I restored my 2007 Bajaj Pulsar 150: Falling in love the second time

I now have the bike running again and have to ride slow for initial 500 kms to let the new engine parts slowly settle in.

BHPian swarnava.ch recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Falling in love the second time - My 2007 Bajaj Pulsar 150

At Team BHP, our vehicle threads tell a story. I would like to pen down one such story which was almost forgotten for me but thankfully reminded at the right time.

Introduction
Like a ritual at 10:00 am every morning, I was going through the daily updates on Team-Bhp and came across the thread.
How I Scrapped my bike legally in Bangalore by BHPian Dev Shah

I suddenly realized that I had my Pulsar 150 standing in the Parking, just rusting away. May be, I scrap this and purchase a E Bike like Ather etc.

But wait, do I need a bike ?
I have to put on my Product manager hat and spin a Business case here – basically I need to cook up a Problem for the solution I already have

Let me think – I have two cars and I hardly do enough kms on them in a year. But there is a use case, everyday during school drop off, My son is dropped off 1 km away from my main gate (as he comes by an After school program which does not offer door step drop) so I could use the bike for this trip instead of walking with the heavy school bag everyday.
I can probably throw in some weekend neighborhood market trips where its packed during weekend shopping rush and there is no space for car parking. So then settled, my plan of scrapping was logical and I had a use case.

Now broached this topic with my son and wife. Son was excited at the thought of a New Bike and eager to go through but wife didn’t make immediate comments. Over the next few days I circled back and then finally my wife shared her feedback:
1. Why scrap a perfect bike and waste buying another electric two wheeler spending more than 1.5 lakhs ?
2. She also reminded the sentimental value of the bike

Now while I had some answers on the financial calculation, I was trumped by the second point above.
In pursuit of never ending corporate greed and routine life, I had complete forgot how we purchased the bike.

Back Story: I had got an opportunity to join Infosys in Pune Hinjewadi Phase 2 DC just after my training and same for my wife in Wipro Phase 1 campus in Hinjewadi. Both of us young and just out of college. We used to Stay in Aundh and it was a roughly 15 kms drive to Hinjewadi everyday. While Infosys did offer busses for its employees, you had to stick to their routine and specially this was the time when Autos in Pune will charge you a Kidney and a Liver for a short ride. So we decided that we should have our own conveyance.
After some dilemma we realized that we get somewhere around 12k salary in hand each and a bike will cost us at that time some 50k so we pooled in money, took some from savings, borrowed from friends, took interest free loans from office and finally could save enough to purchase the bike. So this was indeed our first joint purchase and It was important for us emotionally. The realization set in now, why my wife was not excited on the scrapping idea.

Anyways so now I was determined, come what may, I will get the bike back on road or atleast give it a whole hearted try.

Did some rough calculation, any new bike will cost roughly 80k. Any new E Bike will cost 1L plus.
So lets set a criteria, If I can save the bike and make it road legal again, within half this budget, I will go for restoration.

So so now that the decisions is made, what about the challenges I foresee ?
1. I was not aware of the current condition of the bike. Will it run was the big question as its been standing in the parking for more than 7 years unused.
2. The Bike had a Pune registration MH12 and now I want to run it in Bangalore so I will need a KA registration
3. The 15 year registration is over. It was purchased some time in 2007 and need to get the RC renewed
4. I will need a NOC from Pune RTO may be and taking the bike back to Pune for inspection is not possible

So it was decided that lets stat two investigations, how to make the bike legal in Karnataka and how to get it working again ?

First, I called the boys from a local garage to check the bike. They had good reviews from neighbors and I could always catch them if some further problem arises. These guys were confident that they could get the bike started and running again and with just a rough estimate, they took the bike away.

Next step was getting hold of an agent who could get the RC sorted. I approached the Concierge service in my office who help with RTO matter.
Initially they were reluctant due to the complexity involved but I had all original docs and receipts and they promised to give it a shot. I told them fees no issues, do what you want. So they started investigating what could be done here. After 3 weeks of waiting, finally on the day of my birthday, I get a call that they can indeed get the legal stuff cleared.
So they will get the RC renewed for 5 years, get the bike registered in Bangalore and make it road legal.
The agent told me that initially the RTO guys had said NO, but what went in my favor was that when I had come to Bangalore from Pune with the bike, I had given the NOC from Pune to Bangalore RTO and made a Address change so in Vahan portal, my MH12 bike was showing my Bangalore address and was tagged to Indiranagar RTO. This meant that indeed the process now can be completed in Bangalore without going back to Pune RTO. In addition, I had already paid lifetime road tax in KA for the bike so a lot of things were in my favor.

Meanwhile the local garage called and confirmed that the bike is now running and all servicing is done, oils changed, wires lubricated, new battery etc.
Only thing not changed was the old (original) tyres. They had some cracks but still running. I wanted to hold on for some time on putting more money to replace the tyres before getting a legal process completed. So took the bike back in running condition. I wanted to be sure that its worth putting in the time and effort and money and that I can run my bike again legally in KA Roads.

So what will be the final cost look like:
1. New third party insurance – 900 Rs
2. Bike Service at local garage – 7500 Rs
3. Legal process – 13,500 Rs

So now, with the running bike in my hand and legal processes already started, I am eagerly waiting for how this story ends ?

But wait, don’t go away yet. Life is not always simple and God always has other plans.

After running the bike daily for 1 month (from my parking to the Apartment main gate – not on Public roads yet), it was not used for two weeks during the Dussehra breaks. After I returned, I observed a metallic sound during starting from the engine but with some attempt and choke engaged, the bike would start. After another week of this, the bike didn’t start at all. Called the mechanic again and he took the bike for checking. The diagnosis was that the engine head had cracked, piston damaged and spark plugs cracked. This he attributed to misalignment or some other issue. Upon some angry feedback, he explained that last time they didn’t open the engine completely for servicing and only did a basic oil change for the engine as it stated running fine. I was very angry and gave them an earful.
Now again I had to leave the bike with them for a complete engine re build. This incurred additional cost of 8800 Rs.
So the costs now look like

So what will be the final cost look like:
1. New third party insurance – 900 Rs
2. Bike Service at local garage – 7500 Rs + 8800 Rs
3. Legal process – 13,500 Rs

I now have the bike running again and have to ride slow for initial 500 kms to let the new engine parts slowly settle in.
Still waiting for the legal process to complete before I take it out on the open roads.

What Next ?
Some closing remarks:
1. As you understand by now, this is a heart over head thing. There is no more rationale or financial sense here.
2. Waiting eagerly to hear back from the RTO Agent on Registration completion
3. The Bike itself is running smooth and its a completely different feeling every time I ride my bike.
4. More than us, my Son who is 13 now is enjoying the bike ride as a pillion. He has not said it out loud but I see in his eyes he is eying to take over ownership of this bike when he turns 18.

A Picture is a must at this point:
Front View

Side Views

Speedo:
15k KMs total and 20kms driven post Engine build. Could not believe that I have already driven close to 15k on this. Waiting to put more miles on this now and want to see the numbers grow.
There are a lot of these scratched metal parts where the Silver paint has chipped. Will address later.

Cracked Tyres:

I am actually worried of these cracks and want to replace the tyres asap. But like I said, I want to wait a while till I do the next set of improvements.

Milage: No Clue, neither I am interested to check. I just keep half tank filled always. Once I get it back to ship shape, may be I can test it Tank to Tank but at the moment this is not a priority.

Now a question to experienced members here:
1. How to get the HSRP for the new KA Bike Registration number ? Will RTO give me or should I approach any Bajaj dealer or my agent for the same ?
2. Once all legal matters are settled, I would like to get the bike to top shape again, all original parts and lots of love.
What are the suggestions for a 15 year old bike ?

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.