Flat... Review on TVS Apache 150

Been there and done that....ie., took a test ride of this new bike last week, after being called by the showroom folks based on previous enquiry.

I make it a point to check out any new bike irrespective of its class viz., commuter, executive, life-style, etc., Apache, was in the waiting for a good 2 months ever since they announced its launch in the Auto expo '06. Reading through its reviews in the magazines gave me a mixed feeling. While they all rated it the best bike of the year.....the question in me was ''How can one conclude this even b4 the product hits the market and see how the consumers react?'' Are'nt we all being taken for a RIDE???

Mm....the bikes looks OK. Definitely better than its predecessors, then still lacking that STANCE of a Pulsar. First of all, its shorter than the other 150s and when I sat, I felt like sitting on a cruiser......almost. ''Shit''.....is what I was saying within myself. Not that the seat is more comfortable than Pulsar and Unicorn, then whats it doing on a sporty bike like this one. However, the instrus' looked good, the switches being in place, black alloys adding those enhancing effect to the overall looks of the bike.

Was only waiting for the mechanic to come over and invite for a test ride. As I walked towards the bike, the mechanic just went inside saying ''will be back in a min''. This gave me another opportunity to fiddle. Turned on the keys and pressed the start button and up came the engine in one go. Aaaaahhhhhhhh.....whats this? The whole bike was shaking like a DIESEL auto. The engine sound wasnt impressive too. I was in two-minds by now and was about to just walkaway without the test ride, then decided to go ahead with it...anyways.

Started the ride as a pillion and was put through to some 'stunts' by the mechanic....sudden speeding, braking, overtaking, narrow turns, bumpy ride, etc., I got what he wanted me to know. Then came my turn to check out the machine. As it is I was feeling the vibrations going all over my body as held the handles. 1 down...and oops, the bike took off just as any other bike. The engine was not as eager as my Pulsar 150 (latest). The seating position is good for people below 5' 6'' and this made gear changes a little difficult. Added to it, they were not thaaaaaat smooth as mentioned in the bike magazines. It is a tad better than Pulsar and still far away from Unicorn. As I progressed to higher gears, I could here more noise from the engine and the ride was getting only more irritating. Even the brakes were not that sharp. (This bike had come to showroom just that day). The horns are good enough for city traffic and no idea about the headlights as I was riding in the hot sun. The bike does have some hard shocks (despite their new cannister gas shocks) and it was not at all comfortable being a pillion. The height added to the discomfort. All in all...its a so..so bike.

While the on-road price of this bike is 59.6K in Bangalore for the top variant, its the only better thing compared to say Pulsar which still retails at around 62.5K. For 3K less than pulsar, apache has get black alloys, black saree guard, black crash guard and a self-start. However, the performance has to make more improvements to match up to the competition. Hope TVS goes back and makes those finer changes to prove that Apache deserved all those accolades.....indeed.