If you have already seen my last video you know what I think
about the new 2024 Bajaj Pulsar NS400Z I think it packs an insane amount of potential not
just in terms of its price tag the mindboggling 1.85 L price tag but also I think it has the
makings of a really potent motorcycle once we make a few changes and today is the day we put
the money where my mouth is to see if that is really the case the first area of improvement
that we were targeting was stability so we have lifted the front by dropping the forks by
5 mm and also at the back the rear shock the preload we have gone down to the softest setting
to reduce the ride height and together that has helped us eek out an additional trail of about 3.8 to 4 mm
so the trail is now a little bit longer but the biggest change has come in the form of tires we
have swapped the stock tires with these grippy Protorq Extreme tires from Eurogrip these are
their 0 degree steel radials they have been designed more for performance so in terms of compound
they're are softer compound plus we have gone for a wider 150/60 section instead of 140
section on the Pulsar to aid with the stability but as you can see they fit perfectly fine
on the rim and these are also W rated which means the casing is strong enough
to withstand speeds up to 270 kmph even the front infact is W rated
but in terms of tyre profile it's the same as the stock tire which is 110/70 so I know these are like small tweaks here and there so it's time to
see how far they can take us I think the smile says it all never in my
wildest dreams did I think that we would make such a big step with the Pulsar NS400
I mean I was going so much faster in these damp and dreary conditions on this bike
than I was on the stock bike in the dry I never thought that the Eurogrips would turn
out to be this good in the wet I mean in my books these are just as good if not better than the
Michelin Road 5s and that's saying something I mean just no drama you
have a lot of grip in places where you expect none it just hooks up and propels you ahead and that means with more grip
the braking is also suddenly so much better even with the exact same braking hardware cuz
now you finally have a tire that has the grip required to put all the stopping power down
even in the wet and actually help you drop anchor this was a very crucial point which
needed fixing and now with the sticky Eurogrips to bank on I think we have sorted
that problem and now we are finally in a position to really explore the
full potential of this engine but yeah if you're thinking
track then you would need to update your braking hardware sintered
pads but for the roads you are sorted the next big Improvement has of
course come in the form of stability with all the changes that we made to be
honest I wasn't quite sure how much just increasing the trail by 3.8 mm was going
to help but that compounded with the wider rear section tire has suddenly helped
with the stability a lot because even at higher speeds and during Quick Change
of Direction the NS400 now feels really sure footed I finally felt I had the support
required to steer the motorcycle with confidence and it no longer feels as
twitchy as the stock motor motorcycle does in the corners undoubtedly we have lost a
little bit of the front end feel a little bit of front end feedback because we have raised
the front of the motorcycle so I'm not as well connected to the front as I would like but the
grip is definitely there and especially now with the wider rear section with the fatter contact
patch even when the bike is leaned over you have the support and the confidence required
to carry some serious speed into the corners I mean to be honest I'm a little bit bummed that we had
such damp and dreary conditions but still for the very first time I felt that I could actually see
the true potential of this beautiful perimeter frame and the final piece of the puzzle
the reason why even the suspension seems to be working much better is because we have
dialed the preload to the softest setting which has visibly reduced the pumping which
we were experiencing on the stock motorcycle with the set preload as the softer setting
also means that the spring now is a lot less reactive so to summarize I can finally
breathe out a huge sigh of relief and take pride in how successful this experiment has been
just goes to show just how big a step you can make just by slapping on stickier Eurogrip tires
and help unlock the true potential of your motorcycle I'm now in fact confident enough that
the ns400 with all of these changes okay fine it cannot match the craftsmanship but in terms
of riding dynamics and how engaging the engine is the ns400 with all of these changes
can definitely hold a candle to the 2023 Living It Up - Bike of the Year which was
the Triumph Speed 400 and that is saying something