The most surprising fact is that I was aiming for a fuel efficiency of 25-30 kmpl but if you ride it slowly between 60-80 km/h, the mileage on the highway is around 40.
BHPian Shafi400 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
I live in a coastal town. My house is 3 km away from a national highway. I never learned from anyone how to ride fast. I have never been a part of any riding community. Riding is a solo activity for me. I am unable to imagine it otherwise(I am not antisocial). It took me five years to buy a faster machine other than trying to ride faster on a slower one. This is not my story. It is a short declaration, my first one, here or anywhere.
Before my family bought me a Bullet, I was riding a Honda Shine. I learned riding on my father’s Bajaj Super. Apart from a few entertaining incidents and the pleasure of being able to ride, I do not have much memory of that. I only remember those bikes I fell in love with as a kid: TVS Max, RX100, Samurai, Kawasaki Bajaj Hoodibaba, and LML Vespa, etc. Most of my solid experience from my teenage days is from our Shine, the bike responsible for guiding us into buying City(4th). I feel that Japan is where the laws of machines come close to the laws of nature that are within us. The machine subsides, and you are left only with the experience and feelings. Those who understood the beauty of the iPod classic in their school days would understand what I am trying to say. No other device leaves us with sole music as it does. My rides upon Shine were like that: slow, fast, intermittent madness. It went along with everything with its humble power.
Four years ago, without giving it any thought, fully inspired by my earliest memory of an uncle riding Bullet, I goaded my family into getting one for me, and they did. I am not going to write much about how Bullet feels. Everyone knows it is a Bullet and feels like one when you are in the city. Let me fast forward to two years of riding it.
I started teaching at a university, a 100 km ride on the highway from my place. This is what changed everything. After a few months, I realized that the machine does not love me when I ride it in fury. Bullet people keep saying that it is not intended to be that way. I get it. I enjoy that too. But somewhere in my heart, a feeling crept in that I needed something else. Something that did both. Bullet is an experience that all bikers should have, just like it is important for you to be a communist in your college days; it leaves you compassionate for the rest of your life.
I dream of a place where the richness of capitalism comes to the masses. Similarly, I want a bike that brings the fury of sport to those who also love riding at a retro pace. I love retro sports. I do not have money for a Z900 RS, so at the right time, the NS400Z entered my life.
We already have another smaller Pulsar at home, but that did not provoke me to get another one. I wanted a faster machine, something which felt at home at 90-120km/h. My budget was low. I could’ve dragged myself into the now-pricier category of the Duke 390. I also pondered upon the Honda CB300R. With the Honda CB350, I did not want to commit myself to a territory similar to Bullet. I do not muddle my mind with the marketing encyclopedia that is out there. There was a need for speed in me without breaking my wallet, and Bajaj burst forth with the 400 right into it, and they do it so well time after time. Without even a test ride, even after being bluffed and cheated with extra money (which I recovered) from our local dealer, I went in and bought one.
I have already ridden it for almost 3000 kms. I am sorry for bringing in the analogy of social theories again, but anyway, like DH Lawrence wrote, a wild bird should not feel sorry for its wildness. NS400Z is just any Indian thought since Europe, apart from this, apart from that, a motley of heterogeneous behaviors coming together. The subcontinent being the cradle of so many things, something new may come out of this chaos someday, but so long. Our machines are also like that.
I smile when I am on the highway on it. The speed I mentioned earlier is perfect for it. I cannot talk nerd specifications. People talk about its tires. It’s alright for me. I cannot give them away for nothing, so I am going to ride them to their end before upgrading. Brakes are alright unless you are a very careless rider who mistakes lack of attention with spirited riding. The machine feels sturdy. It doesn’t know how to ride comfortably at low speeds. The human and machine can come together at a higher speed, and it is the only poetry about it.
Coming from a longer wheelbase of the Bullet, I can sense how flickable this one can be. I do not have any complaints till now. I love products which are thorough in their breeding. Early Bullets must’ve been that way, but the particular first batch BSVI of mine was not up to it. 400 feels tough. It is preparing me well to get something serious in the future. The most surprising fact is that I was aiming for 25-30 per liter mileage on it, but if you ride it slowly between 60-80km/h, the mileage on the highway is around 40. So the regular commuters who are on the fence while thinking of mileage should get it if they live in a place like mine which is freer.
This is my first automotive piece, so I will update more once I know more. Thank you Bajaj for doing whatever you could to let us have this. These are our fewer possibilities of being able to get reasonable machines since the dominance of the global North in global capitalism and its collusion with our own economic policies renders it impossible for us to enjoy better products at a reasonable price. Imagine the lack of choices I had while choosing between a 2.8 lakh R15 or CB300R and an NS400Z in comparison to some white kid living on the other side of the planet.
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