Bajaj Pulsar 200NS Vs KTM Duke

                                                         

“Overview : Here we go with an interesting battle, KTM Duke 200 vs bajaj pulsar 200NS. We really enjoyed testing the all new two naked street fighter machines. The 200NS is the best Pulsar Bajaj have made yet. Both these motorcycles are massive fun riding and quite fast too. KTM the Austrian bike-maker has been notoriously experimented with it's motorcycles  since the inception of duke in 1994. Crafted by the experienced hands of Gerald kiska of kiska design. In case you don't agree to what's been said here, I suggest you to take a look again at the motorcycles on this page. Lets see who wins.

“Styling : Now here is where things get interesting, however which bike draws the most eye catchy is the question? The simple answer is the KTM duke 200 which is an outright sporty looking motorcycle due to its sharp and angry looking graphics on the body. The 200NS sticks to the Pulsar’s trademark features like the big prominent massive tank and its mix of sharp and curvy lines all across the body. It clearly draws inspiration from the 2011 Honda hornet. Pulsar gives more comfortable seating position and wider seat for the pillion as well. Alloys are not of the best design, Y spokes do not look downright, but a better design would definitely look more suited to this bike. In terms of design, the Duke really has its nose ahead, from the angular tank to the beautiful trellis frame, the arrowhead indicators, the compact full LCD console, the Alien head light and the gorgeously carved aluminum cast swing arm, every little facet is absolutely striking.

“Instrument Cluster and Switch Gear :

                                                                                 

The 200NS gets a digital analogue instrument cluster, which looks attractive comprehensive, and easy to read.The console is well designed, specifying a digitalized speedometer, trip meter, fuel gauge and an analogue meter. 

The Duke 200 comes with a simple, and almost square like instrument cluster. It features plenty of information, which is lacking in most bikes. The duke is equipped with 2 trip meters. It also provides vital information like distance to empty, Average fuel consumption, average riding time, and gear shift indicators. As per an opinionated thinking, the Duke's instrumentation can look more better, if an analogue tachometer is added and to give a larger read out to have a better visibility on the information given.

“Performance: Discovering the two machines with the same heart giving different out come.

Both are competitors for each other powered by 199.5cc, single-cylinder, 4-valve, liquid-cooled engines, with identical bore and stroke. Both these machines have a very rev-happy engine with smooth shifting 6-speed transmissions.

The KTM Duke 200 produces 25 BHP of peak power at 10,000 RPM and a torque output of 19.2 NM at 8000 RPM. It is ruled by 199.5 cc  4-valve single spark plug, liquid-cooled, DOHC with short stroke motor pumped by strikingly Sharp fuel injection unit. Duke looks like the most powerful machine delivering a never ending supply of acceleration through the first three gears. On every gear shift the Duke 200 kicks the rev limiter at 10,500 rpm due to its high acceleration and low weight. It easily gets light and flighty though the wide handle bars when hammering the throttle hard. Quick off the line, with a staggeringly quick 0-100km/h time of just 9.01 seconds and a top speed of about 138km/h, there is a lot more to the KTM 200 Duke than just straight-line performance. 

                                                       

The Pulsar 200NS apply triple spark plugs, SOHC and a carburettor resulting in a Crown power output of 23.17 BHP at 9500 RPM and a hill torque output of 18.3 NM at 8000 RPM. This is no case of ‘all show, no go,’ but more a case of ‘all show, all go’ as the 200NS backs up the iconic styling with equally impressive performance. It may not have scored that well on paper – a lot of which due to the road we used – but it’s still an emotional favourite for many of our testers. On the other hand, when it came time to get things hauled back down from speed, the 200NS brakes were one of the best in the group. Plenty of initial bite via progressive lever action produce gobs of feel and feedback. Definitely a shining point for the 200NS. Both the bikes comes equipped with an underbelly exhaust. This has been done to keep the mass in the center of the bike. 

“Quarter mile drag race experience :

KTM Duke 200

Duke 200 sprocket : 14T front 43T rear

In a quarter mile drag(400 meters), the duke 200 is the winner due to its short gearing an
d high acceleration. The duke 200 hits the top speed of 125kmph at the quarter mile mark was ahead of the pulsar 200NS doing 118kmph. But if, we double the quarter mile, the 200NS is the king for the top speed due to its long gearing. I will explain how it happens. Below mention are the figures of the sprockets of two different machines. In pulsar 200NS u will see 39 teeth in the rear sprocket and in duke 200 u will find 43 teeth in the rear sprocket.                                                                       Bigger rear sprocket, results in gearing biased towards acceleration,

with some lag in top speed.

                                                                                                                                                       

 Bajaj Pulsar NS200 -                                                             

Smaller rear sprocket , results in gearing biased towards top speed,

with some lag in acceleration.

NS 200 sprocket : 14T front 39T rear

Gearing is a measure of all the components that determine the rate at which an engine's crankshaft's revolutions are transmitted, into the vehicle's speed. It comes from the word "gears" which are rotating cogs, which decide what speed the machine picks up, at a particular rpm.

“Riding dynamics  : On a straight line, any bike can go fast. But, on corners, you will see the real abilities of a bike, how well it handles through bends. Both these bikes are very stable around cornering. The pulsar 200NS has a better entry feel. The rider seat is wider and give more space for the rider to move around which certainly helps a lot in cornering.

The pulsar narrow twin spar perimeter frame confer the bike with much better dynamics to tackle almost any sort of cornering.

The dukes comes with the big tyres, which 

provides excellent grip on the roads.

The trellis frame and the underbelly exhaust make the bike more stable and gives us great confidence on bends . 

“ With shorter gearing

and a quicker to rev 200cc engine, the duke 200 blast out of corners”.

The duke's high raise wide handle bars makes to feel more comfortable and sharper handler of the two. The duke tires are made of softer compound, that results extra bit of grip when compared to the 200NS.

But, on loose surface it is little tricky to handle. The 200NS tires are of harder compound and are meant to last.

                                  

“Ruling: Both are as good or better than anything else we've ever tested. The Duke and 200NS have excellent fueling and seamless throttle response. Both are at the top of the class, with the kind of flexible performance and quick, balanced steering that make a rider feel connected and in control. When it comes to price, the 200NS make sense, its the better deal of the two. At just Rs 99.2k (on road Mumbai) the 200NS is a high performance bike with a strong and capable chassis and excellent handling. However, every Bike has its strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to performance the kTM duke has its nose ahead. It has the more powerful motor, Combined with its low mass and  perfect weight distribution plus crucial bits like sticky radial tyres.

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Article by Javed Shaikh.