2024 Bajaj Pulsar N250 First Ride Review: The Safest Pulsar Yet!

Bajaj has more Pulsar models in its portfolio than days in the week, catering to a really wide audience. The Bajaj Pulsar N250, the biggest Pulsar, catered to a more mature audience with its easy-to-use performance, and tractable nature, which made it great for city use, and comfortable ride quality. But, the 250cc motorcycle seemed to lag behind in certain areas, and Bajaj has addressed that with the 2024 update.

Design

While the Bajaj Pulsar N250 features a nice and sharp design, the recent troubling topic was its similarities with its smaller siblings – the Pulsar N160 and Pulsar N150. With the 2024 update, the N250 comes with sporty new graphics with flashy new ‘250’ badging across the fuel tank. This makes it visibly stand apart from its smaller siblings, along with the 3 new colour schemes – Red, Black and White, all with new graphics. They don’t just look good but also give a sportier appeal to the bike’s presence. Add to that the new Champagne Gold inverted fork (only on the Red and White colour schemes), which makes the front end of the bike look bigger, and also snazzy.

Engine, Mileage and Performance

The 2024 update hasn’t brought any changes to the performance of the bike and it still gets the same 249.07cc air-/oil-cooled single-cylinder engine, delivering a peak output of 24.5PS and 21.5Nm. It still feels really smooth and refined and packs enough performance at both low- and mid-range rpm, which makes the bike feel sporty enough for quick acceleration and easy overtakes.

You can easily maintain speeds of around 100kmph on the bike without much hassle or vibrations, putting you in a nice and comfortable zone when cruising on the highways. The previous bike returned a mileage of 42.9kmpl, but we think that this 2024 model might give slightly less than that thanks to its fatter tyres. But more on the tyres after this.

Handling & Ride Quality

Remember I said that it gets a flashy inverted fork? Yes, the new 37mm inverted fork has replaced the telescopic unit, and we believe that this has made a difference. But you can’t ignore the new, fatter tyres - 110 section at the front and 140-section at the rear (previously front: 100, rear: 130). The new, more sophisticated front fork and fatter tyres have really improved the handling. The Bajaj Pulsar N250 was always an agile motorcycle but previously, it would tip into turns really quickly, which could feel quite scary and unnerving if you weren’t used to it. Now though, thanks to the above mentioned changes, the way the bike tips into turns has become more predictable, and the bike also feels more stable when leaned over. So the new N250 is almost as nimble, but even more confidence inspiring than before.

Even the ride quality on the N250 was always pretty plush, and that characteristic has been retained on this one. Even going through deep potholes, the suspension setup does a pretty good job of keeping the bike really stable. But over tall speed breakers at speed, you still get tossed off your seat a little. Clearly, there’s no change in the rear suspension.

It already came with dual-channel ABS, but the 2024 update has brought 3 ABS modes (Road, Rain and Offroad), with differing levels of assistance from the ABS system. While the Road and Rain mode has the most assistance which reduces the wheel lock the most (skidding of the bike), the off-road mode gets the least intervention and allows some wheel slip, for sliding the bike a little. That said, the offroad mode does not turn off the ABS at the rear wheel, just reduces its intervention. All in all, the braking on the bike is pretty good with a good feel from the brakes and predictable stopping power, and the ABS modes also work quite nicely as well, increasing the safety (and options) of the motorcycle.

Comfort

There have been no changes to the riding posture either and the way you sit on the bike remains the same. It gets a mostly upright and slightly leaned-forward riding position with a reasonably wide, slightly raised handlebar and mildly rear-set footpegs. What this does is that it puts you in a relaxed position in general, but if you want to ride a little sporty, you can just shift slightly behind on the long and cushiony seat to get into a more aggressive position.

And speaking of the seat, it is pretty comfortable for the rider and pillion and should not cause any discomfort to either when riding for long durations.

Features

With a fully digital LCD console, the N250 is finally feature-packed enough to take on its rivals. The console comes with instant fuel economy, distance-to-empty and other readouts which are pretty useful and easy to read. Even the console’s layout is pretty clean and easily readable. Oh, and the most important thing is that you can read the console even under fairly harsh sunlight. 

It gets Bluetooth connectivity as well, with call/SMS alerts and turn-by-turn navigation. These features make it a lot more wholesome, however, sadly, we haven’t been able to test it out just yet, so stay tuned for a comprehensive review in our road test.

Lastly, along with the ABS modes (as mentioned above) the new N250 also gets a traction control system, a first for any Pulsar, making it the safest Pulsar yet. The traction control system does an excellent job at reducing wheel slip on gravelly roads, making it safer to fully accelerate even on loose or wet road surfaces.

Should you buy the Bajaj Pulsar N250?

All of these upgrades on the Bajaj Pulsar N250 have come at just Rs 851 more making it a really well-priced and value-for-money update. With a price tag of Rs 1,50,829 (ex-showroom Delhi), the Bajaj Pulsar N250 is one of the most affordable 250cc bikes in India. Adding new features, better handling, new hardware and more safety to the already good performance and ride quality of the N250, has made the bike more desirable than before. It’s a great everyday city motorcycle and would also make for a perfect beginner motorcycle for people looking to get into sporty riding or touring.