2025 Bajaj Pulsar NS400Z First Ride Review: Better Than Ever

Published July 13, 2025
Views : 3188
5 min read

The new quickshifter works quite well & is an awesome addition!

2025 Bajaj Pulsar NS400Z First Ride Review: Better Than Ever highlights

The 2025 Bajaj Pulsar NS400Z is here, and there have been a lot of changes compared to the previous version. The bike has now got more power, better tyres, better brakes, reworked riding modes and also a quickshifter as standard. But have these changes really made a difference in the performance? Well, here’s what we think after riding the updated bike:

More Powerful Than Before

The biggest change that the 2025 update has brought is the 3PS increase in power, earlier the 373cc engine produced 40PS. The brand has done some improvements to the internals, such as the addition of a new forged piston and some other tweaks, resulting in an increased power output. Along with this, the engine’s redline has also been shifted up by 1000rpm to 10,700rpm, earlier it was 9,700rpm.

2025 Bajaj Pulsar NS400Z First Ride Review: Better Than Ever details

For this review, I rode the bike on the Pune-Mumbai highway and from the get-go the Pulsar NS400Z really impressed me with its performance. The motor is very refined, and there were little to no vibrations present while cruising at speeds of 100kmph on the highway. The motor can be pushed beyond that, and during this review I was able to achieve a top speed of 117kmph on an empty stretch of the road. There weren’t any noticeable vibrations at this speed and the bike felt quite composed. So overall, the performance is quite good and it will keep you engaged.

With Better And More Features

With the increase in power, Bajaj has also made some tweaks to the bike’s throttle maps as well. The Sport Mode now has a more aggressive throttle response than before, whereas the Rain mode offers a more mellow throttle response. The Road and Off-road mode feels like a middle-ground between the two. In the 4 modes, the level of ABS intervention also differs, with the Sport and Off-Road mode being the least intrusive and the Rain mode having the most intrusive ABS calibration.

2025 Bajaj Pulsar NS400Z First Ride Review: Better Than Ever overview

During my time with the bike, I preferred using the Sport mode when I was riding on the highway for that energetic throttle response. I didn’t enjoy using the same in the city, as the throttle feels a bit jerky at lower-revs. When we got back to the city, I rode the bike in the other 3 modes and I felt that the road mode offered the best balance in terms of throttle response and ABS intervention. The Rain mode felt a bit underwhelming so I ended up using the Road mode a lot more. The Off-road mode on the other hand didn’t feel that different from the Road mode except in terms of ABS intervention.

Overall, with the 2025 update the riding modes have been better differentiated. This makes quite a difference in the riding experience for riders like me who like to tinker around with these features. That said, most riders might prefer using the bike just in Sport mode so the changes might not make that much of a difference for them.

2025 Bajaj Pulsar NS400Z First Ride Review: Better Than Ever gallery

Lastly, the bike has also got a Quickshifter, which Bajaj calls Sport Shift as this feature is only available while riding the bike in Sport mode. The quickshifter, although not the slickest one around, works quite well. When riding fast on the highway, the quickshifter worked very well during up-shifts and having this made spirited riding a lot more fun. When it comes to down shifts, the quickshifter is not as smooth as it is during up-shifts, and feels a bit clunky but does get the job done.

Sharper Than Before!

With the 2025 update, the bike now gets Apollo Alpha H1 tyres at both ends, with a wider 150-section rear tyre. Along with this, the brand has also offered sintered brake pads at the front. Back when the bike was first launched, it was offered with a bias-ply tyre at the front. Now this was a big limiting factor, as riders weren’t able to corner with confidence due to the twitchy front-end feel. The addition of radial tyres at both ends have solved this issue.

2025 Bajaj Pulsar NS400Z First Ride Review: Better Than Ever showcase

The Apollo Alpha H1 tyres were a really good choice from Bajaj as they offer very good dry and wet grip. During the ride, we had to deal with pouring rain, and despite the bad weather conditions I didn’t feel like I needed to go a bit easy. The tyres inspired a lot of confidence, both when riding at high speeds on the highway, and also while cornering.

The addition of sintered brake pads have also done a good job in improving the braking performance. The front disc brake offers a bit of initial stopping power and feel, so aggressive braking while riding at higher speeds was quite easy. The 2025 update has improved the bike’s handling drastically, and has also helped unleash its full potential. With the earlier bike, the underpinnings were a big issue but now all of that has been sorted.

The Complete Package

If you had told me a year ago that you could get a 400cc bike under 2 lakh, with a quickshifter, good tyres and features I would have had a hard time taking it seriously. But it is a reality now, and the Bajaj Pulsar NS400Z has managed to tick all the right boxes. The bike is now sold at Rs 1,92,328 (ex-showroom Delhi) which makes it Rs 11,010 more expensive than the previous generation bike.

2025 Bajaj Pulsar NS400Z First Ride Review: Better Than Ever glimpse

The addition of so many features and this level of improvements for Rs 11,010 more, makes the bike an absolute steal. It is just mindblowing how much value-for-money this bike offers. We are also quite happy that Bajaj had taken customer feedback on the previous bike seriously and made all the changes that we had asked for.

The 2025 update has managed to iron out all the major issues the bike had when it was first launched. But out of all the changes, I think the addition of new tyres and better brake pads have really elevated the riding experience more than anything else. The increased performance and the addition of a new quick shifter is an added bonus.