Here is a Post Incident Review of my last weeks 'mis'-adventure with the Pulsar 220 breaking down on a long ride.
Anlysis of incident:
-Bajaj Service swung into action and mobilized resources as soon as they were made aware of the situation. Of course Venkat Shyam of Auto Service Bangalore did more than what I had expected. I'm sure he must be responsible for pressurizing Bajaj Service to respond to the situation. So no doubt, Venkat saved the day!
Now the question is, why did Bajaj go out of the way and offer assistance like accommodation and such? Was it to keep the situation from blowing out of proportion, or was it genuine concern for a Bajaj loyalist? Were they trying to cover up for a faulty product by offering great service?
Whatever the answers, I'm more confident about Bajaj Auto as a brand than before. The reason is simple, they just exceed my expectations.
Problems that I identified, probable solutions, and learning...
-Low quality wiring: According to my analysis the whole incident happened because a wire got loose, shorted and blew a fuse. I'm shocked that even after so many years of R&D, there is not a fool proof socket to hold a wire intact under intense vibrations and other 'industrial condition' stresses. Or is it just a case of low quality materials in the socket assembly?
In continuation to the above, the overall wiring quality looks very shady. Its just a lot of black electrical tape holding a bunch of wires. I have seen the wiring on foreign bikes, and even cars; its way better and concealed (not in electrical tape).
-Bajaj Service ill-equipped for remote support: No one seemed to know about the fuse under the rear seat. Or even if they did, they might have never imagined that a blown fuse could prevent the engine from igniting. Of course this being the P220 EMS itself as misleading, and a prime suspect. Of course I cant blame any one, as the troubleshooting was incident based and a best effort.
Solution: Perhaps Bajaj Service is not even equipped or has trained its personnel to troubleshoot over the phone. Time for Bajaj Service to get a 1800 toll free service/break down help hot line with technically qualified personnel to help? Or at least quick escalations to engineering team who can expedite troubleshooting.
Solution: Perhaps Bajaj Auto should provide better self help documents or step by step troubleshooting guides to end users. At least for Pro bikes. One will be amazed to find what all foreign bike manufacturers provide as self help manuals; using these one could rebuild a bike.
-Insufficient tools: The tool kit provided with the bike is insufficient for such self help situations. I had to borrow more tools (pliers, small screw driver) from nearby farmers. I have now upgraded my kit with more tools. I'm not expecting Bajaj to provide them, just informing riders to be ready.
-Land line rocks! : My mobile network of choice is Airtel, and it generally hever lets me down. But at the place where I was, the network was extremly weak, and I could not do any kind of voice callling. SMS worked fine. Solution, carry a lot of 1Re coins, and find the nearest STD-PCO land line.
Conclusion:
The whole incident shook my confidence on the Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi as a long distance cruiser bike. I had major doubts on its reliability. But after then next days riding, and cool headed analysis, I can say yes in spite of this incident, the Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi is a dependable bike. Period. BTW, I just came back from a 900Km solo ride to the east coast (Pondicherry).
Thanks to Bajaj Service. Many more thanks to Venkat Shyam for all his help. Venkat, U R THE MAN!
Anlysis of incident:
-Bajaj Service swung into action and mobilized resources as soon as they were made aware of the situation. Of course Venkat Shyam of Auto Service Bangalore did more than what I had expected. I'm sure he must be responsible for pressurizing Bajaj Service to respond to the situation. So no doubt, Venkat saved the day!
Now the question is, why did Bajaj go out of the way and offer assistance like accommodation and such? Was it to keep the situation from blowing out of proportion, or was it genuine concern for a Bajaj loyalist? Were they trying to cover up for a faulty product by offering great service?
Whatever the answers, I'm more confident about Bajaj Auto as a brand than before. The reason is simple, they just exceed my expectations.
Problems that I identified, probable solutions, and learning...
-Low quality wiring: According to my analysis the whole incident happened because a wire got loose, shorted and blew a fuse. I'm shocked that even after so many years of R&D, there is not a fool proof socket to hold a wire intact under intense vibrations and other 'industrial condition' stresses. Or is it just a case of low quality materials in the socket assembly?
In continuation to the above, the overall wiring quality looks very shady. Its just a lot of black electrical tape holding a bunch of wires. I have seen the wiring on foreign bikes, and even cars; its way better and concealed (not in electrical tape).
-Bajaj Service ill-equipped for remote support: No one seemed to know about the fuse under the rear seat. Or even if they did, they might have never imagined that a blown fuse could prevent the engine from igniting. Of course this being the P220 EMS itself as misleading, and a prime suspect. Of course I cant blame any one, as the troubleshooting was incident based and a best effort.
Solution: Perhaps Bajaj Service is not even equipped or has trained its personnel to troubleshoot over the phone. Time for Bajaj Service to get a 1800 toll free service/break down help hot line with technically qualified personnel to help? Or at least quick escalations to engineering team who can expedite troubleshooting.
Solution: Perhaps Bajaj Auto should provide better self help documents or step by step troubleshooting guides to end users. At least for Pro bikes. One will be amazed to find what all foreign bike manufacturers provide as self help manuals; using these one could rebuild a bike.
-Insufficient tools: The tool kit provided with the bike is insufficient for such self help situations. I had to borrow more tools (pliers, small screw driver) from nearby farmers. I have now upgraded my kit with more tools. I'm not expecting Bajaj to provide them, just informing riders to be ready.
-Land line rocks! : My mobile network of choice is Airtel, and it generally hever lets me down. But at the place where I was, the network was extremly weak, and I could not do any kind of voice callling. SMS worked fine. Solution, carry a lot of 1Re coins, and find the nearest STD-PCO land line.
Conclusion:
The whole incident shook my confidence on the Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi as a long distance cruiser bike. I had major doubts on its reliability. But after then next days riding, and cool headed analysis, I can say yes in spite of this incident, the Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi is a dependable bike. Period. BTW, I just came back from a 900Km solo ride to the east coast (Pondicherry).
Thanks to Bajaj Service. Many more thanks to Venkat Shyam for all his help. Venkat, U R THE MAN!
6 comments:
That's a scary situation. One I would be extremely frustrated with. But, glad to know that atleast the service was good. Hope Bajaj engineers out all the gremlins from the P220.
Fantastic report :-)
I have been waiting for the 220 for almost 3 months now. Hopefull i get to ride it before October ends. Been touring on bullets all my riding life. Hope the 220 serves as a good touring machine :-)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dosai
Once I had this situation. All electricity features are down. But it was my luck for riding P180,Bajaj equipped with the kick starter. Yet, Bajaj electricity should be a good concern to BAL.
hi Adithya
yesterday suddenly my RPM meter was not functioning, It will work fine once i hard boot. this happened twice. did you notice this in ur bike
very good analysis and report. You shld check my tool box ;) Its huge
Keep riding
you guyz should have a look at this service...subscribed for my new 220 3 weeks back..had a breakdown and they where really good...
its called RESCUE 24/7 breakdown service...
visit their web 4 more info
www.rescuefirst.com
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