Jan 10, 2010 07:55 PM
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Born on the race track. Engineered for the street. It’s pure acceleration on a collision course with pure exhilaration. Or pure terror, if you’re not equipped for it.”
I haven’t made that up. You wouldn't believe me but that’s the tag line on TVS brochure.
At 137 Kg, the Apache looks anything but terrifying. It doesn't even come close. The height doesn’t help either. After having ridden the 220 for some time, it just felt like a cute toy to look at. The ride height is quite low too. The seating position isn’t excessively sporty and neither is it like a 100cc bike. It’s somewhere in the middle.
The heart of the Apache, the new 180cc engine is quite great. It pumps out a staggering 17.3PS and it’s quite wild too. It makes a loud thumping sound which is quite fun to hear but when you cross 7000 revs, it just turns into a very annoying rumble and you wouldn't feel like revving it any further. That’s just not it.
When you thrash the thing around, at higher revs the vibrations are just unbearable. May be I was delusional but even the tachometer dial didn’t seem to be steady. TVS were trying to do something that Yamaha have done with the R15, Which pumps out a staggering 17PS from a microscopic 150cc engine.
Well TVS managed that from an 180cc but, they were TVS and they left their trail. So much power would work well on the track where in that racing suit, you wouldn’t feel all of them vibrations but on the road, the bike feels so damn hard.
But you know what? I’m not done.
This is not a bad bike. No not even close to it. I drove this thing at full throttle, and trust me I haven’t had that much fun in a long time.
It’s just that raw power and its racing instinct that makes it so much fun.
Pulsars have a Look-at-me I’m an attention-seeker. While the the Apache is a very simple and yet a very sporty bike if you look closely.
Its older brother, 160FI was a little successful for its sportiness and the 180 has retained all the goods from the FI. The rear LED’s, the strip on the fuel tank, silver colored clutch and break lever, the specially cut disc breaks and the digital Speed-o-meter with a plain white tachometer with black markings are all the minor details that make the Apache such a special ride.
This thing would also beat the pulsar 180, FZ-S, Fazer hands down on a track, Which easily beats any bike around the 73000 price range. But with the Pulsar 220 only 3000 odd Rs away, I think the 220 would be a logical choice as it is a lot better value for money.
But But but… we don’t always make think logically in our life, do we? Sometimes you ought to listen to your heart and for the first time since the 220 a bike has made me feel so happy, and frankly, me being new to the biking world, the apache makes perfect sense.
