Retired my old steed, for this machine.
Took delivery of my Bajaj Pulsar 135 LS, this Wednesday, amidst pouring rain. Has been a good ride, till now. Had started search for a replacement for the one currently in my stable, last month, exploring options in the 150-180cc range. A little later, realisation struck that fodder for this steed would be paid for by yours truly onlee. Thus, tweaked my search parameter to incorporate the ubiquitous all-Indian obsession with "mileage". Looking around & talking to folks, began to come around to the view that this entry-level Pulsar manages to achieve a blend of mileage as seen in a 125 cc bike & just a wee bit of extra grunt to make you "feel nice" about your buy. A couple of test-drives later, paid for the bike last Thursday, costing a total of Rs. 67129 INR [~$1100 USD], including what is referred to as a "Teflon Coating" & an extra layer of seat cover. The number plate, though initially informed would cost 150 bucks, wasn't included in the bill.
Facing, what I think is an issue with its idling setting. During the initial 5-odd minutes of a ride, from a complete 'Cold Start', the bike tends to stop, when going from a higher gear to a lower one. One would that thunked it'd be the opposite. Also, at this stage, stopping at a traffic signal, causes the bike to stop after a little while, when in neutral gear, unless you periodically race its accelerator - I don't. The problem seems to disappear after the first 5-odd minutes mentioned. Planning a visit to the showroom today. A design grouse is the use of a toe-shift leaver to change gears, as opposed to a toe-heel one used elsewhere. Since gear change from 1 to 2 & above requires you to put your feet under the leaver to push it up, the upper portion of my white sneakers that is in contact now sports a black imprint. Solution involves buying what is referred to as shift socks. As evident, it wasn't a deal-breaker, but one would have preferred the more traditional gear change arrangement.
Despite these niggles, am happy, so far, with the bike. Some pictures.
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The worker's strike at Bajaj's plant at Chakan has had some noticeable detrimental impact on their supply. Consider myself extremely fortunate that both the bike & colour of my choice were available when I paid the showroom a visit last week. The staff there were telling how folks who had booked either entry-level bikes or its top-end bikes were on a waiting list, extending to weeks. Nothing compared to Royal Enfield's 7+ months waiting list [down from the 14+ months earlier, after they started a new production line], but it still is bad when considering Bajaj outlets almost always ensure a surplus stock of its 100-125cc range vehicles. Hope things get amicably resolved at the earliest.
Another minor, but not-totally innocent factor that went in favour of the decision to buy this bike is the fact that there is no company sanctioned arrangement to attach a side box - freedom from running on sabzi-tarkari buying errands [hopefully]!
Godspeed