Here’s Why Indian Motorcycle Of The Year Will Be My Next Buy! » MotorOctane

From some time I was looking for a bike that could fit perfectly to my needs, along with that, it would need to be good enough to be a perfect replacement for my Yamaha MT15. As the Indian two-wheeler market is already full of several bikes placed in different segments, it was a difficult task to choose one. As I was looking to have a perfect adventure tourer added in my garage, I shortlisted some bikes that fit well in the budget and went through testing all of it. 
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And now, after months of tussle of finding a good motorcycle. I have finalized my next bike – the TVS RTX. But why? Here’s a long detailed explanation:

Some bikes I shortlisted – 

KTM Adventure 250 – The KTM’s decoy fit perfectly in my budget after the recent GST cuts. Secondly I have ridden the 390’s for a good time already, and I do know how this motorcycle performs. Only because of the hike in price of 390 ADVs, I shortlisted the ADV 250. 

Suzuki Vstrom SX – Lately, I have been seeing several riders on the road have this motorcycle. While it too has its pro’s and con’s, I still added it in my watchlist. But was later removed because of its stiff suspension, and not a very performing throttle response – this didn’t click for me to have it added in my garage. 

Triumph Scrambler 400X – Another superb bike in my consideration was the Scrambler from Triumph. A good bike with all the essential qualities that is needed to be in a bike, good low end torque, good ergonomics, better power and all. For some time, I had considered it to be my next bike. But a fellow speed 400 owner suggested not to opt for it because of poor service quality. 

RE Guerrilla – Yes, it’s not a perfect adventure motorcycle, but its power boggled my mind. It wasn’t something like RE. It had power and you can actually feel it – good for city rides and better for highways. But again, its suspension is stiff, and it can trouble you in the long run. Another thing is the refinement. I know RE has worked alot, but there was still some confusion over the engine in my mind. 

RE Scram 440 – A good tourer – I would say. But it won’t give you the punch. The motorcycle has a good low end torque but misses out on having an amazing performance. Better for someone, who just wants to tour, not for city purposes. Another point where it lacked was its weight, It looks slim than Himalayan 450, but still it carries the same weight. And this makes things worse. You might feel the front heavy sometimes, not all times – but the weight disappears as you start moving. 

TVS RTX 300 – Waited a long time to test ride it, it was a new engine and a new bike type from the brand. But, once I had a chance to ride it – it certainly became my perfect new bike material. 

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Why The TVS RTX?

So, after shortlisting several motorcycles, how did I finalize the RTX as my next bike? Firstly, I was fascinated by its looks at the time of its launch. Yes, looks are subjective, but TVS has surely nailed it in terms of design – it doesn’t look like a 300cc motorcycle. Such a tall stance, and new frame has surely contributed well in its sales surely, and this was one of the major point why I thought of giving it a chance. 

Now, surely, the design won’t be a fair chance to book the bike, so I waited to ride it once. Who knew then, the wait will be this long. In the meantime, I did some test-rides of the other shortlisted bike, in which I loved the Triumph Scrambler 400X – a very powerful and tough machine. But later I moved it out of the list due to its service issues, which a fellow rider experienced. After waiting for a few months, I finally got to test the new Apache RTX. 

Wow, the design again amazed me, looking at it in real life. Yes, now I will stop saying how amazing it looks – focusing on how it goes. Another thing where TVS has nailed it is its weight distribution. The bike looks bulky and also has a weight of around 180kgs. However, the weight just disappeared as I hopped on it, the weight is not felt while even taking out the bike from the garage. Wow! That’s something that was needed, as I am considering a good replacement for my MT-15 which is quite light. 

Now, as you sit on the motorcycle – my position was upright, nor on the aggressive side, neither laidback as cruisers. The handle bars are wide as well giving a good hold. The instrument cluster on the fairing gives a good view, you won’t get distracted by it. So, how was its riding performance? 

Starting the engine, I went for a quick spin with the motorcycle. The engine is quite well balanced, offers linear power and torque. It won’t just boost past the roads in a short twist of the throttle like the Guerrilla 450. But who needs that character in an adventure bike, as my wishlist was clear: a bike that can take me places with a nominal cruising speed above 100kph, and the RTX fitted perfectly in this case. I won’t say there’s no low end torque – there is enough to get the bike moving. 

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Who doesn’t try to saddle on the adventure bike? And I too had a moment standing up to check the ergo and balance. Again its weight distribution characteristic and the design helps to get a good hold while saddling, my thighs were wrapping the tank and had a good hold, I didn’t feel that I was losing my confidence, and that’s a major pro of this bike. Another pro of it was how nimble it feels, you made it over some twists and turns just to find how easy it is to ride this motorcycle. Even a new rider can ride it well and it won’t disappoint.

Obviously, we already have seen several journalists suggest how good its suspension setup is. And I too felt the same, went over some humps and broken patches – it made a grin appear on my face and think how good it is. The damping and setup is good. But it is more on the soft side, which can make some riders to think about. But in my case, it was the best in the segment. Yes, even the KTMs and gives tough competition to Himalayan. 

Many were talking about its low tank capacity. Yes, it’s far low compared to the other adventure bikes – the KTMs offer a tank capacity of nearly 14litres, while the Himalayan offers an exciting 17 litre fuel tank capacity – while the RTX only has a tank capacity of 12.5 litres. But believe me it’s enough. With the RTX you can get a mileage of nearly 26+kmpl, or even 30kmpl depending on your riding behaviour. So, it can give you a range of 300+km on a full tank, that’s nearly enough as you will surely wait to fuel up in the meantime. 

Even at night, the motorcycle gives good visibility thanks to its good headlamps. The headlamps were one of the issues I found in the Triumph, where the visibility was poor and if I would have bought it, then I would have needed to spend some more on auxiliary lights. But, the Apache RTX gives good visibility on the dense roads at night.

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Now, how can I miss out on the features? The RTX is the most loaded bike available in the market at its price point. Even the base variant gets hold of: 5-inch TFT screen, cruise control, 4 ride modes, traction control switch. While the top variant offers: a bi-directional quickshifter, switchable ABS, map mirroring, better headlamp and more, the BTO variant gives you to choose from a new colour along with features like adjustable suspension, TPMS and brass coated chain.

With all these things, the Apache RTX went on checking every box of my wishlist. And finally made me have it in my garage. Now, there are three variant options with the RTX – base, top and BTO (built-to-order). For my preference, I felt the top variant seems to be the perfect of the lot. It is also the value-for-money variant, having a price of Rs 2.6 lakh (on-road, Mumbai).