I was at the TVS test track recently to try out the new Apache. Yes, all my friends in them enthusiast magazines can smirk as they have already psted the Apache on the test track a onth back but with me just an automotive hack on the fringes, this is all the luxury I often get. Back to the Apache, this is no doubt a very competitive bike as afar as the 150cc class isconsidered. The Apache does most things right, including wheelies and stoppies, and some things even better, like braking. Straight line acceleration is class leading and so is 'flickability'.
But (its the second para dudes, the one where I rip apart products to satiate my inflated ego) is the Apache a good thing that has arived late. With the Pulsar DTS-Fi around the blocks, the biking fraternity has a new benchmark to look at and at this juncture, TVS, a company with its avid motorsports program should have delivered something higher.
More on this once I return from playing Holi!
I am back and Holi was fun. For those who don't know what Holi is, it is a Hindu festival where you get the divine right to paint anyone black and blue (and red, and purple, and yellow, and green...) for a few hours.
Back to the Apache, I see a hesitation in certain India bike manufacturers in stretching the envelope farther than the rest. Sure Kinetic's Laser had two headlamps but slotted side-by-side and provided even less luminescence than one lamp. And even though the Laser engine pushed 165cc and pumped 16bhp, it was quite hopeless in low end grunt and the bike had more problems than General Motors and Delphi combined. The Apache just has enough to pass the Unicorn and the Pulsar 150 but it will fall short of the Karizma and the P180. Even the 150cc envelope will soon be expanded again and the Apache will be bettered, soon, maybe too soon for TVS R&D's comfort.
Tlking to the TVS design team, I was pleasatly surprised to see their knowledge and perspective of the global two-wheeler industry. And the deign guys are gung-ho about some of the new designs coming this way, the first of which will be another 150cc bike with different styling (obviously dimwit!) coming later this year.
