My new friend, my RTR180. Review on TVS Apache RTR 180

Anyone who has experienced the traffic of Kolkata during the office hours will surely agree with me how frustrating it is to drive your car though thousands of cars separated by centimeters. And if anyone has shifted his mode of communication to office from a bike to a car can agree even more about the frustration when you can hardly shift to fourth gear and you have to use brake a thousand times, change gears a hundred times and it takes about one and half hour to cover a distance of 18 kms.

So though I had the luxury of air conditioner in my car, I was feeling like a bird whose wings are tied hard so that it can’t fly and has to walk. So I decided to use my old friend TVS Victor GLX 125 (anyone interested can check my review on it) but the problem is that it’s a five years old bike and though till now it was the most reliable friend I have ever had, still I thought 36 kms per day will be too much for it.

So with heavy heart I decided to replace it with a new one. Though some people will not agree with me, still I believe TVS is the most underrated bike manufacturer in India. My personal experience says the TVS bikes are really reliable. So my options were, number one, ZMR (wow…what a bike) and number two, the top model from TVS, Apache RTR 180 (the beast). Personally I don’t like Bajaj and Yamaha bikes (please don’t be offended…this is my personal choice only). I checked both but the problem with ZMR was it will not fit in my garage along with my car due to its size.

So I zeroed at the Apache RTR 180. I replaced my old bike and got a reasonably good amount for it. Once the showroom handed over the key, that was the first time I set on the black menace (I have that much of faith on TVS). Once I ignited the engine, I knew how wild the beast is. I found the sound it was making is better than most of the bikes in India (of course except EB and Ninja). Its raw 17 bhp power shows it’s muscles once you accelerate it. In its category only P220 has more raw power than it.

Anyways I am not a very racer kind of a guy, so till now I didn’t check the company’s claims as 60kmph in 4.3 seconds. Neither till now had I crossed the 100 mark as still it’s the second week I am using it. But the best part of the bike that I liked the most is it’s handling. I can definitely say that this is the best bike for busy traffic roads like in Kolkata. The way you can zip zap zoom around thousands of cars is simply amazing. Technically this is possible due to its high power and weight ration and the clip on handles. The bike is light and hence easy to maneuver in busy roads. In every moment you will get confidence and can have complete control over it.The breaking is always spot on with it's dual disc breaks. It’s aggressive looks add color to its wild character.

It’s too early to put down the issues but yes due to it’s aggressing racing bike kind of sitting position, I am feeling slight pain after riding for some time in my wrists. I don’t know whether my body will get used to it and slowly there will be no wrist pain, may be my experienced friends can advice me on this.

Anyways, now I am very happy as I can move freely in the roads like old days. It is not a cruiser where you can travel faraway places but yes, it is very good for city ridding. I can reach office in 30 minutes rather than 1:30 hrs in busy traffic. This is definitely a satisfied deal for me. Please feel free to put your views about this review which may help me maintaing my new beast in good shape.