Jul 14, 2009 12:21 PM
13710 Views
My mental trauma started from the very first day I bought a new TVS apache 150-silver colour. Everything was messed up from the dealer alongwith my name on RC book and I never have the confidence in riding the bike. I will summarize the main points one by one.( plz note that I had three bikes and two scooters previously)
It starts vibrating from the moment you start running the engine and at times it even becomes unbearable.
Secondly, there was the problem of oil leakage from the engine. TVS confirmed that they do not put an oil seal in the engine cylinder and hence it leaks. They sealed the leakage by applying some adhesive bonds
Thirdly, the clutch was very had, and everytime I told the service center guys about it, they changed the cable and charged me 130 rs for the same.
Fourthly, the gears get stuck while changing from higher to lower or vice versa. Any visitor to mouthshut, who owns an apache will confirm the above mentioned problems.
Fifth, the point of contact of clutch lever in the engine had an oil leakage and always there was oil all over the engine.
Sixth, the clutch plates got worn out at 18000 kms only and cost me a fortune.
Seventh, when the engine is cold, the clutch wil be tight and if I used to extract some performance from it, say drive it fast at 80kmph for 2 minutes then the clutch came to half and the gears are really a nightmare to shift.
Eighth, the spares are really very very costly
Last but not the least, no matter how much you yell at the service center guys, they will have their own song to sing.
I was really very very frustrated by this and put a mail to the TVS higherups. Their intervention was of no use. Basically a customer cannot do anything after he has paid for the product. The contact address are SG.Murali@tvsmotor.co.in, BV.Sridhar@tvsmotor.co.in
There would be users who are diehard TVS fans due to the racing ergonomics of TVS but how many times does a user get down on the road and start revving and driving the bike @ 100KMPH. Only making a power bike never helped anyone. I trust in the philosophy that power is responsibility and one has to use it sensibly.
Basically we Indians use the bike for our own daily use, i.e., going to office or market or occasionally for long drives on the highway. Even there the TVS apache lets u down like anything with its vibrations and shivering. We Indians are not so rich that we can spend 60+ thousand on the bike and loose all our sleep over it. The reliability is the foremost thing that we look for. It is only the reliability and cost of maintenance aspect that the automobile companies world over has to care about. This makes Maruti Suzuki a leader in India and Tata Motors a taxi walaz company.
Only winning the Demming award and other awards will never help any company become a No 1 two-wheeler manufacturer in India. There are other aspects also to be considered. There are some auto guruz(Dilip Bam on Driveinside.com), who I believe is just a mechanic and he wants to maximize his business and the business of his community. And his business can only grow, if the users visit the service centers. U can ask him any opinion about buying a new bikes and he will only suggest you TVS bikes which are very very service center friendly ones.
Guys, trust me, if u want your 100% peace of mind, then never buy any TVS products.
Lastly an update from my side………I have finally sold my TVS Apache just after driving for 19300 kms and bought another more powerful bike which does not have any problems that I have mentioned above.
