Pulsar 200SS caught testing, launch in India soon

With every passing day, the spy shots of the Pulsar 200SS being tested seem to be grabbed and uploaded to the web. These were captured by our own Rishaad Mody near the Maharashtra-Goa border and are the only shots that show a rider on the motorcycle.

The details

If you examine the photographs closely you will note that the 200SS uses the same LED indicators as the 200/390 Duke and the same splatter guard as the 200NS with its single-sided mounting. The heavily disguised tail light is clearly mounted on the plastic extension rather than the tail piece. At the front, you have tall new mirrors, new instruments featuring what looks like a large central rev counter and tall clip-on bars. The bike we spotted doesn't have any ABS equipment which gives credence to our previous estimate that the 200SS would sport FI rather than ABS but probably not both. However, other test mules with ABS speed sensor rings on the rotor have been spotted which might mean that Bajaj will offer the base non-ABS version as well as a more expensive ABS version with braided hoses.

 The fairing

The lurid camo stickering on the motorcycle is supposed to prevent you from working out the actual lines of the motorcycle but this tends to work better with flatter panels rather than a fairing as busy as this. What can be seen is an extremely busy fairing which shares a lot of lines and probably the tank unit with the 200NS. The upper fairing which hosts the twin projector lamps is clearly new and we expect these lamps to be the same as the ones the RC390 uses. The difference is that the KTM fairs them in while the Pulsar SS uses a generous cutout while mounting the lamps in a dark grey rifled cylinder.

If you look at the spyshots, you will also note that the fairing has at least two versions on test. Ours has narrow cutouts around the projectors while others show a much bigger cutout. On the sides too, the front triangle on our shots seems to have a cutout while others show a concave surface without the cutout. This is normal because the plastic on these validation or CFT (customer field trial) prototypes can have variants. At the bottom, the exhaust is now routed to the right of the bike and unlike RC390, will not be  faired in with the trailing edge of the fairing plastic. Instead, Bajaj will opt for a short stubby triangular end can.

 The engine

As we have said, we are expecting the 200SS to be fuel injected and that the 200NS is also going to receive fuel injection if the 200SS has it. The SS will probably offer a sightly higher state of tune to offset the weight of the fairing. We also expect the bike to sport a taller sixth gear that should go well with the substantial screen to make the 200SS a very effective highway motorcycle.

 The unknowns

The few things that we are not sure Bajaj will go are whether or not the SS will get sharper steering geometry like the RC390/200/125 gets. We don't know if the optional ABS SS will mean an optional ABS NS model as well.

 Launch

As we have said before, we are expecting the 200SS to be ready very shortly, probably in December 2013. However, Bajaj may choose to delay the launch to either January or even to the Auto Expo in February.