Got my black RTR 180 on Thursday. My last bike used was the zma.

Im really impressed with the handling, stability & cornering abilities. The braking is also perfect. Its a good city bike. it pulls easily from 28 kph in 5th gear without any knocking or clutch usage. Never ridden the 160 bt the riding position is too good. After riding the 180, the zma riding position felt very commuterish.

The engine is a bit noisy bt the exhaust note is better than most single cylinder four strokes. Few things that could improve on the bike would be

Front forks which dont feel very smooth compared to zma or FZ. Seems like a copy paste from the old fiero.

Engine refinement needs to improve.

The starter noise is annoying after using a Honda.

Finally to let you all know that i had a small drag with my frens ZMA(K&N + Jetting)

ZMA won by a bikes length. Bt im sure it will beat the zma once the engine breaks in well after the service.

Overall im really happy with my buy

Ride report of 180!!

Ok, here it is my first ride report of the RTR 180. Most of us here already know the virtues of the bike but this report is from my point of view (which is no different by you guys).But as I have spend quite an amount of time with the bike I have got closer to get to know what the bike really offers and have spotted some exceedingly good things and some minor niggles/grouse of the bike.


Now everybody knows how the RTR looks. Not really an issue here but then this is a 3 year old product which has been constantly refurbished with "functional" and some "cosmetic" upgrades and thankfully there are no shoddy sticker jobs. I have used and ridden couple of previous iterations of the Apache series extensively and never ever I have got noticed in the bike. I know it's not an awesome looker but when I rode the "Pearl White" RTR suddenly I figured out that people are giving a second glance to the bike. The colour "White" gets the people attention. The other colours might get lost in the Apache crowd, though. Styling as we know hasn’t been changed but when it comes to build quality this bike certainly is quite good. No panel gaps (typical Apache), awesome paint quality and finish, beautifully crafted levers and foot pegs and oh so cool petal disc ooze quality and I don’t see any reason why the bike wouldn’t stand the time well. And yeah, the rear fender looks classy from behind and those wide tyres do complement them well.


RTRs have always been known for revvability. Being short stroke in nature the engine tends to present the rider some amount of combustion after-effects (read: vibrations) and that has been a concern to many. And yeah, I agree on that front but then that's the nature of these types of engine. And No I am not saying that everybody enjoys getting a massage while riding. TVS has been working on it and it definitely shows up in the 180. There are absolutely no vibrations from foot pegs, whatsoever. There is only a slight tingle from the handlebar which starts from 3k-4k rpm and remains all throughout the rev-band. I have taken the bike till 112km/hr and i didn’t notice any disconcerting vibrations from any other areas. But the experience and the degree of 'vibrations' vary from bike to bike. My friend (a 180 owner in Bangalore) experiences vibrations from foot pegs but it's a different story in my bike. The other day I was talking with a TVS engineer he said that they are working out on cam profiles but there is an obvious drop in performance with mild setups and they don’t want that to happen as RTR stands for something which most people enjoy to the max i.e. Performance.

I have always liked the A150 for its awesome midrange and low-end torque, the RTR 160 for its top end burst. I always have dreamt of why not all those virtues on a same bike and yo the 180 appears. The first moment i rode the eagerness of the engine at low speeds kept me amazed. But when i whacked the throttle it was a wild frenzy of every shorts. The bike has sling shot acceleration. No waiting to see the tacho to get to know when the power will come, no matter what gear you are on, what speeds you are doing the bike just pulls with such authority that it can even put the bigger Ps to shame. And no I am not even considering the R here. The tickering of the speedo display adding numbers is a treat to watch!! This is no fanboy 'crap' and no exaggeration; I am saying all this with my eyes and ears open. And all this on a bike which only had 600 kms on the odo. I am sure after more mile munching the performance would only improve. The exhaust note and the intake growl(though far off the awesome Fi) would keep you at the edge of your seat. Still, the RTR Fi is one heck of an awesome/fun machine to ride and even if the 180 is convincingly much faster it lacks the involvement of the Fi (may be the exhaust note is the reason). The 180's midrange burst feels as much as that of the P220 Fi and that is a 'big' statement in itself.



Handling and braking has been Apache's forte but then it gets twitchy at most of the times thanks to the mediocre tyres. The 180 has wider footprint and from what i have felt the rubber is slightly better than the 160s. The R15' s rubber are in different galaxy and wish TVS had plonked in similar soft compounds which would have upped the confidence level of the rider. But those tyres are not that bad in 'experienced' hands but they can bite you at wrong places if one goes overboard or on the hands of 'newbies'. The bike feels planted at high speeds and is slightly less flickable than the 160s. Braking is top notch and bike stops without much fanfare.I did ride it aggressively in wet conditions and i didn’t feel anything to crib about be it the handling or the braking. The bike feels light and is a breeze to commute in traffic and the awesome low-end torque even helps a lot.

Riding position remains the same and only the handle bar is li’l bit wider which will take time getting used to.


SURPRISES:

(1) The ride quality has come as a pleasant surprise to me. The Apaches had a stiffer setup and were actually a compromise to get better handling. The devil in the ride quality has been put to rest and the bike handles the bumps and potholes with aplomb and there are no bone jarring tremors. TVS adoption of tubeless 17 inchers has beared fruits in ride quality because of longer travel of rear shock absorbers. Even if the bike feels softly sprung (not exactly) there is no bottoming out when tackling rough roads with a pillion.

(2) Low-end and mid range power is just fantastic.

(3) Less vibrations than previous RTRs.

(4) Rear discs felt better as in comparison to the Fi. The Fi's narrower tyre gives up early when braked hard.

QUEASY BITS:

(1) Tappet noise/Engine refinement: This is a concern for me rather than the vibrations. They are just too intrusive when riding at slower speeds. I wonder when TVS will iron out or lessen any of those. They can mar the riding experience of anybody, the only way to get off them is to whack the throttle wide open and listen to the glorious intake and exhaust note.

The engine also feels quite stressed post 9k rpm where the RTR Fi hits the ceiling without any fuss. I guess some more kms on the odo would open up the engine a bit. The engine loses out in refinement stakes and stands nowhere in front of the likes of the R15 and Unicorn. The R15 gets my vote for the best engine when it comes to refinement.

(2) Tyres could have been better or soft compound for that matter.

And i just can’t ask for more because at 70k it's more 'bike' per 'bike'!!

Current kms on the odo: 1220kms
Mileage Best: 53km/ltr
Worst: 42km/ltr
Varies from 45-50km/ltr for most of the times.

Note for prospective 180 owners: This is an unbiased review and you can rely on what I have mentioned here but then nothing can get any better than a personal experience on a bike. So do take a test ride of the bike before deciding on the bike.

^^very nice review

Thanks for the in-depth review.

But based on my personal experience I beg to differ there. The R15 that I rode was only slightly better than my RTR at higher revs (> 7K).
But then it could be only specific to that bike. It was a friend's bike not out of the showroom.

Originally posted by chicane1879 View Post

SURPRISES:

this is waht i noticed....
you noticed this too????????????????

Congrats dude. I am surprised abt ur RTR 180 selection , not that it isnt a good bike, just that I was surprised from ZMA to RTR 180. I recall reading in some other thread that you were also looking at the new P220. What happened?

I sold my ZMA after an accident &was waitign for a worthy replacement. I booked the 220 but cancelled the booking as it was taking too muc htime & i neede a bike by end of july. Reason being, im planning a trip to Leh this Sep. So only other option for a good perfomance bike was the RTR. & im glad i chose the RTR.

Thanks for the clarifying.

co setting of RTR 180.....

[QUOTE=rennycornelius;258265]

cuz this guys are too dumb to tune the machine properly...

my advise is go to the companys godown find a new 180 which is still in wrappers give a guy thr 100 ka GANDHIJI tell him to bring a screw driver and measure how many turns the carbs mixture screw has after being closed completely...
you'll get the setting of the co for 180.....

---------------------------------

dude as you said i tried the 100 ka gandhiji trick in the showroom near me.....
but it did not work....as the salesman there said that fiddling with the bike's setting is not allowd....i explained him everything that the service centre guys changed the carb setting and now the performance is not as good as before....so i wantd to re-check the company settings of the carb........but it was no good....i think i need more convincing skills....

now i need a FAVOR can sum1 do that for me......
i mean can sum1 find out the exact company carb setting for the bike....i mean how many turns when carb is fully in...??

i will try it only after its confirmed as i dont want
to get a bad carb setting and ruin my engine life...

PLz reply as i am dying to feel the grunt and the adreline rush o the bike as it was before..

and 1 more thing......is this reliable has any tried this before.....
http://**********.in/tuning-carburet...el-efficiency/

RTR 180(Menace) Yellow pics

I took this pics from chennai showroom Ramkay adyar,the yellow rtr 180 came a week ago & delivery time is 1 week(depends upon demand)
Does the pics are good ? i clicked with my mobile nokia 3250

Nice review there chicane!

@chicane1879 : Nice Review man!!!

@Ace ics are fine but yellow isnt cool anymore after seeing white

i rode the R15 as well...and it just falls flat at exactly the place you need power; City traffic, . I still adore the bike though. But im just so used to the power delivery of my RTR160 that i found it hard to adjust to the R15. I didnt go much above 6-7k but im sure it will shine in the higher revs.

The new white A180 is indeed awesome... No doubts about it

A Small info:
Traffic police here in chennai has got A150 white version

Nice unbiased review there Chicane. I also felt the same about the handlebars when I rode the bike, but my other friends were telling me it was in my mind!
I also felt the 180 is a bit more front-heavy compared to the 160. Do you feel the same way?