My name is Akshit Saini And I belong to Hoshiarpur (the land of saints) in Punjab. I alway wanted to own different bike and wanted my bike to be a very special because for me owning a bike was me was a dream come true. And for me I had a philosophy that Four wheels move your Body Two wheels move your Soul becuse the sheer fun of riding the bike cannot be expirenced in four wheeler.
It all started when I was a small child I had a very less affection for bikes. But as I grew older My affection for bikes increased and my eagerness for owning a bike also increased. My father first owned a CD100 which I liked the most because I thought thhat riding a bike was one of the most difficult task in the whole world.
But I loved to sit on that bike all day long and in my free time I also used to clean my bike and on weekends I would go with my father for long drives on bike. First I started to learn the bike from my friend bike. And I was usally afraid from riding the bike.
Because I was confused between the clutch the brakes. But after riding it became a lot more easier and also a lot of fun than the traditional gearless scooter. And in the end I had more affection for the bikes than Scooter and my erg for owning the bike increased.
And from that day I was all day after my parents to own me my own bike but my parents refused and said you are not that young to ride a bike and said that in +2 they will get me a new bike as I was in +1 I had to wait for a whole year TO buy a bike. So I had a full whole year to decide about my bike. The first four bikes that came to mind was the Pulsar 220 dtsi, Yamaha r-15, Apache RTR 180, Hero HondaKarizma ZMR.
Comparsion Review Of The Four Top Indian Contendors
Bajaj Pulsar 220 it is the best loking bike in the market at presen with it vertical stacked projectors and the all alluminium exhaust and semi fairing. It 220 cc engine is very good and produces the highest power in it segment excluding the Honda CBR 250R and the Kawasaki Ninja.
Its engine is stress free even at top speed that helped it to became the fastest indian untill the Honda CBR 250R came and destroyed the competion. But even though every biker loved it because it was the fastest bike in under 1lacs. Even the Yamaha, TVS and herocant match the top speed of Pulsar 220.
I was in love with bike and madly fallen in love with the bike but my elder brother had also fallen in love with the bike and when I came to +2 class my brother bought a new Pulsar 220 dtsi and then I removed Pulsar 220 from my mind. And also when I searched for the bike on the internet there was a long list of problems which many Pulsar 220 owners had in their bike even my elder brother faced a lot of problems.
Next is the Yamaha r15 it is the bike in which I fell in love at first sight it was a mini R1 and it was a pocket rocket. It was just the bike which was just meant for racetrack as its short wheelbase helped in flicking the corners with ease and it aerodynamic body helped in straight line stability and less air resistace it was a perfect bike in every angle.
But the problem was that my mother dont liked the bike because at the front two headlmps she used it call it cats faced bike (please dont mind the r15 owners) and therefore she refused it to own me the R15 and even I was just againts the rear taillight and the front and the rear tyres because there just spoil the looks of the bike and the newwer version 2.0 is the best loking bike in the market and it has no cons inthe bike.
Next is the Karizma ZMR there is a nothing for which I shall had bought the bike except the looks and the reliability of the Hero Honda engine. And I was also to thin that I would so with the bike because it was the bike which was not meant for me. So I ignored the bike because it it suit me. Even though I had riden the bike and had falen in love with the bike because of engine refinement and the long crusing ability but I did not go for any long trips there fore I ignored the Karima ZMR.
Next and the last bike in my list was TVS Apache RTR 180 ever since I had seen the bike it was in the tv commercial of Apache 180 I fell in love with the bike the way the bike was shown in the commercial I fell in love with the bike when and I was eager to see the bike in flesh so I went to TVS showroom and I asked them to show the Apache RTR 180.
But they apologized that they didnt had the bike at present and you can see the Apache RTR 160 at it was available so as I had never ridden any Apache so I took a test drive of RTR 160 as soon I relesed the clutch the eagerness to move forward was a lot a lot than any other indian bike.
So I tok the bike to 25 at first gear 40 at secound gear 55 at third gear and 70 at fourth gear and didt had a chance to use the 5th gear even though I was a lot impressed with the bike and then I asked them that I wanted a test drive of RTR 180 they said they will provide me with a test frive on monday as their bike stock was coming on monday as it was saturday I had a one day gap.
So I was ever eagerly awaiting for the bike test drive as monday came I went to the showrom in the afternoon and I asked then for a test drive they smiled and said to wait for two minutes as they said the their srock came just now and after washing the bike they will provide me the test drive I was very eager to see the bike as soon as they washed the bike a TVS sevice person came to me and said that the bike is ready as soon I saw the bike my eyes widned it was just like it was shaped by angels and was powered by devils and the word that came from the bike was beautiful.
It was the best loking bike I had ever seen in the market and when I took the test drive it was far more better than RTR 160 and I fell in love with the bike and I said my parents that I wanted to own the Apache RTR 180 and also shon then the brochure and they agred but they said I had to wit for a long 4 months.
So I said them to book the bike and they agreed and the next morning my parents they gave me Rs3000 for the booking and I booked the bike in colour pearl white as there was a long 2-3 months booking on pearl white but I had to wait for along 3months for the bike after about exhat 3 months 2 days I got a call from the showroom that my bike has arived and you can come and take the bike delivery.
But there was about a month left to own the bike so I told the showroom that it would take some time for me to take the delivery and I informed them not to sell the bike and the agreed that they wont sell the bike.in the end I got my bike in feburary,2011 and a last I was very happy that I got my own bike.
About the Bike
The history of Apache starts from a 150cc bike which was the TVS Fiero. It was originally developed by Suzuki and it was basically developed at in japan and was tried and tested by the japaness. In fact it is the bike which is not like the R15 which is a scaled down version of R1.
But basically it is the engine which is tried and tested so as to develop only for the racing purpose and ever componet of the bike is tested so that it can withstard the high reving character of the bike and it can overrev in at top gear and no indian bike in the market can rev upto 12000rpm at stock onition but only Apache RTR 180 can. Here are some of the tecnologies of the TVS Apache 180.
Looks an Features
First of all when you see a Apache RTR 180 in white it looks a very different bike and because of its white colour it helps the bike to stand apart in the trafic becuse Apache 180 being the first bike to support the white colour other than that of the cops bike. Even though now the karizma R15 and others bikea had copied the Apache white colour.
But even though Apache white help him to look different. And also the commbination of the grey RTR stickers helps the bike to stand apart. Also at night the grey colour look the best and it shines like silver next diffence is in the cockpit of the bike the clip one are black in colour and same as that of 160.
But only differene is they are in black colur and the in centre plate of the bike there is the RTR 180 sticker which shines and shows that you belong to the racing tribe and there are change in the speedometer as the there is a white background and there is a huge circle with honey comb design in it and also there are thousands of derivation for the correct rpm setting next change is the blue light which looks the best and this helps it to stand apart than other bikes.
In the marketand also there are same special features in the speedomeer as it can save the top spedd and 0-60 times and it also has a service reminder so that it reminders you when to service the bike these features are not available in any other indian market. There are some minor changes it help to stand apart than RTR 160 some are golden coloured forks.
The neon white strip, the rear removable fender and the iluminted key ring also there is increse in the swing arm length and the change in the exhaust. So that delivers that same lod voice of the RTR. There is also the advantage of the handle bars as they are fully adjustable so that it can be adjusted accordingthe the riders choice.
Engine and The Performace
As I dissued you about the the technolgy used ithelps it to become the most powerfuly most torque and fastest bike in its category. The oversquare engine which helps it to produce 17.3ps of powerand 15.5nm of torque. The helps to to become the fastest bike in its segment. The bike dry weight is 127kg despite the fact the bike weight weight is 137kg with the 90% fuel and toolkkit. This help it to become 1kg heavier than RTR 160.
Therefore the power to weight ratio is the highest it category. Therefore it is not compared to Pulsar 180 but always compared to Pulsar 220. And according to the overdrive magzine it was the fastest of the three bike the Pulsar 220, Yamaha R15, Karizma ZMR to attain the fastest 0-100 times 0-60 times quater mile and even in braking test it became the fastest bike accept the top speed n which the Pulsar 220 and Yamaha R15 won. If in the comparsion of Apache and Pulsar 220 below are the figures.
Apache RTR 180 | Pulsar 220 Dtsi | |
0-60kmph | 4.45sec | 4.6sec |
| 0-100kmph | 13.1sec | 13.46sec |
| Dry Weight | 137kg | 152kg |
| Top Speed | 125kmph | 144kmph |
(claimed)
When you ride the bike for the first time you will release the clutch notice that Apache it has a lot f eageness to move forward. You will love to ride a bike like that. You will not even notice when you have reached the redline as the enfgine is so rev happy and it short stoke engine helps you to each the redline very easily and then when tou put the bike in 2nd gear the same rev happy character will help you to reach the redline in every gear even in 5th gear but if you rev it you may blow the engine.
On one day I was on the highway and the road was nearly empty. So I got a chance to rev the engine and in the first gear I was able to do 45km/h and on secound gear 65 in secound gear ad 90 in third gear and and austoushing 116km/h in fourth and 136 in fifth gear I was amazed when I got at that speed.
The car drivers had their face amazed when they saw me when I was over taking them. The bike cut through speed of 128km/h like hot knife through butter. But after 128km/h it takes time to reach the top speed. I also noticed that itcan easily cruise at a speed between 115-120km/h. Also the exhaust sound it is the best in 6k rpm. The bike being the power to weight ratio low help to attain that speed very easily.
Ride and Handling
Apache they are usally famous for their handling. The way the Apache handles is that no Indian bike have this type of handling it can corner like no other india bike can corner while in city or on race track. Due to Apache RTR 180 swingarm length thus wheelbase has been increased it gives better cornering experience at race track in city and better stability at top speed.
The bike can corner so brilliantly that once in hilly roads when I coned the bike the small steel which is used at the footrest it touched the ground and got scratched with the tarmac but it didnot can any imbalance. The city ride it is very comfortable the suspension setting of the rear shock absorber has 5 setting and it can be fully adjustable for hishay road it can be set hard and on bumpy roads it can set to soft and the applied accesory is given in the toolkit to adjust the setting.
And it quite a lot easy to set the supension setting. But the factory setting it set in the middle for the normal or city purpose. The tyres in the bike in the bike are made by TVS and they are the TVS srichakra and are the best tyres by TVS so for the fron tyre is 90/90 17 at the front and 110/80 17 at the rear and it is the first TVS bike to have both front and rear tyre tubless.
The TVS tyres are made from 42 compund which consist of both the hard and the soft compound. So the tyres are a lot long lasting than other brands like mrf or ceat. The RTR has both the front and the rear disk brake and they are petal disk and these disk radiate a lot of heat than ordinary disk.the disk brake are the best in the indian market.
And if the brakes arent applied correctly there may be chances of skiding and the brake applying distribution should be 60% front and 40% rear so as to expirence the best braking. The brakes have helped me so much that to helped me from preventing from accident. And I am very greatful to TVS for develping such an ausom brakes. But if in rains the bike can fail to work and so it is dangerous to ride in rains. Even though I have never faced any bike skid RTR any problem.
Rumors
One main thing which I want to tell to all the bikers that the TVS Tyres They Are Very Good in fact have found that my brother Pulsar 220 skidding in water but didnot find any skidding of TVS tyres so what ever the rummor is spread that TVS tyres are bad I am very much against it. And also ibike dosent looks small on any person unless you are above 85 kg and height above 6foot 5 inchies. I am myself 5foot and 10inches but the bike suites on me.
Positives
- Angine and its Performace
- Looks
- Handling
- Brakes
- Exhaust note or sound
Negatives
- The gearbox is notchy when ever I change gear from 1st to 2nd or 2nd to 3rd the gear it slips back or get struck in the nectral. Also a problem which I fouch was that there is two neutal in the bike when I change the gear half the engine can be reved like it is neutral. I said about this problem to the service centre but they did not care about the problem and say that this problem is in every Apache.
- Vibration in the bike are redced a lot but there occur at the speed of 65km/h to 70km/h and then they disapper. This is not usally a problem but they shall be removed for such a wonderfull bike because this has got a lot on disgrace on Apache RTR and therefore people buy other bike rather than Apache.
- The speedometer error when ever the bike attains a speed of excess of 130km/h the hi speed is recorded as 160km/h it is usally a great confusion created by the people that their bike goes to 160km/h. I myself experied this error a lot of times.but the 0-60 recorder is correct.
Verdict
I am very much satisified a TVS product. And TVS has created a bike keeping a detail on every pary on every design. TVS being the independent company has learned so much from their older bikes that now they have developed a motorcycle without much negativities.
And in the futire TVS will make their products even better and will rise above every bike maker in India. In the end I am very lucky that I have chosen TVS Apache 180 and in the end I always think that The Truth Is That The Machine Choose Me. Becuse it the bike which chose the rider not the rider the bike.
Regards,
Akshit Saini
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