Bajaj Pulsar NS400 - 3 Reasons To Avoid The Biggest Pulsar

Bajaj made a solid start to this year by unleashing the biggest Pulsar yet. In typical Bajaj fashion, the new Pulsar NS400 is a disruptor owing to its pricing. At ₹ 1.85 lakh (ex-showroom), it’s not only the most affordable motorcycle in its segment, but it takes on rivals with much lesser displacement, performance and tech. You can watch the Acko Drive Bajaj Pulsar NS400 below in which we have spoken about its many positives. However, the biggest Pulsar yet isn’t perfect, just like any other motorcycle and here are its list of flaws.

1, Engine vibrations

The Pulsar NS400 is powered by the same 373 cc, liquid-cooled engine as seen on the Bajaj Dominar 400 pushing out 39.5 bhp/35 Nm of torque. The engine offers great top-end performance and punch acceleration, but where it lacks is refinement. You can feel harsh vibrations under 4,000 rpm on the fuel tank, handlebar and the footpegs. These vibrations are experienced at low speeds, so if you have a long city commute, the NS400 wouldn’t offer a very pleasant experience in this regard. 

2, Low speed agility

Yes, the Bajaj Pulsar NS400 is a massive 18 kgs lighter than the Dominar 400, but at 174 kg, it isn’t a light bike for a streetfighter. The weight of the bike is felt at low speeds as the front end feels a bit lazy to steer and requires effort. As mentioned above, this issue is only faced at commuting speeds, once you step up the pace, it feels lighter to steer. In fact, the chassis shows a lot of promise, it’s the tyres that rob the bike of confidence at high speed cornering.

3, Styling

There was a lot of speculation on the new Pulsar’s styling based on some image leaks online prior to its launch and meme pages had a gala time. But in person, the biggest Pulsar does look good. However, my issue is the safe approach in styling. The new bike looks very similar to the Pulsar NS200, a motorcycle that made its debut over a decade ago. With the new Pulsar NS400, Bajaj designers had a golden opportunity to adopt a new Pulsar design language, which would later trickle down to future Pulsar models. So even if you have the biggest Pulsar yet, the new bike isn’t much visually different from the other Pulsars, which is a bit disappointing.