Update: It has been spotted testing in India for the first time….
Barely a few days back, we did a story “3 Reasons Why Bajaj May NOT Launch Pulsar NS150 in India Anytime Soon” despite the motorcycle being absolutely sale-ready (it is in fact exported to a lot of markets already). We emphasised that Bajaj needed to do something different and simply bringing the NS150 may not yield them any significant dividends. And different is HERE – enter the surprise Pulsar NS160, revealed by these pics coming from some event in Turkey.
The new Pulsar NS160, as expected, shares all its design cues with the Pulsar NS150 but is more brute and feature rich. It is expected to carry over the perimeter frame and gets a 160.3 cc single cylinder 4-valve engine which churns out 15.5 PS of peak power at 8500 rpm and 14.6 Nm of maximum torque at 6500 rpm and it weighs 135 kg only. In comparison Pulsar NS150 produces 17 PS (at 9500 rpm) of power and 13 Nm (at 7500 rpm) of torque from its 149.5 cc 4-valve engine and weighs 140 kg.
Going by the specs, it is clear that Bajaj has focused on the more important torque figures and they rev earlier as well. The bigger change is the inclusion of an oil-cooler (like Pulsar 220) instead of the simple air-cooled 150 cc engine of the NS150. It gets a 5-speed gearbox and petal disc brakes upfront along with optional ABS.
As compared to NS150, the bigger NS160 gets a slightly more aggressive bodywork/decals, an underbelly engine cowl and an NS200 like registration place holder assembly.
Now, instead of the NS150, this is the motorcycle which may be launched in India and it can even probably replace (or be sold side by side) the just-decent selling Pulsar AS150 from the market and hence expect prices to hover around the same range.
It is speculated that Bajaj will re-launch the BS4 compliant Pulsar NS200 in India next month (January 2017) and this Pulsar NS160 may follow suit some months later.
Next Reading: Surprise Surprise – RE Classic 350 Outsells Pulsar 150 (the Largest 150cc Seller) in Nov 2016
