Re: Long term owners' ownership experience.

It is until you taste the true power.
The feeling I get when I ride my Interceptor is no way match to anything.
I don't use it often as it (the power) sometimes consumes me and drives me crazy. It is like you are high on drugs.
Sometimes I would go in 120+ in city roads neglecting all the risks. It's a pure drug.
Sometimes you are afraid to be high, and sometimes you just want to be high.
If you can control your mind, if you can control your throttle, high powered bikes are all about making you feel like GOD.

Re: Long term owners' ownership experience.

I don't think the Gixxer 250 would be as agile as you'd want it to be. But do take a test ride to confirm that.

Apache 200 really shines on the handling department. If you are going for this one, buy the BS4 bike. The BS6 bike may have more features but will definitely lose a lot on power. Even if the power figures remain same, the throttle response will be sluggish.

The other bikes that I'd recommend, purely based on handling are
Apache 160 4v
Gixxer 155
MT15

As mentioned earlier, it's better to buy a BS4 bike (whatever it is), as BS6 will lose on power and/or throttle response.

Also congrats that you belong to the rare segment of bikers that understands that power and cc isn't everything.

Re: Long term owners' ownership experience.

I agree with all that you said.
The reason I want to switch Fz25 might sound idiotic, but I just don't enjoy riding it half as much as my old RTR 160. Especially in corners with no feedback or feeling.

I recently rode my Fz and a friends Gixxer back to back around curves. Yes, I did miss the power of the Fz, but the fun and feeling I had riding the Gixxer made me realize, I am ok with lower power as long as the bike connects with me. A good pair of tyres might improve Fz's handling but I highly doubt I will still have the connect or confidence as an RTR or Gixxer. Not sure if people will get me. 😁

The only reason I am not blindly going for the Gixxer 250 over the RTR is because I need to try it once around corners and confirm its lively, fun and smooth like its younger sibling.

I prefer only naked and hence didn't consider RR. RTR 310 might come by next year.

But for me 200-250cc is the sweet spot considering performance, efficiency and cost of ownership. I haven't felt the need for any more power or tech, especially for our roads. My Fz25 has always kept me happy in this way minus the handling or feel.

Duke 250 ruled out as I feel I would have to comparatively put in a lot more effort to keep it in tip top shape in the long term.

Plus, I prefer an oil cooled engine as it will be easier to maintain with no worries of coolant or related stuff.

Re: TVS Apache RTR 200 4V Ownership Experience

I had run on the Double Electrode UR5DDC on my P220(Both plugs) for 10k km's before a fellow enthusiast gifted me CR9E's after which its been smooth sailing.

Issue I faced with the Bosch dual electrode was that the motorcycle performed well within city limits but on the highways top end was severely restricted to under 120kmph, after changing though all was well as it seems Bosch has the temperature scale in reverse compared to NGK i.e the Bosch 5 is hotter than the NGK 9.

But that shouldn't be a bother for you guys as its the manufacturer recommended plugs where as I was simply experimenting.

As for cold starts, simply crank longer or use choke if absolutely necessary, that is how the world works, you could mess with the AFR all you want for temporary relief but that won't do much good when all things are considered. Better to live with it than let any random mechanic mess with your state of tune.

Ride Safe,
A.P.

Re: TVS Apache RTR 200 4V Ownership Experience

Thanks bro. As Ayrus mentioned, RTR 200 comes with single electrode SP only. I changed the spark plug because I faced cold starting problem. But even after changing SP, there seems to be no improve ment in cold starts.

Re: Long term owners' ownership experience.

BS-VI RTR looks ugly as hell. I would personally choose Suzuki Gixxer 250 for it's fully matured no nonsense design and their approach towards the engine performance.
Choose Gixxer without a second thought.

Edit:
Seeing that you are moving from fz25, RTR will be a complete downgrade. Never come below to a lower CC engine. Always choose the higher CC than you are currently in, otherwise you shouldn't change your bike unless it is complete necessary.
Look into RR310, that one is a screamer. An affordable premium bike. A complete package and looks stunning in person.

Re: TVS Apache RTR 200 4V Ownership Experience

Thanks for the comment on the spark plug color. I also changed mine yesterday and it was very similar to this one.

Apache 160/180 have a double electrode spark plug (UR5DDC) while the Apache 160/200 4v have a single electrode spark plug (UR4KE). They both can be used interchangeably.

Re: TVS Apache RTR 200 4V Ownership Experience

That's a desirable shade. Don't change anything as far as state of tune goes, as for the SP itself, change every 10k km's intervals.

Do share details about the SP in question, IIRC RTR's used to have those twin electrode plugs, didn't know they'd been replaced.

Re: TVS Apache RTR 200 4V Ownership Experience

I have shared the images of my rtr 200's spark plug. I have done 8300km with this plug. Can anyone tell me how is the tuning of my bike - lean, rich or optimum? Can I continue with the same or should I replace?

Re: Long term owners' ownership experience.

Hehehe, similar here, any weird noise or out of the ordinary performance and I will not feel like riding the bike freely until its fixed... I will need your advice if I do end up buying this as it shows your location as Chennai and I work in Mahindra City, so will need guidance for purchase and service based out of Chennai. As of now, the faceoff is between the BS-VI RTR and Gixxer 250 in exchange for my 2 year old Fz25 .

And if the BS-VI RTR is going to look as per this article https://indianautosblog.com/bs-vi-tv...-spied-p318185, I highly doubt it,with those evil as looking eyebrows.In my personal opinion, they spoiled a beauty

Re: Long term owners' ownership experience.

Every minor niggle will drive me crazy, as I want my ride to be near perfect all the time. No matter how old it gets. It's never a matter how the company delivers the quality it's about what standard you choose to maintain. Of course it will take time and effort. ASC are just amateurs with license, they employ teen age boys for servicing and only few experienced guys in the shed. Only thing better with ASC is you can push them as long as it takes to deliver you the quality and you can 100% blame them if any minor niggles if you are servicing with just one ASC through out the course. Even during my last service, they messed up the chain slack, gear shifter, front sprocket and missed to change oil. I've visited them 3 times already to adjust all these things. Still front sprocket is making noise and I'm going to followup with them again. If there any noise anything other than engine and muffler, I'll standing in front of ASC with a villain look. They will try fix that asap as they know me otherwise I'll keep on coming.

Re: Long term owners' ownership experience.

That's no problem!!

Wishing you goodluck in advance for your upcoming purchase of this lovely machine.
I too am giving it a thought, to buy the BS-VI version but I'm pretty sure it's going to push the cost upwards of atleast 15-20K. But the package is going to be worth it with FI, LED headlight, the rumoured Bluetooth enabled console and lesser emissions.

Re: Long term owners' ownership experience.

Thanks for asking these, Even I am considering it, though I have time and will be waiting for the BS-6 version which should have FI as standard I believe(no issues regarding cold start which this is famous for ).


Thanks for your answers. Can you also give your opinion about the vibes and gear shifts as km's get racked up on the ODO. Some owners have mentioned how the NVH levels deteriorates with age and kms, and also the gear shifts become hard.

Vibes is fine, but with regular maintenance of chain and correct slackness you mentioned, are the gear shifts still slick as new?. or do you face hard gear shifts with it these days, especially once the engine gets heated up in stop and go traffic?, like gears not falling into place or too much effort to shift.

Re: Long term owners' ownership experience.

Thank you so very much Arunachalam for your detailed reply. It must have cost you quite some time to answer all the queries, people like you make this community such a joy!

Re: Long term owners' ownership experience.

1) Highway Cruising

• Cruising speed where the engine feels & sounds comfortable. - 90-95 kmph at highway.
• NVH levels, when(RPM) & where(part of bike) do they creep in? upto 7k RPM sounds and keeps it cool
• Mileage when driven calmly and when throttled insanely. when on highways - 40-45 kmpl. When on city - 30 kmpl. Note that I drive calmly at 80-85 kmph on highways with out any change in throttle and drive in city with insane throttle variance and gear changes.

2) Reliability & Quality

• Break downs - None so far, only few minor niggles that too because of pathetic service by ASC.
• Bodywork quality (Metal corrosion, Fiber parts durability & any annoying sounds which can't be serviced) - known to have chain noise but I have reduced to nil by torturing ASC, repeated visits to them after service and periodical maintenance of chain every 500-800 kms (ASC always mess up the chain slack at service and have to followup 2 to 3 times after service to adjust the chain to be spot on)
• Emissions after long term (No one cares about this, I have no idea why? So, if you too have no idea it's understandable) I never see any kind of visible smoke comes from the silencer.
• Any other issues - gear sensor issues and fuel sensor issues.

3) City Riding

• ​Agility and lightness - one the best if maintenance was done properly.
• Overtaking ability - better than R15 but still looses to NS200's 6th gear.
• Engine temperature in stop go traffic - never felt the heat in my legs.
• Mileage - 30 kmpl. you have to be a saint to get more than that.

4) TVS's Roadside Assistance

• Coverage - Never used but it was covered as a part of the buying process for 5 years.
• Cost

ODO on the roads - 1,00,000+
ODO on the Apache 200 - 10,000+