayandahalli showroom. Went there, thankfully they had stock of the filter. Replaced it in front of the showroom and disposed the old one with them itself. Went back to the multi-brand genuine part shop and told him to give me a Motul Chain Lube instead of the money back (my bike chain was starting to dry up).
Something else I’ve felt is the scary high speed experience. It is not that stable or confidence inspiring. Friend says he’s had a couple of high speed wobbles.
Overall, not a fuss-free ownership experience. Friend’s family are planning to get the bike sold and buy another one instead. It’s quite sad, as seeing the bike is pretty good. It is designed well, and is currently the most powerful Pulsar (also the best sounding Pulsar). It stands out from the rest of the Pulsars. It is a bike with more focus on power than tech.
Keyword: Bajaj Pulsar N250: A below-average & niggle-prone ownership experience