The launch of Bajaj’s first fully faired motorcycle has given Pulsar fans a great option to choose from. Not only is it claimed to be faster and more powerful than the 200NS, it also gets the added safety net of Anti-lock Braking System (ABS). While for those who know whether they want a naked or a faired motorcycle, the choice is pretty simple, but for people who want justifications for buying the RS, here we share 8 major differences with the naked 200NS!
Bajaj Pulsar RS200 vs Pulsar 200NS
- Fuel Injection: RS200 gets fuel injection which should result in crispier power delivery and better throttle response.
- Power/Torque Increment: RS200 produces 1ps of higher power and 0.3Nm of more torque. While the peak torque is attained at the same 8000 rpm, the peak power on the faired Pulsar comes a wee bit later, 250 rpm to be precise!
- Weight: Now this is interesting! The fairing and all that new gizmo has added whooping 20 kgs to the bike and that is a lot of weight! At 165kg, 200RS will be a heavy bike!
- ABS: Though optional, this is the most important addition on the RS. Interestingly, their KTM siblings do not get ABS even as an option!
- Ground Clearance: Because of the fairing, the ground clearance of RS200 has gone down to 157mm from 169mm of the 200NS.
- Braking: In comparison with the 280mm front disc of 200NS, the faired RS comes with a bigger 300mm disc brake. Rear are the same 230mm petals.
- Claimed Top Speed: Bajaj claims a top speed of almost 141 kmph on the RS200 as compared to the 135kmph they claim for the 200NS. We will put the RS to paces in April which is when we will know, how fast it is, in comparison actually!
- Exhaust: 200NS comes with an underbelly exhaust whereas the RS200 gets a stubby ‘race’ exhaust which is believed to be a better sound-producer!
For all this extra (including weight!), Bajaj is charging about Rs 26,000 more for the non-ABS RS200. Whereas for the ABS variant, the price difference rises to about Rs 38,000 which is about the price of a new 90kmpl CT100!
The prices of RS200 look spectacular in isolation but when we compare them with Bajaj’s own standards, we feel the non-ABS variant could have been more aggressively priced, possibly around the 1.10 Lakh mark. At these prices, the on road price of RS200 ABS will breach 1.40 lakhs whereas the non-ABS will cost you upwards of Rs 1.30 lakhs in Delhi and Maharashtra. In other costlier cities, you will have to shell out more.
