[aveemashfaq]

TL;DR Version

I'm deeply in love with the bike. The tank looks massive when you sit on it and is nicely sculpted. Split seats, especially after red seats looks killer. Footpegs and handlebar position feels committed but did not feel strain after long journey. Dual barrel exhaust makes me feel like it's a shotgun or something. All digital instrument cluster with information that is very clear.


Likes

• Perfectly calibrated carburettor for my liking. Not so jumpy at low revvs like a KTM. Feels like a normal bike. Mid-range is savage. Think of overtaking and even if the other guy opens up his throttle, there is no way I can't overtake him.
• Engine is so smooth and responsive. It is so smooth till 7k rpm (did not go beyond that). No vibrations felt anywhere for me. I took it to 90 kmph and did not feel any vibrations at all. Just noise from exhaust.
• Sounds made by engine are just exhilirating. Exhaust has a nice bassy thump to it. The best exhaust sound below 2 lakhs. The engine noise at higher rpms also sounds like an expensive bike.
• Mileage also seems good. Did not test but looks more to 40 kmpl for my joyrides.
• Powerful brakes with dual channel ABS. Tested it on gravel and it works perfectly. Did not kick in on road in hard braking (maybe I wasn't braking hard enough). Gives me confidence.
• Big tyres with good grip. 90/90-17 front and 130/70-17 rear looks semi-slick with big cuts on it. TVS branded. Worked well on loose gravel. Don't know about their wet performance though.
• Nice batman style rear grabrails. Functional too because surprisingly, it falls right in place at the correct angle for pillion riders.
• Powerful headlights with good beam spread. Nice LED tail lights as well
• 70 at 5k RPM and 80 at 6k rpm is sweet spot. Perfect for cruising for our less than perfect highways. Max I did was 90. While the bike is stable as rock at 90, I'm not confident to take beyond in what is not a car.
• Mirrors are good enough. Originally, the small town showroom goofed it up and fit a Jupiter's RVM. It was horrible and I could only see my shoulders. Our technician spotted and replaced it with Apache 160 ones.
• Car-like headlight adjustment system where a screw adjusts headlight leveling for higher beam accuracy.
• Dual horn is loud and clear. I like it although it is nothing special (sounds like Pulsar).
• Has an official accessory for under-seat 12V socket. Don't have it installed though.
• Nice Instument cluster. Has big speedo and tacho bar and fuel level indicator which we all expect. Never knew that I needed a gear position indicator until I experienced one and now I feel like how could I live without it for so long. So used to it so quickly. Time is also convenient because I don't need to take my hands off handlebar to see it. Also like the max speed achieved feature that flashes top speed when you come to a halt. It's a gimmick but makes me feel happy.
• Like the engine kill switch. How can cheaper bikes miss out on it. It's so convenient.
• Has a center stand which premiumm bikes skip out on. But the bike is not forward or reverse biased but is like a see-saw. That's strange.
• Clutch is stupendously light. As light as 100cc bike. Love that. No problem in traffic. Heat dissipation too is good. No problems of roasting legs.

Dislikes

• At lower rpms, when the engine knocks, the engine vibrates a lot. Feels like it wants to fall off the frame. Wrong gear and below 2000 rpm feels regretful.
• Gearing while perfect for utilizing engine potential is let down by the low rpm response of engine. The engine is in happy zone at 40 kmph in 3rd gear and that's the speed in most cities or towns. If I want to ride at low rpms in 5th gear, I feel that engine protests too much.
• Exhaust is awesome for in-city riding but feels like a drone when we are on highway for over an hour continuously. Good pair of earphones under helmet mandatory.
• It says in the manual that you should be extra careful removing wheels because of ABS sensor. I'm scared looking at the skills of local puncture shops.
• Neutral is hard to find. Slowing down from 2nd, it's easier to find neutral but not from 1st. Don't know if 1st service makes it smoother. What's worse, the gear indicator also cannot detect neutral and is random sometimes, around that mark.
• Always on headlamps. Why? And there is a circuit for dimming them to 50% when idle for more than 30 seconds. More electronics, more troubles. Why the circuit at all
• Lack of kick starter. 160cc cousin has it. Further more, starter motor automatically cuts off after 3 seconds. Don't know if I need to be worried.
• Side stand pushing lever is situated between gear shifting lever and footpegs. It's irritating and I always end up pulling something else along with it.
• Front footpegs are in line with our leg position. When you are pushing or pulling the bike, it interferes sometimes. It does not interfere a lot because the seatbase itself is so wide that your leg cannot directly reach the ground. Our legs have to be tilted to not interfere with the seat when resting on ground. That makes our leg track wide and not to interfere so much.
• After an hour of riding, the engine is hot. If you enter city and get stuck in traffic there, it looses some of its smoothness and rhythm. Not a deal breaker for anyone. I know from my countless hours driving hot engines. The engine is hot and definitely needs cooling down although no one will tell you or notice it. Not a biggie, all bikes lose some rhythm but when it's mine, I'm extra careful.

Long Version

I have been a car lover since I was a child. My dad bought a Maruti 800 in 1995 and since then I was obsessed with cars. I had a hero car, a Zen which I used to play with everyday. Whenever there was distress anywhere, my hero car would come and save the day. I loved sitting in our Maruti 800 whenever I had the chance to. Whenever we had a road trip or journey, me and my brother would get dressed soon and just sit in the car pretending that we were driving for an hour or two as my parents packed bags. I have so many fond memories in cars. My dad had a 1988 Kawasaki KB 100 RTZ which I never really cared about that much when I was young. In fact I remember when I was young, one of my relatives bought the first-gen Pulsar and was very excited and asked me which bike I would buy and I simply said, "Why would I buy a bike? I will go to my office in a car". When my relatives asked me what about when I want to go to shops nearby, I said I would have a Hero Siren cycle for errands(I saw one outside my school one day and thought I should own one some day). My relatives laughed thinking that I had dreams so sky high. As a matter of fact, I learnt to drive before I learned to ride. That was because dad still had Kawasaki KB100 and it was not in a good condition so he taught me how to drive first.


Then came youth and dad bought a Discover and passed on KB100 to us. It was my first real possession and I was possessive, so I mended it and rode it and had strong feeling that I would ride it till I'm old and about to die, ride it to my grave, park it by the side and sleep the cold death. I was committed to owning it but never really knew how mad love could be (atleast until I bought my Apache). Then KB100 was ruined (you can read it's fate in another thread of mine) and I had no bike and I moved back to cars.


As I started my first job, I bought an expensive cycle (Hero Octane Caspian 29er) and Maruti 800 was passed on to me when dad bought Getz. I was back to love of cars and cycles and was living the dream I narrated in childhood. I mended and made Maruti 800 more awesome and used it for ccommute on rainy and hot summer days. The rest of the days and for small journeys, I used my cycle. I started loving my cycle and went on trips with it. The furthest I can remember is going from Osmania University in the heart of Hyderabad to Moinabad which is outside outer ring road, some sightseeing and coming back before nightfall within a day. That's approx 100 kms a day on cycle. All is well and I never expected anything to change (at least not that soon)


Plot twist aka Background

Dad loved how our Maruti drove and he started using it as well. He felt obligated to share expenses and so he sent it off to a local workshop for maintenance complaining that Maruti was swinging on undulations and was not as stable as Getz. They took that input and replaced the single rear leaf spring with a dual leaf spring setup to make it stiff as hell. The windshield glass was getting old and there were rust holes beneath it. I wanted it to be done properly and get the car repainted. My dad was adamant that he wanted only necessary repairs done. They patched up the rust and painted white spray can on it and fitted new glass. The half hearted jobs continued and I gave up the car back to him.


I loved to cycle but this year, monsoons were overly gracious and we had no dry roads for the last 2 or 3 months. The spray from other road users and lack of proper mud guard for my 29er cycle meant that I did not cycle for the last 3 months or so. I also shifted jobs to work from home and so you can trust me when I say I never stepped outside front door sometimes for weeks together. This made me really abysmal and my mood very spiky.


In the middle of all this, my dad wanted to buy a new bike because his old discover was very unreliable and sucked. I hunted showrooms and test drove various bikes and finally selected a bike that matches his riding needs. It was a TVS Radeon which is good in it's own right. We went there and started bargaining for discounts. I threw in a word that would he give us more discount if I bought another bike (just for bargaining). He asked for which bike I wanted to buy and I said anything above 150cc. He said "Sorry sir, we don't have Apache 200, a dealer in another town has. I can get it for you if you order and pay full amount". i gave it a pass and carried on with my business. Dad bought a new bike and we came back home.


My loneliness, not stepping out of house, work tensions and bad mood had a toll on me and I got into argument with parents. I was working from home, in a place with no friends, busy with work and whenever I had free time, I watched youtube, unmarried and living with parents who had high expectations. Lack of sunlight meant I was starting to develop strange diseases and a cold would stay with me for a week or more. I longed for companionship and motivation to get out of house and thought a wife would be better than having friends and then trying to get rid of friends because family inevitably hates them in the end. My parents wouldn't do my marriage because I am in queue waiting for my brother who's doing Ph.D in IIST to get married. And prospectus for my brother looked bleak because everyone is backing off saying he's still studying, why hurry for marriage. Nothing was working for me and my depression was reaching it's peaks. I had to change something soon. It was now a crisis.


That's when I decided that I needed some reason or tool to get out of house. Initially, I wanted to buy a car but did not have the cash to buy it. I did not want to take a loan and buy a third car. I remembered that our TVS dealer told that Apache 200 is slow moving stock and the dealer in another town is willing to give 8000 discount on the bike. I knew no one else would be giving any discount on big bikes and so went to my TVS dealer and asked him to bring the bike and handed him over a cheque.


Decision process

None. I wanted a bike and I knew 150cc was common enough, I wanted something bigger, more exclusive. No RE for me, RE in my view screams My dad is wealthy and I am a brand snob (no offence to anyone, just my internal opinion). All the bigger KTMs and Dominar felt unnecessary for me who is not interested in bikes. And my dealer told me that he is offering me 8000 discount on a bike which I felt was good enough. I didn't know if someone else was offering at all. And with my mental state, I didn't want to visit other showrooms and find out or bargain. I told my dad that I wanted to buy a bike. My dad told me "No, because we already have the old discover, which is only 10 years old and run 25k kms. You are a mechanical engineer, I'm sure you can mend it like the maruti and run it for another 5 years. You can then buy whatever you want". But little was their understanding for my feelings. And the bike for me is just 2 months of salary. Then why would they stop me. I still had depression and I was feeling worthless and I had enough work tensions already.

I decided enough is enough. This was the time to either rise from the ashes or wash away by the winds. I decided to act. Told my parents I was going out to buy something and headed straight to the showroom.

Buying process

It was horrible. My dad told no and I left the house angry with chequebook in hand to the showroom to buy "A bike". I reached showroom at 5 PM and told them that I wanted the bike now. He told me that he can fetch the bike only if I would buy it. I put the cheque in hand and he said that a service technician from that showroom would ride it from there and will be here in 2 hours. And so the long wait started as I sat and started thinking if it was the right decision at all.


I started watching youtube videos and learning which bike I was buying and requested the dealer for photos of the bike. I talked to my brother and he gave me a mouthful. I called my dad and informed him and heard a mouthful. On top of that, my dealer kept on telling me that if would take time for the bike to come and if I had any other work, I should finish it and then come back. To keep him happy, I went to a nearby thela and ordered fried rice and ate it slowly to kill time. I came back at 8PM and still no bike. I was in my night pants, looking like a peasant with no one accompanying me, who signed a cheque and sat there pointlessly in the showroom exploring other bikes and watching something on Youtube. I started thinking whether I should call the bank and cancel the cheque, or to ask for refund, or to book a room in a hotel because I didn't dare go home or just take the bike, throw it in a ditch and say it was all a prank. You can only imagine my perils and debates in my head.


The bike came at 9:30 PM and went into the workshop. I was there and they connected the speedo in front of me. I was shitting my pants thinking what kind of crap used bike did I buy (with all the horror stories that I heard from team-bhp). I accepted it as fate. They just gave me the keys and the watchman was there impatiently waiting to kick us out and lock the premises. I took the bike and went to the nearby petrol station and stopped. I could smell paint faintly and so I thanked God that this bike was not used because the engine paint smell comes only for a new bike and for the first time when engine is used continuously. Since it was in running-in period, I just got it home. I was disappointed because our Radeon turned more heads at the same bunk days earlier when I filled it up.


I came home and dad opened the gate and started asking me why is there a stool for the pillion (split seats where rear is taller) and started mocking me and the bike. I knocked the bedroom window hinting mom to come out and she yelled at me from in there.

First ride

That day from the showroom, I didn't have the chance to experience the bike. I woke up at 5 AM ready to ride and started to notice the bike. It has a fully digital instrument cluster which starts up with 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, 130, 140, 150 and then counts down to 3, 2, 1 and GO. Looks cool for me.

I took it out and warmed up the engine and could feel nothing so special about it except for the shape of the fuel tank. The seating position looked committed with legs folding too much on footpegs and an aggressive front leaning riding position. It felt sporty but from my experience with cycle, it can stress arms if it is too sporty.

After half an hour of riding slow, I decided to screw the running in, stopped and started slowly and pinned accelerator in 1st gear. While the low end torque was good enough, the mid range just blew me away by surprise. I was hanging on to handlebars to stay in place. Experiencing race edition 200cc after mundane 100cc bikes is other worldly. I have ridden few 150cc and 350cc bikes but generally with pillion and not doing launches or full throttle.

I spent a good 1 hour on the saddle wandering pointlessly, going to nearby villages, looking for clean opportunities and pinning the throttle. I must have dropped my depression somewhere on that ride because my face hurt from the smile I had on my face.

The next morning, I woke up early and repeated the same. It became my cocaine, it became my coffee, it became my addiction. Is it the sweet nectar from heavens or is it the wodoo magic or is it devil himself disguised like this. Is it an angel dressed in black and red or the devil himself converting me into the religion of bikes.


Response of parents after sometime

Dad sat pillion. I took him on a ride and then asked him to hold me tight for a full throttle run. He grabbed on to me. I pinned the throttle and I had to literally hang on to throttle because of the torque which was pulling us back so brutally. Dad decided since then that this is satan itself and is cursed. He asked mom to never sit on it in her life. I asked him to ride the bike for himself later but he always refuses, even after a month.


Mom hated the bike when I got it. She told the tank reminded her of bulls but the colour meant it was a buffalo. The saree guard and rear foot pegs were tall and she told me that no one, not even my future wife would sit on it. I'd have to marry a boy if I wanted my soulmate to sit on it because of the ridiculous height of rear seat. It took her a lot of convincing. I put it beside a mundane Unicorn and showed how unicorn was taller in the rear and she should not let looks deceive her. She warmed up and later told me that get it exchanged for a nice blue or red or white color and then she would sit on it. After two weeks, she warmed up and sat on the bike. She commented that rear seat is very wide and comfortable and she can see the road over me, she felt like she was in control. I never gave her a hint of what Apache can do. She is in love with the bike now and she approves of it.


Mods done

Mom insisted that black looks ugly and I should spice things up. I got red color seats and now whenever I look of the bike, I get reminded of the song "I'm sexy and I know it". I searched whole of warangal for red handlebar grip covers but could not find any. Waiting with order. I don't have any plans for near future.



Tech Specs

200cc Liquid cooled engine with 4 valves configuration. Keihin carburetor with diaphragm to control how much power to give at what rpm i.e. diaphragm partially closes carb venturi letting only some air giving only some acceleration at low rpms (helps aid fuel efficiency). When you revv it up, the diaphragm opens up because of intake vacuum to give full potential giving a sort of turbo spool up effect (most 150cc bikes have it but the effect is more noticeable here). Oil cooler placed below headlight and covered with meshgrill to prevent debris. Ram air cooling in front of fuel tank where air is channeled to spark plug to help better cool the engine. 60/55 headlight good for touring and can be replaced with nicer bulbs or LEDs. 42t rear sprocket is big and ready for replacing with smaller sprocket for better cruising speeds. Fiberglass tank outer shell can be replaced if you get scratches or it falls. Don't know how good/bad it is. Only time will tell. Engine takes only 5W-30 fully synthetic oil (feeling happy that my bike is premium breed). It also has slipper clutch. Don't know if it's going to be useful for me. Good for me to boast about it.


How much I paid

The bike was 1.4 lakhs on road as per showroom. They gave me 8000 discount and I ended up paying 1.32 lakhs. Invoice price was 97k and GST on top of it. The showroom gave me a HDFC ergo 5 year insurance with 1 year zero dep and 4 years third party insurance. The policy was around 10k.





(I intend to add more pics post the first service which is due soon)

[deepfreak15]

Congrats on your new bike! Wishing you many more Kms of safe and pleasurable riding. Your honesty is truly endearing.

[tchsvy]

Congratulations on the bike man! You might have stumbled on that, but it's a really nice bike. Wish you many happy miles!

You my friend have a lot of heart! You have the resilience to win the battles within, keep going.

[mayankk]

Man, I just love your threads. So honest and so refreshing!!!
You ought to write to Tvs, you could be their poster boy for sure! "Friends, nah. Wife, nope. My companion is my Apache! "
Wish you absolute bliss in this union.
Do keep updating, and when you do get married, make sure to delete this thread from your browsing history for sure.

[TheHelix0202]

“The next morning, I woke up early and repeated the same. It became my cocaine, it became my coffee, it became my addiction. Is it the sweet nectar from heavens or is it the wodoo magic from hell. Is it an angel dressed in black and red or the devil himself converting me into the religion of bikes.”

My favourite line! Congrats on your new possession. Lovely thread, highlighting the true pains of an automobile lover. Hope to see you enjoy many more happy miles with your Apache. Don’t forget to give her a name!

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Motorcycle Section. Thanks for sharing!

[KPR]

As per my experiences of purchasing Yamaha Libero G5, Aprilia SR150 my take on your purchase of RTR200: Such un-hyped automobile purchase involving no TD, no waiting period, uncaring sales team, no pre-delivery sleepless nights/dreams and at last no approval for purchase at home means there's something special bonding with the bike that your heart is pulled to. Congratulations on this purchase. I'm sure this bike is going to stick with you for long.

[Asish_VK]

Congrats man ! Apache RTR 200 is a very sensible choice

I wish I can buy a T-Shirt that impulsive

[sabi_swat]

Get those TVS rubbers replaced ASAP. They are hard compound tyres which last long but at the expense of handling and safety. TVS tyres tend to slip on wet surface,loose gravel and their cornering ability is not confidence aspiring. I remember when I went to Ladakh on my RTR160 it tends to slip around a lot in corners.

[nikhil_SB]

You don't have to worry about removing the wheel because of puncture. Most of the puncture for tubeless tyres are fixed while keeping the wheel on.

Just be careful while changing the tyre in future, I'm sure a good tyre shop will have skilled labors who would not mess with ABS wheel

[charanreddy]

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

I watched Youtube, unmarried and living with parents who had high expectations.... I longed for companionship and motivation to get out of house and thought a wife would be better than having friends and then trying to get rid of friends because family inevitably hates them in the end. My parents wouldn't do my marriage because I am in queue waiting for my brother who's doing Ph.D in IIST to get married. And prospectus for my brother looked bleak because everyone is backing off saying he's still studying, why hurry for marriage. Nothing was working for me and my depression was reaching it's peaks. I had to change something soon. It was now a crisis.

Laughing out loud, still in my office as the day comes to an end..

@OP, Sorry if it seems like I am enjoying your misery , but you sir have a real talent for writing and are a younger version of Chetan Bhagat (Intended as a compliment and not otherwise, sorry if i hurt your feelings.. )

Again apologize if my post does not add value to this thread.. But I couldn't resist reading this over and over again and smile.. and possibly consider an Apache RTR 200 as I am close to the age where mid-life crisis hits.

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

Decision process

None. I wanted a bike and I knew 150cc was common enough, I wanted something bigger, more exclusive.

I told my dad that I wanted to buy a bike. My dad told me "No, because we already have the old discover, which is only 10 years old and run 25k kms. You are a mechanical engineer, I'm sure you can mend it like the maruti and run it for another 5 years. You can then buy whatever you want".

Been there . I am electrical engineer by education (Bachelors) and have been asked to repair broken down ceiling fans at my home. When I said I understand the principles of a fan and can design it but not repair the winding .. I was looked upon very suspiciously as though if this guy is learning anything worthwhile in college..

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

Buying process

It was horrible. My dad told no and I left the house angry with chequebook in hand to the showroom to buy "A bike". I reached showroom at 5 PM and told them that I wanted the bike now. He told me that he can fetch the bike only if I would buy it. I put the cheque in hand and he said that a service technician from that showroom would ride it from there and will be here in 2 hours. And so the long wait started as I sat and started thinking if it was the right decision at all.
...
I talked to my brother and he gave me a mouthful. I called my dad and informed him and heard a mouthful. On top of that, my dealer kept on telling me that if would take time for the bike to come and if I had any other work, I should finish it and then come back. ...

was in my night pants, looking like a peasant with no one accompanying me, who signed a cheque and sat there pointlessly in the showroom exploring other bikes and watching something on Youtube. I started thinking whether I should call the bank and cancel the cheque, or to ask for refund, or to book a room in a hotel because I didn't dare go home or just take the bike, throw it in a ditch and say it was all a prank. You can only imagine my perils and debates in my head.


The bike came at 9:30 PM and went into the workshop. I was there and they connected the speedo in front of me. I was shitting my pants thinking what kind of crap used bike did I buy (with all the horror stories that I heard from team-bhp). I accepted it as fate. They just gave me the keys and the watchman was there impatiently waiting to kick us out and lock the premises. ...

I came home and dad opened the gate and started asking me why is there a stool for the pillion (split seats where rear is taller) and started mocking me and the bike. I knocked the bedroom window hinting mom to come out and she yelled at me from in there.

The next morning, I woke up early and repeated the same. It became my cocaine, it became my coffee, it became my addiction. Is it the sweet nectar from heavens or is it the wodoo magic or is it devil himself disguised like this. Is it an angel dressed in black and red or the devil himself converting me into the religion of bikes.


Response of parents after sometime

Dad sat pillion. I took him on a ride and then asked him to hold me tight for a full throttle run. He grabbed on to me. I pinned the throttle and I had to literally hang on to throttle because of the torque which was pulling us back so brutally. Dad decided since then that this is satan itself and is cursed. He asked mom to never sit on it in her life. I asked him to ride the bike for himself later but he always refuses, even after a month.

She told the tank reminded her of bulls but the colour meant it was a buffalo. The saree guard and rear foot pegs were tall and she told me that no one, not even my future wife would sit on it. I'd have to marry a boy if I wanted my soulmate to sit on it because of the ridiculous height of rear seat.

@Mods, Sorry for quoting a large text here. This post brought a W I D E smile to me after a long day. I am from an adjoining state, we share common tongue and could imagine the words being spoken by people like in a play..

@OP, Take a bow and waiting to hear about your next writing attempts..

[maverickrider00]

Thank you for the review of the motorcycle which is straight from the heart. Believe me, it because of the likes of you and me who just listen to our hearts when buying anything on wheels, that the Indian automotive industry thrives upon. As an owner of the Apache RTR 200 4V (2016), I can vouch for its superior quality cycle parts, performance, service and sales back up and more importantly the fun factor. Rest assured you have made a great investment. Here is wishing you thousands of happy miles and smiles in your new steed.

[Ranabegins]

Congratulations on your new machine. I am not into bikes, I always thought of owning a bike until I was in school but the comfort of 4 wheeler is something that changed my mind. What compelled me to comment here is the quality of this thread, after reading this you can feel what the rider went through.

[yesyeswe]

Father shouted at you, mother shouted at you and even elder brother shouted at you. Asked your parents to get you married and even that didn't happen, after doing mechanical engineering i think a person at least deserves a timely marriage for companionship.
Being a fellow mechanical engineer i understand your pain brother, people expect us to be mechanics/plumber/electrician/Carpenter and what not, but at the end you got the bike you wanted so that's something good
Many happy miles with the bike, in the excitement of twisting the throttle everytime don't forget about your safety though.

[NiInJa]

Man, I just loved the way you described the 'human' side of your bike buying process ! Please keep writing and congratulations on getting that beast !

Must say, parents can be a little unreasonable a lot of times when you are in that age ! I went through the exact same ordeal ten years ago: Single + working from home + no girl-friend + no friends (most had moved out of Pune) + pestering parents + a bullying brother, but didn't get a new bike, and now after reading your post I wish I had