Well. RTR 180 is quite new in the market and not much of the reviews are available for this product a part from the one written by the magazine editors. I bought this bike just a 4 days ago [17 July 2009]. So do not expect detail review. However I’ll update the review as the time progresses.
Important note before you read review. I had Suzuki Shaolin 5 Speed 2stroke bike for 3 years and for 8 years I had Pulsar 180 1stGeneration. I love bikes with minimum features and preferably naked bikes, but I love raw power coming from bike engine that one must felt at back wheel. Also I’m more than happy if bike gives fuel efficiency of 40+ KM/L
Before finalising TVS RTR 180 I took test rides of Pulsar 180 4th generation, Yamaha FZ16. Somehow I didn’t get the punch from Pulsar 180 the way I wanted. Infact it disappointed me more. My earlier pulsar had better raw power. I wonder how it manages to clock time under 5 sec in 0-60. Yamaha FZ16had fantastic driving comfort but started knocking when I accelerated too much, that was limitation of its 150CC engine.
TVS RTR 180 -Start the bike and it gives much smoother sound than expected. Test ride was good enough to book he bike. The delivery took lot more time than expected. So far I have only clocked 180 KM. So there is lot to know from Bike. The bike shows power in all 5 gears. However I feel Pulsar 180 1st generation had better torque. For RTR you need to raise the accelerator upto 5000 RPM to avoid knocking like sound.Probably that is the draw back of over-square engine it may lack bit when there is load. I have not yet observed any APACHE 160 famous vibrations in RTR 180 but it could be too early to say I’m driving my bike within 60 KM speed limit. Fuel efficiency seems to be more than my expectations. First I was not sure of blue digital display but at night when I turned it on I fell in love with the color combination in speedo.
Just for fun with smooth acceleration I tested 0-60 speed and I clocked 6.5 sec! What I noticed that on tar roads with fast turns bike simply flies. Also I did not find any place to complain about the TVS tires. Breaking with2 disk breaks is spot on. I did not like the new sitting position offered by new Pulsar 180 and TVS RTR that forces you to bend a bit.On long journey it could be bit problem.
I’ll be writing more in coming days but for people who would like to know about bike the above review may help a bit.