[arunkrishnan4]

Celebration 1000 days with my Wego : A 25,000 km Journey
Still going strong….

I bought my TVS Wego scooter in July, 2011. 25,0000 km and almost 1000 days later - here is my ownership report.

Pulsar has always been my favorite bike; I have drooled over when my friends ride it; and revelled in the few moments when i got to borrow it for running errands. However, post marriage, life changes - pragmatism and risk aversion take the better of us in decision making. It was no different when we planned to buy a two-wheeler - we decided to go for a unisex scooter so that both my better half and me can use it. Next up - the maker. Say scooters - and Honda, TVS, Suzuki, Mahindra vie for our attention. Suzuki is no more the same after its broken marriage with TVS - Suzuki Access is a great scooter - but I was a bit skeptical about Suzuki’s service network and FE. Same with Mahindra - it’s pretty much a greenhorn in the scooter market; so my risk positioning system navigated me away from these two brands (and also Hero). This left us with Honda and TVS; both leaders in their own ways. Honda’s Activa is, without doubt, the market leader in the unisex scooter segment; and for those who wish for a jazzed up version, there is the Aviator. TVS too is holding its steed well in the Scooty segment; and have added Wego to their repertoire to take on Activa’s monopoly (no Jupiter then). Though TVS may not match Honda in brand recalling, they have packed some punch in Wego to give Activa a run for its money. But, what skewed our decision decisively in favor of the ‘Body Balance Wonder’ was the delivery time - I’d moved to Chennai just the previous day; and had only a week’s time to report to my new office. I didn’t even bother visiting a Honda showroom knowing for sure that I won’t even get to test drive a bike, forget the waiting period. Enough has been said about TVS’s hospitality and customer service especially their reach in South India. It was the same with me, and after a couple of hours at Brilliant TVS, I rode home on a cappuccino brown Wego (I’d to bring it back for registration in a few days, but that again was just a day’s job).

When I bought my Wego, I didn’t have an iota of doubt on its performance - now, 25000 km and almost a 1000 days later, I ride it, with no regrets, but with tons of pride and satisfaction.

Now, let me get down to the experience - the ride quality is simply superb. I didn’t feel any difference from riding a bike; so sublime is the handling. The 12’’ wheels provide better handling; and the suspensions - telescopic in front; and hydraulic in the rear do their jobs to the tee (But with age, rear seems to have become stiffer). With a broader and longer seat, pillion riders enjoy better ride quality. Wego has a low seating position for the rider; making it easier for ladies to handle; I (5’ 10’’) on the other hand felt a taller position would give me better command on the road, but I’m not complaining. Under seat storage is spacious - my full size helmet fits in comfortably. The storage compartment in the front is compact - sufficient enough to stash in your documents, gloves and goggles though, it eats up some of the foot board space. Talking about foot board, it’s quite comfortable for a person of my height - I can easily relax my legs without worrying about my knees getting cramped up while turning - the ride is as hassle free as would be on any bike. One thing i worried about was the ventilation slits - there is only one slit beneath the seat; so if I’ve some bags stacked on the foot board, the engine may lack ventilation. This was just my speculation - I’ve not faced any problems with overheating though. Moreover, unlike Activa, Wego wears a ‘mini-skirt’ - the body is not fully covered - part of the engine and exhaust are naked; so that should also aid with some ventilation. Coming to looks, most men don’t like the front look - plain, naive and very Scooty-like; but the side look more than compensates with its curvy and stylish finish. LED rear-lights add a contemporary look, well augmented with indicators integrated into the casing. I’m not happy with the headlights though - the 35 Watt halogen lamp doesn’t beam as much as I’d have expected, affecting visibility and driving speed during night rides - hope TVS has rectified this in Jupiter. Also, I’d problems with the indicator stub for a while - the stub won’t stay at the left and right positions and would return to the central position automatically; I’d to flip and hold the positions with my thumb until I complete my turn. Mysteriously, this problem disappeared after a couple of days.

Body balance technology is well experienced while driving solo on bendy roads and in traffic - the balance was as good as in a bike (This was not the same experience when i tried my friend’s Activa though). Wego is a good scooter to cruise on highways - I’ve touched 80 kmph with a pillion rider on NH7. The winds were heavy, so, I didn’t risk powering further though i guess it had enough left to touch 85 kmph. Having said that, the brakes are not very reassuring. Standard drum brakes do become a pain when you’re on the highways. Even in city traffic, I’ve ended up tapping the vehicle in front on a couple of occasions, thanks to the brake nuts going loose often and reducing the braking response; it serves well to check the brake nuts at least every 1000 km. Within the city, Wego clears most potholes and speed-breakers comfortably; however, there are at least 4 occasions where the vehicle scratched over - but these were insanely bumpy breakers - so i won’t blame the vehicle’s ground clearance for it.

Now, coming to the all important question of ‘Kitna Deti Hai’. I ride my Wego every day to office in a motley of roads and streets - I make sure i always use soft throttle (ok, not always, but mostly), and try to maintain 45 - 50 kmph, and sometimes up to 55 kmph. With this mix, it gives me a cool 45 - 50 kmpl, even went up to 53 kmpl once. Talking about fuel, fuel lid behind the seat is cool, but i really felt the tank capacity (just 5 L) is too paltry, at least for me as I ride 45 km per day. I end up at the petrol station every 4 days - it helps in a way that I check the tyres’ air pressure often which is very critical in maintaining good FE.

As I ride almost every day, I’ve not faced any starting problem; the dry batteries in early Wegos had starting problems which I replaced an year later. I religiously ensure the first crank in the morning is with the kicker, and the electric starter for rest of the day. Vibrations seem to have increased of late, especially at speeds over 50 kmph (wondering if my back pains are due to that - can we manually tune Wego’s suspensions?). Longest non-stop ride in my Wego was a 100 km ride on NH7, covering over 300 km in the day; she is one reliable steed with no grudges. I’ve met with accident once, thanks to gravelly roads where the tyres skid easily, but nothing serious. My beauty has a few scars on her since then.

The rear tyre was getting punctured quite often last year; it turned out the tube had some defects; so I had to replace the tube at TVS service center (difficult to find tubes for 12’’ tubes at mechanic shops). Except for this and the battery, there has been no other overhead cost except for maintenance which is cheap.

Overall, I love my little twinkie. She is no ThunderBird; but every night, when I put her to rest, i slide my hand over her once; and take pride in her reliability and fuzz-free maintenance.

Few pics

[parrys]

Just one question, with the fuel lid behind the seat, and not under; they way it is supposed to help is that the rider can still be seated while fueling up. But I noticed all Wego owners (5 or 6 of them) still prefer to get off the bike.

What do you do? Fill it up and still be seated? Or get off?

[hsub]

Originally Posted by parrys

Just one question, with the fuel lid behind the seat, and not under; they way it is supposed to help is that the rider can still be seated while fueling up. But I noticed all Wego owners (5 or 6 of them) still prefer to get off the bike.

What do you do? Fill it up and still be seated? Or get off?

I am seated while fueling up. I think its pretty handy design especially considering how frequently you have to fuel up due to puny tank size.

[katchkamalesh]

Congratulations on the 25k mark.

My dad uses the wego as the primary mode of transport and he gets a mileage of 40-45 kmpl and I will not call him a sedate driver not because of the speed but because of the acceleration.

Three niggles that we faced in the last 2.5 years of ownership were a faulty battery which went kaput just days after the warranty expired, poor tyres and a loosely torqued bolt at the service centre which resulted in the exhaust falling and hitting the ground, causing a dent. All were minor niggles.

I occasionally take the wego out and find it nippy. It's One of the best scooter out there in the market.

Happy mile muching!!!

[FONT=&quot]BTW I prefer to get down while refuelling. I was once Refuelling at xxxxx and this attendant started to chit chat after starting the refuelling process, then in matter of minutes, petrol was overflowing because of a faulty cut off mechanism in the dispenser and to add more horror, I was the one who noticed petrol flowing out and I immediately asked the attendant to stop the machine while he was still busy talking to me.

P.S. The reason for not naming the[/FONT] retailer because I got a stellar response from them within days of complaining and was assured that this will not happen again.

[arunkrishnan4]

Moderator note: Back to back post, use Multi Quote [Quote+] instead. Thanks.

Originally Posted by parrys

Just one question, with the fuel lid behind the seat, and not under; they way it is supposed to help is that the rider can still be seated while fueling up. But I noticed all Wego owners (5 or 6 of them) still prefer to get off the bike.

What do you do? Fill it up and still be seated? Or get off?

From a convenience point, yes - wego gives that liberty. From a safety point, it is ALWAYS advisable to get off the bike. I usually get off, that way i also keep a check on whether the petrol bunk guy really fills into my tank or somewhere else... also on the occasions when i don't esp. in Shell bunks, the Shell guys advise me to get off to avoid risk in case there is a spill and fire.

But, still the position of the fuel lid is advantageous when I'm filling up on the way back from shopping with wego's underbelly fully loaded; I don't want to embarrass others by letting them see what I have just bought

Originally Posted by katchkamalesh

....
BTW I prefer to get down while refuelling. I was once Refuelling at xxxxx and this attendant started to chit chat after starting the refuelling process, then in matter of minutes, petrol was overflowing because of a faulty cut off mechanism in the dispenser

This happened a few times for me too... I think the bent nature of the petrol tank somehow doesn't let the auto-cutoff work; due to this, i have stopped doing a full tank, rather fill for 250rs every 120 km or so. For my long runs, 5 km petrol tank is puny; I end up at the bunk every 3-4 days.

[jaganm]

I second your opinion of the Wego, I got my Wego around the same time and have done close to 16000 km (reduced the riding after I bought a CBR250). I find the handling to be fantastic, there were a couple of incidents where I would've had an accident on an Activa but got through unscathed on the Wego. I used to find the ride to be very good but it has got a little stiffer and especially since I got used to my CBR, I don't find it as comfortable.

[arunkrishnan4]

Originally Posted by jaganm

... I used to find the ride to be very good but it has got a little stiffer and especially since I got used to my CBR, I don't find it as comfortable.

Any fix to the suspension problem mate. Off late, the ride is getting more uncomfortable with stiff suspension. Is it possible to change/tweak the suspensions. Looking across other threads, guess suspension is a problem in Activa also (prob. all scooters?!)

[ghodlur]

Hey Arun,

Congratulations on crossing 25K on the odo in your Wego. Yours must be the most used scooter on the forum I guess.

Is the Wego made for 300km ride? I mean wouldnt your back take a heavy beating even if the Wego has telescopic front suspensions? If I were you, I would have bought a Nano for the daily commute instead of a scooter. Just my thoughts, no hard feelings.

Happy driving and drive safely.

[arunkrishnan4]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

... Is the Wego made for 300km ride? I mean wouldnt your back take a heavy beating even if the Wego has telescopic front suspensions? If I were you, I would have bought a Nano for the daily commute instead of a scooter. Just my thoughts, no hard feelings.

Happy driving and drive safely.

The long drives were during the first year of ownership; so the suspensions were good enough; didn't feel the pinch munch. But if i were to do the trip now, I'd rather be an invertebrate :P Thanks for your suggestion on the Nano; I do have a car, but the long hours spent on the roads left me with no choice than switching back to Wego. Of late, thinking of buying a second 2 wheeler, have set my eyes on Thunderbird

[arunkrishnan4]

Update at 31000km

The treads in the rear tyre had disappeared completely leaving no choice but to replace the tyre. The front tyre is still going strong. For few days since new tyre, felt an imbalance while taking turns; wonder if it's due to the differential wear-tear between front and rear tyre.

Also, the drive felt increasing wobbly; it was diagnosed as a fault with the ball bearing under the front assembly; that too was replaced.

Except for a slight drop in pickup, which the service personnel attributed to the clutch belt getting weak, my Wego is still going strong. FE around 45kmpl.

[arunkrishnan4]

Update at 40,000 KM

My car has replaced my wego as primary mode of transport, hence the mileage milestones are farther now. Touched 40,000 KM yesterday.

The Good

Still going strong, no expense beyond fuel and regular maintenance. Paid maintenance at TVS comes to around ₹1000. I service twice a year.

FE consistent around 45kmpl mark

Still reliable as day 1; I always use kicker first time, and electric start for rest of the day. The key is to let the bike run for at least 5-6 km at a stretch, to let the battery charge well. I avoid short hops, I rather park my wego at a spot and walk around to avoid hops (esp. For grocery shopping). This helps longevity of battery, though I feel battery is slowly ageing.

The Not So Good

Vibrations: Of late, I feel more vibrations on handle bar which idling. May require some tuning, but not a big deal, at least for now.

Rusting in silencer: the pipe that leads from engine assembly to the exhaust is showing signs of rust. That spot doesn't have cover; so is exposed to vagaries of weather. The service guy said only option is to replace the pipe as a whole; so that's one replacement coming up shortly.

Tyres: Rear tyre was already replaced at 35K mark. The front tyre shows asymmetric wear; the right side has worn more causing slight drift to the right while driving. Anyway, the tyre has lasted 40k, height time for a replacement anyway.

Otherwise, the vehicle is going great. Good pickup (overhauling clutch assembly recommended at 30K), satisfactory handling and braking for a scooter makes it hard for me to even think of retiring my ride. Further milestones will be far off.
Until then, cheers and safe riding!!!

[blackstallion76]

Arun - Good review and brings confidence in buying this latest Wego. How is it compared to Zest 110. Please advice.

[pcpranav]

quite an impressive journey with Wego. wish you keep munching miles, safe & happily.

I would like to know what are the tyres you have replaced ?
Our Wego is now about 4 years, ~4200 KMs (used for local errands only), regularly serviced (especially oil changed ever few months). These days I feel the tyre rubber has hardened over time. Soon I plan to replace them.

[Majumdarda]

Its been few years now. Do you still ride your Wego? How has been the performance off late?
I heard that a new Wego is being released, but before we go to check that out, thought to get an update on the ownership review.