124 Ride Review: Pulsar 200NS - Return of the King..!!

Ride review of one of the most exciting and important motorcycle to be launched in India.. the Pulsar 200NS..!!

Pulsar to me is the celebration of being an Indian. It has been a symbol of the Indian spirit, determination and ingenuity. The dominance of the 1st gen Pulsars over the last decade is stuff of business school case studies. But since the last couple of years, bikes like the Yamaha R15 with its technical brilliance had made a point that the 1st gen Pulsars were well.. mediocre.



Therefore even a Pulsar fan like me was starting to think that my feet have grown bigger than my biking boots. i.e. now I have reach that stage of my life where I deserved something exotic, something sophisticated and something better. It was probably vanity and also a doubt in the ability of a home grown manufacturer that led me to pre-empt that, the next gen Pulsar would be good but probably not as good.

By now the KTM 200 Duke had blown me away with its unique ride experience. I was therefore trying to persuade myself that since Bajaj owns 47% of stake in KTM and also since the 200 Duke was co-developed by Bajaj (with KTM) and is manufactured in India by Bajaj, the 200 Duke is for all practical purpose “Indian”. So if I decide to go for the 200 Duke I would be still holding on to my patriotic fervor.

I had practically written off the Pulsar 200NS even before I took it for a ride. I take the Pulsar 200NS for a ride.. and boy..!! I am amazed and thrilled at how wrong I was..

8 Bike Chronicles of India Special: Interview of Mr. Shivapada Ray (GM: Sales & Marketing, DSK Hyosung)

Mr. Ray speaks about DSK, brand strategy of DSK Hyosung, commitment to the Indian market and ambitions plans for the future..

SP: Hyosung has had 3 partners in India – Kinetic, Garware and now DSK. Kinetic and Garware were short lived. What can we expect from DSK?

SR: Let me clarify. Kinetic never had a partnership with Hyosung. Kinetic had just imported a few numbers of bikes and had sold it as limited edition along with their name on the bikes. It was merely a brand building exercise for them.

Shivapada Ray: GM - Sales and Marketing, DSK Hyosung

We will provide the most variety to the Indian customer in 250-700 cc

Hyosung did enter into a partnership with Garware and it went off very well. We sold around 600 vehicles in a year. And that is a very good number considering all of them were 650-700 cc vehicles. So far we have imported the vehicles as CKD (completely knocked down) kits from South Korea and assembled them here in India.

We now wanted to take it to the next level. i.e we were now looking to reduce the import content and manufacture as much as possible in India itself. Hyosung needed a partner which could bring in the additional capital and resources and the commitment to take it to the next level. Let me clarify that nobody wanted to sell off anything but when all the 3 parties involved (i.e Garware, DSK and ST Motors) sat together; they decided that it would be better for everybody that DSK now takes over the baton. DSK is a big business entity and are very serious about this new business venture.

48 Ride Review: Bajaj Discover 125ST - “Mass Appeal”

Ride review of the Discover 125ST..

Photo Credit: Gourab Das

The Discover series of bikes has been a runaway success for Bajaj Auto in the “Deluxe Commuter” category (the category above the entry level motorcycles). Well known as an extremely fuel efficient brand, the Discover has found favor among both the young and mature commuter crowd. Launched in 2004, Bajaj has managed to keep the Discover brand fresh with timely upgrades. These upgrades included changes in the engine platform to cosmetic/feature upgrades. But till now the silhouette has always been essentially the same as the one launched in 2004.

25 Pulsar 200NS Price announced [Price Comparison: Vs R15 Version 2.0 Vs CBR 150R/250R Vs 200 Duke]

Official price of the Pulsar 200NS revealed.. the first batch reaches Mumbai dealerships

Photo & News: Zigwheels

"You just can't beat a Bajaj" especially when it's comes to pricing. At the unveiling of the next generation Pulsar, the Pulsar 200NS in Jan 2012, Mr. Rajiv Bajaj had promised a price of "under a lakh Rupees". This left many wondering if it would be the "Ex-Showroom Price" or the "On Road Price".

Unbelievable?

Believe it..!!

Looking at the levels of equipment, design sophistication and sheer performance of the new Pulsar 200NS, many safely assumed that the "under 1 lakh" price tag would be the "Ex-showroom price" and the actual On Road price would cross 1 lakh. But surprise surprise.. official prices for the Pulsar 200NS is out and the "Ex-Showroom Price" in Delhi is an unbelievable Rs. 85,000..!!

7 Suzuki Hayate TV Ad [2012] Featuring Salman "Dabangg" Khan

Will Salman Khan be able to convince guys to buy the 110 cc Hayate..??

"Suzuki Hayate, yunhi nahi chalate..!!" that's the punchline in the latest TV Ad for the 110 cc Suzuki Hayate model.

Does it work..??