TVS Apache

TVS has made a giant leap in the premium bike segment by unveiling a new bike from it’s stables and have christened it “APACHE”. Several revamps, umpteen cosmetic facelifts, “Fiero is the National MX champion” slogan, all these hype and hoopla were made to promote it’s flagship model “ FIERO” in the most extravagant manner but to no avail. The brave move by TVS is really commendable as it managed to garner the energy and money to develop a completely new bike altogether. All these efforts from the indigenous bike makers take biking to a new level. Coming to the naming trend….tvs apache….hh achiver,hh ambition,hh super splendor, hh glamour… tvs apache doesn’t sound awesome and it doesn’t strike the right chord as this name resembles something like “Murugan patrick”, nevertheless sounds much much better than the hh market leaders. As far as we go by the lines penned, the “apache” seems to be a potent package, not better than the pulsars or the unicorns but will definitely live up to our expectations if not surpass. It’s like the proverbial new wine in a new bottle. Every possible bit has been revised with utmost care and the real icing on the cake is that TVS have done away with their usual 4-gear philosophy and have joined the likes of unicorn and pulsar by employing a fifth cog (hope yam is aware of what’s happening in the market and will fire a salvo soon). Coming to the most interesting part…..PERFORMANCE…..the apache boasts good acceleration times, thanks to its fifth cog. The top whack hovers somewhere around true 110 kmph mark, which is pretty good for any TVS bike. Adding on to the classy remarks, the apache seems to be rock steady and is devoid of vibes but they do start creeping in when revving beyond its peak horsepower. The bike comes shod with a 5-spoke black alloy wheels and loses out to pulsar when it comes to rear wheel width. Despite being a potent package to some extent, I think it will be relegated to sidelines as it doesn’t even come with any technological (R)evolution (at least name sake) unlike others (pulsar-dtsi,nitrox shock absorbers. unicorn-monoshock,tuff-up tube). Looks wise, the apache is very easy on the eye, didn’t experiment anything radical like the legendary yamie did with its models(Libero, Fazer- known for their LOVE IT OR HATE IT FUTURISTIC DESIGNS) but it’s sure to grab attention. Apart from this, there was no tech spec available to draw an “on-paper” comparo with other premium segment contenders. As my gut feeling says, it should come with an engine with displacement no less than 147 cc and will belt out more than 13 horses and probably it can weigh a tad lesser than it’s peers. To find out whether this bike has all what it takes to better the unicorn or the pulsar, we need to conduct some extensive and rigorous road test about which I shall keep you posted in the later edition of “Aravind's Bike Banter” until then keep your fingers crossed.