[rdna]

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

:Since the sound is from near the chain, get it checked at the SC. To prove your point run the bike for a few kms before you take it to the SC. In my case the mech took me along with him on the test ride and i told him exactly when the " tak tak tak" sound was coming. He also noticed it and zeroed it to the chain fouling with the chain cover.

Never gave attention to the chain cover. Next time, I'll take note. Thanks a bunch for this tip!

[abhinav.s]

Got the bike serviced after 3800 kms. Though it was 300 kms overdue, i am glad i waited to get it done from the mechanic Rajesh.

I was present during the entire service and boy oh boy!! He does such a thorough job, i am pretty sure none of the SC will have the time and labor required to do it his way. He was very methodical and went about his job with perfection.

Changed the engine oil to Shell Advance Ultra (I think that's what its called) fully synthetic oil. Drain interval is 7k kms. Cost me Rs.725/- for a liter. Gear shifts are smoother compared to Castrol i had used earlier. Engine sounds smoother as well and not harsh even after a 15km ride in the hot afternoons in moderate traffic. The bike feels as if its approaching speeds earlier than usual which is mainly to do with the smoothness more than anything else. The throttle feels crisp after the adjustments and lubrication so does the clutch.

TVS Jumbo tires at the back is proving to be good as it continues to pile up the kms. After nearly 300kms, it inspires confidence to take moderate curves at 65kmph with me leaning more than i was used to on the stock tires.

A word about the person who serviced the bike:
A big thanks to bhpian nkrishnap for providing me the contact details of Rajesh. I would rate him the best i have seen so far. He only takes 1 or 2 vehicles a day and gives full attention to ensure that a thorough job is done. The mech near my house is worthy only to attend to small niggles if any that crop up. I have decided that the service will be done by Rajesh only. He knows TVS vehicles very well and i would trust my RTR with him any day.

Totally ready to take it on the 500km round trip this weekend

PS: Mods can the title be changed to "Apache RTR160 - Ownership Review" since I will keep this as a running log of the ownership

[rdna]

abhinav, can you please tell me if this mechanic is a local mechanic or do you still stick with the SVC? Almost as soon I was done with 1k mark, I started taking the bike to 70+ km/hr and now almost everyday ride around 60km/hr.

Also, on a very short sprint, I took the bike to 95km/h. Is it ok to do those high speeds so soon or should I wait a bit more?

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by rdna

abhinav, can you please tell me if this mechanic is a local mechanic or do you still stick with the SVC? Almost as soon I was done with 1k mark, I started taking the bike to 70+ km/hr and now almost everyday ride around 60km/hr.

Also, on a very short sprint, I took the bike to 95km/h. Is it ok to do those high speeds so soon or should I wait a bit more?

Rajesh is a local mechanic who services vehicles in his shop. Since all the free services were done, i shifted to Rajesh on recommendation of a bhpian. And he really does wonders.

Regarding the speeds, short sprints to high speeds are fine but let it increase gradually. Riding at 60kmph should not be an issue.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Got the bike serviced after 3800 kms. Though it was 300 kms overdue, i am glad i waited to get it done from the mechanic Rajesh.

A word about the person who serviced the bike:
A big thanks to bhpian nkrishnap for providing me the contact details of Rajesh. I would rate him the best i have seen so far. He only takes 1 or 2 vehicles a day and gives full attention to ensure that a thorough job is done. The mech near my house is worthy only to attend to small niggles if any that crop up. I have decided that the service will be done by Rajesh only. He knows TVS vehicles very well and i would trust my RTR with him any day.

Totally ready to take it on the 500km round trip this weekend

Good that you liked the work of Rajesh. I think I saw your bike. Do drop me a pm when you visit Rajesh's workshop again. Will drop in and lets have a chat.

Originally Posted by rdna

abhinav, can you please tell me if this mechanic is a local mechanic or do you still stick with the SVC? Almost as soon I was done with 1k mark, I started taking the bike to 70+ km/hr and now almost everyday ride around 60km/hr.

Also, on a very short sprint, I took the bike to 95km/h. Is it ok to do those high speeds so soon or should I wait a bit more?

Rajesh is not like any other local mechanic. He was working with Zen Motors (TVS Authorized service center). He has his own garage now. He builds rally vehicles, so he knows a thing or two about bikes. My Apache which is converted into 185cc RTR has almost seen a lac kms. The maintenance work is done by none other than Rajesh.

On the speed. The run in is matter of first 200 kms, change the engine oil, ensure its at the right level and start blasting. I did the same, no issues so far

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Rajesh is a local mechanic who services vehicles in his shop. Since all the free services were done, i shifted to Rajesh on recommendation of a bhpian. And he really does wonders.

Regarding the speeds, short sprints to high speeds are fine but let it increase gradually. Riding at 60kmph should not be an issue.

Same as mentioned above.

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Good that you liked the work of Rajesh. I think I saw your bike. Do drop me a pm when you visit Rajesh's workshop again. Will drop in and lets have a chat.

Sure will PM you before i visit him the next time.

And now that you mention that your apache was modded to 185cc, a quick question, were the gains noticeable in terms of power delivery and pick up?

Thinking of getting mine too modded after putting on some more kms on my bike but was not sure of the gains and also the reliability. Would like to hear from you about these 2 things before i go ahead with the mods.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Sure will PM you before i visit him the next time.

And now that you mention that your apache was modded to 185cc, a quick question, were the gains noticeable in terms of power delivery and pick up?

Thinking of getting mine too modded after putting on some more kms on my bike but was not sure of the gains and also the reliability. Would like to hear from you about these 2 things before i go ahead with the mods.

noticeable? Both the torque and power have gone up quite considerably. from 13.5 bhp to something close 19 with good amount of torque gain as well. Pick up yes, it has gained. The accelerates lot better even with tall final drive.

I have the final gear ratio tall, 44/13 setting to 44/14, i.e, final drive originally was 3.385 and now it stands at 3.142. Now the bike does 60 on the speedo at 4K rpm and close to 90 km/hr at 6K rpm. The set up is ensuring a good highway ride with reserve power and excellent efficiency as well (i get 40-42 kmpl in city and arounf 45 kmpl on the highway). The difference is less because my riding is not too different from the highway to city

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

noticeable? Both the torque and power have gone up quite considerably. from 13.5 bhp to something close 19 with good amount of torque gain as well. Pick up yes, it has gained. The accelerates lot better even with tall final drive.

I have the final gear ratio tall, 44/13 setting to 44/14, i.e, final drive originally was 3.385 and now it stands at 3.142. Now the bike does 60 on the speedo at 4K rpm and close to 90 km/hr at 6K rpm. The set up is ensuring a good highway ride with reserve power and excellent efficiency as well (i get 40-42 kmpl in city and arounf 45 kmpl on the highway). The difference is less because my riding is not too different from the highway to city

Great!! thanks for the details. Now to pick your brain as I want to get it done on my RTR as well. If i can get anywhere close to 60kmph at 4k RPM and 90kmph at 6k RMP i would be more than happy on my highway rides. Coz currently its doing 80kmph at 6k and take nearly 7k to cross 90kmph.

I will PM you for further details.

[avasekeh]

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Finally managed to go tubeless on the RTR.
So went for TVS Jumbo at the back and continental at the front. Went for stock size only.

To be frank the grip level at the rear has improved by about 40%. Confidence on the wet has increased from the stock TVS tire.

Can you let me know where you got the tubeless?. I am planning to get tubeless for my RTR as well. BTW, i have around 23k kms in about a year and a half, and i am really happy that i went with the RTR!!. The fun-aspect of driving this bike is really un-parelleled.

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by avasekeh

The fun-aspect of driving this bike is really un-parelleled.

You can say that again! Its very well balanced and a pleasure to ride daily.

Regards to the tires, i got them from Sai Iyengar in Indiranagar 12th Main. They were having supply issues with MRF so had to settle for TVS Jumbo at the back & Continental at the front. You might be lucky if MRF are back to their full capacity production, you could get Zappers.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

You can say that again! Its very well balanced and a pleasure to ride daily.

Regards to the tires, i got them from Sai Iyengar in Indiranagar 12th Main. They were having supply issues with MRF so had to settle for TVS Jumbo at the back & Continental at the front. You might be lucky if MRF are back to their full capacity production, you could get Zappers.

Does the Jumbo come as Tubeless? Is it available in 100/80 or 100/90 profile?

I want the Michelin Sirac 100/90 * 18 tubeless, but its very hard to find

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Does the Jumbo come as Tubeless? Is it available in 100/80 or 100/90 profile?

I want the Michelin Sirac 100/90 * 18 tubeless, but its very hard to find

Try Sai Iyengars in Indira Nagar. He has a good variety of motorcycle tyres.

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Does the Jumbo come as Tubeless? Is it available in 100/80 or 100/90 profile?

I want the Michelin Sirac 100/90 * 18 tubeless, but its very hard to find

Michelin Sirac stock available with Sai Iyengars was only 120/80 *18 and it was a very heavy tire. I knew i would lose the initial acceleration if i went for it. Hence stuck to Jumbo. According to the guy at Sai, he said Jumbo is a tube type tire but can be converted to tubeless. So went ahead with it. Have not been disappointed so far.

He had a motocross tire in 110/90 * 18 tubeless which is not suitable for tarmac as we would be sliding and skating around in the rains

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

Try Sai Iyengars in Indira Nagar. He has a good variety of motorcycle tyres.

I got my tires from him. He had very limited choices at least at the time i went last month. Probably due to the lock out at MRF i guess.

[abhinav.s]

*** Update ***

Just got the bike back from Joel (fieroid) today after installing the big bore kit for the RTR.

Running in is for 500kms. At the outset the bike feels a lot more freer and the torque has gone up noticeably.

Will finish the running in soon and put up how the bike is performing after the mods. Next up is the free flow but that will be after a month or two.

PS: Mods - Can the title please be changed to Apache RTR160 - Ownership review

[tantragna]

So its a 180cc bike now? How much did the upgrade or mod costed? Does your bike has clip on type handlebar? What is the expected FE? Sorry too many questions!