[ashwinprakas]

I'm honestly rendered speechless by TVS's move to bring the TVS Radeon into production;



As per source the motorcycle runs off the same block as the one present on the TVS Star City+, which seems to be better in terms of aesthetics compared to the TVS Radeon;



Though TVS is not new to the strategy of producing the same motorcycle in different flavors, I never guessed they'd pull a 'Hero MotoCorp' one day, and from the looks of it quite literally, since the crankcase and rear panels have an uncanny resemblance with that of the Hero Splendor's.





Here's a Splendor for comparison;



They seem to have taken a bit of inspiration from Royal Enfield as well, notice the familiar tank grip design?;



Though we're used to similar product saturation, it is a first to see something of this extent from the likes of TVS especially considering that the motorcycle has design elements inspired from other manufacturers and at the same time offers nothing new in terms of features, technology or pricing from the looks of it.

Do share any more information you might have about the TVS Radeon along with your thoughts on the same because I for one am curious to know how this product would perform in the market.

[reignofchaos]

Radeon? They are gonna get into trademark issues with AMD. AMD and erstwhile ATI (acquired by AMD) have been making graphics cards for PCs since the last 15-16 years called Radeon.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

I'm honestly rendered speechless by TVS's move to bring the TVS Radeon into production;

TVS is just trying all sorts of permutations and combinations since they just haven't been able to succeed in that all important commuter space. Star City sales have fallen and the new Victor flopped as well.

So this time they seem to be trying to capture the rural market.

Originally Posted by ashwinprakas

an uncanny resemblance with that of the Hero Splendor's.

Agreed.

Couple of first look videos -

https://youtu.be/V8-Zuq-J-0M

https://youtu.be/YSPdDqSmaDk

[gauravanekar]

Unexpectedly, I was in a market for 100-110 motorcycle a little under a year back. I browse-shopped on the internet and made up my mind for star sport, reason being I wanted to extract maximum fuel efficiency (that's what I thought) my rational being all the motorcycles in the segment are going feel and ride identical.

I went to TVS showroom first:
Sport: outright refusal to give test ride.
City: took a test ride only to feel that the suspension design is very very bad. Felt like the spring coefficient is too low and damping was also on lower side. Used to pitch on humps, potholes like a Volvo bus. Not at all confidence inspiring during braking or taking turns.
Bajaj: CT100 a outdated engine wich a bad history of quality problems, so didn't consider.
Platina: no big price advantage over competition and I didn't the looks of the bike at all
Hero: Spendor looked too dated and cheap but actual price was not cheap at all, in fact it was very costly bike for what it gives.
Passion: even costlier
Yamaha:
Saluto RX: no test ride bike was available, they had only a saluto 125 for test ride.
Considering the price and the feel of saluto 125, I booked saluto RX 110.
I am not much impressed with it but it's better than city for sure.

Along with the splendor looks if they improve the suspension of this bike, I would be happy. Rants over!

[rvd8732]

That rear shocks, from Yamaha RX series (Bajaj Caliber too)

[condor]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Radeon? They are gonna get into trademark issues with AMD.

May not be. The products are in vastly different categories. Sometimes, even in the same category the geographic limits can be applied - a company being allowed to use a name in specific areas only/

[aravind.anand]

All that hype for this dated looking bike? TVS burnt more cash with marketing than with their R&D on this one for sure. I now understand how TVS managed to keep this launch completely under cover, all the way till it's unveil yesterday. It's simply because test miles would have been dismissed as one in the millions of Splendors all around our nation.

One of the rare not-so-good efforts from TVS.

[kumarshah]

Originally Posted by gauravanekar

Unexpectedly, I was in a market for 100-110 motorcycle a little under a year back. I browse-shopped on the internet and made up my mind for star sport, reason being I wanted to extract maximum fuel efficiency (that's what I thought) my rational being all the motorcycles in the segment are going feel and ride identical.

I went to TVS showroom first:
Sport: outright refusal to give test ride.
City: took a test ride only to feel that the suspension design is very very bad. Felt like the spring coefficient is too low and damping was also on lower side. Used to pitch on humps, potholes like a Volvo bus. Not at all confidence inspiring during braking or taking turns.
Bajaj: CT100 a outdated engine wich a bad history of quality problems, so didn't consider.
Platina: no big price advantage over competition and I didn't the looks of the bike at all
Hero: Spendor looked too dated and cheap but actual price was not cheap at all, in fact it was very costly bike for what it gives.
Passion: even costlier
Yamaha:
Saluto RX: no test ride bike was available, they had only a saluto 125 for test ride.
Considering the price and the feel of saluto 125, I booked saluto RX 110.
I am not much impressed with it but it's better than city for sure.

Along with the splendor looks if they improve the suspension of this bike, I would be happy. Rants over!

Because Splendor is the market leader, other manufacturers try to price their competition lower to compete on the price front. Similar to how in Scooters Activa is not the lowest priced but is market leader.

[Flyer]

Fuel tank design and grip, ripped brown seats.. Looks like someone in TVS is taking too much inspiration from Triumph.

[baireshraj]

I think it was the strategy from initial conception to make this bike look like the Market leader, Splendor. TVS, I believe also had followed such a strategy when developing the Jupiter, bench marking against Activa, the market leader and look at the sales chart. Close to 70,000 Units per month. Even though this bike doesn't excite us here, it might excite its target customers. Time to watch the sales chart for the next few months.

[neil.jericho]

My first reaction when I saw a photo of the Radeon in a news article was that they had mistakenly taken a photo of the Splendor without realizing it! Talk about an uncanny resemblance. However the bike seems to be more than a Splendor lite with features such as
- ’first-in-segment’ synchronised braking technology,
- car-like speedometer,
- ‘largest seat in the segment’
- chrome silencer,
- bigger wheels and
- smartphone charger.

It will be interesting to see if the motorcycle can impact sales of the more established players.

Source - https://www.thehindu.com/todays-pape...le24765156.ece

[vivekgk]

I think this is actually going to do very well. Here's why.

One reason the Splendor still sells so well, even with the very vanilla styling, is the flat, low seat. Most of the other bikes emulate the bigger street-racer type bikes, with the high, tapering tail-piece and seat. The Splendor is one of the few bikes that has a flat seat which makes it much easier for shorter ladies to get on, and to sit sideways, without constantly sliding down to the rider. The wider seat also accommodates them better, and has enough space leftover for the kid(s) to squeeze in between. The non-sporty styling gives off the image of a serious, non-sporty, and efficient workhorse, which is what a bike means for the majority of buyers in this segment.



In effect, they have made a better splendor than Hero, as it has updated instruments, modern engine, and other clever features, like the combo brakes, wider seat, bigger wheels for better ride (and often, cheaper tyres from Tier 3 makers), and the phone charger, which is extremely useful. It also has the highest ground clearance and longest wheelbase.



The tank grip prevents the paint scuffing caused by the rider's clothes and bags. The flat rear carrier is very useful for commuters who often have to tie stuff down. The battery is maintenance free, and the indicators have rubber mountings, missing in the Splendor+.



And then there's the little premium feel good touches, like the nice looking dash, and the brown seats, which also have that nice, upmarket looking stitching. Usually you have to buy a seat cover this good. That's a saving of a few hundred to a thousand bucks right there. Plus, LED DRLs look much more premium than a headlight that's always on. The side stand warning with beeper is pretty useful too.



I am also sure that a lot of the stuff that you have to buy as accessories on the Splendor, are standard on the Radeon, like that grab handle for the pillion (at least 300 bucks for a black painted one, more for chrome), or the crash bar, saree guard etc. I remember that while I was shopping for a scooter, stuff that came factory fitted on the Jupiter and Wego were often paid accessories in the Activa, like the number plate. Overall, I am sure that this will be a very VFM deal over the Splendor+. That is usually how TVS and Bajaj deal with competition.

Overall, if you put this and the Splendor side by side, the Radeon looks much more premium, while retaining the same values and adding a lot more. I especially love that the stickering is subdued, with a 'less is more' approach, and looks classy combined with the brown seats and the chrome/black accents.



All images taken from TVS Radeon website.

[payeng]

Originally Posted by vivekgk

I think this is actually going to do very well. Here's why.

One reason the Splendor still sells so well, even with the very vanilla styling, is the flat, low seat.

The only resaon why the Splendor sells is because "its a Splendor", launched in 1994 and a 24 year old Legend. Plain and simple.

Case Study: Even when almighty Honda (ironically the one who was responsible for Splendor in the first place) with its 110 cc Dream Series, can't budge the public sentiment against the Splendor, best of luck to someone which thinks it can do so with a straight knock off.

Originally Posted by baireshraj

I think it was the strategy from initial conception to make this bike look like the Market leader, Splendor.

TVS, I believe also had followed such a strategy when developing the Jupiter, bench marking against Activa, the market leader and look at the sales chart. Close to 70,000 Units per month. Even though this bike doesn't excite us here, it might excite its target customers. Time to watch the sales chart for the next few months.

Look at the TVS Jupiter from behind, the resemblance to the Activa 1st Gen is quite uncanny especially with its proportions. Don't know if it was accidental or intentional but the Jupiter does remind me of the 1st Gen Activa.

The catch here is that unlike the Activa. the Splendor in 2018 still looks very much like when it was launched in 1994.

Originally Posted by vivekgk

I think this is actually going to do very well. Here's why...

... In effect, they have made a better splendor than Hero

In Automobiles/Motorcycles, BETTER doesn't always sell.

Case Study: Isn't any other Motorcycle BETTER than Royal Enfields?

[vivekgk]

Originally Posted by payeng

The only resaon why the Splendor sells is because "its a Splendor", launched in 1994 and a 24 year old Legend. Plain and simple.

Case Study: Even when almighty Honda (ironically the one who was responsible for Splendor in the first place) with its 110 cc Dream Series, can't budge the public sentiment against the Splendor, best of luck to someone which thinks it can do so with a straight knock off.

When the Splendor was launched in 1994, there was no competition for it. Bajaj had it's anemic looking 4S champion, and that was the only other 4 stroke bike around. It built up a reputation for reliability, reasonable performance, clean styling, and had a nice exhaust note. Also, because of the twin downtube frame rather than the pressed steel one on the CD100, it had good handling. Honda had the most efficient and reliable bike engine in India, and they built a great bike around it. And that is how the legend was made. And that legend has a silhouette that has become synonymous with affordability, reliability and efficiency. And TVS is good at recognising a good silhouette, and adopting it with their own brand of good engineering, a rich feature list, and good stying. Everyone else was selling smelly, smokey 2-strokes.

Look at the TVS Jupiter from behind, the resemblance to the Activa 1st Gen is quite uncanny especially with its proportions. Don't know if it was accidental or intentional but the Jupiter does remind me of the 1st Gen Activa.

Of course it's intentional. They had been making the Wego for ages with limited success. Then they make a TVS Activa with better features, and it's carved out a very nice slice of the scooter market. Honda has to come up with new gimmicks in every generation to keep the buyers coming back.

In Automobiles/Motorcycles, BETTER doesn't always sell.

Case Study: Isn't any other Motorcycle BETTER than Royal Enfields?

And RE will have their moment in the sunshine till some other manufacturer buys up an old brand and makes their own big pushrod single with retro styling with better quality and reliability than Enfield. Like Mahindra, with their upcoming Jawa bike. Personally I was expecting Bajaj to come up with a Triumph Bonneville lookalike priced similar to the Bullet.

TVS's game isn't about beating the Splendor outright in sales, but rather, taking away a good portion of them. Look how well the Jupiter is doing now. The Radeon could do the same in the Splendor's segment and take some of the shine off the Splendor. Let's see how this plays out.

[SS80]

Test rode the Radeon last evening and here are my observations.

Pros:
Well put together, no lose parts/rattles etc
Light weight - very easy to handle
Exhaust note is brilliant
Surprised to see so less vibrations (nowhere like apache)
Tubeless tyres
82.5K on road price
55kmpl mileage reported by most owners
Way better than the small bikes sold by Bajaj
Paint quality is top notch
Proper fuel injection, no gimmicks like E-carburettor (Bajaj ones)
Low saddle height


-ves
10kmpl lesser mileage than entry level Bajaj bikes
Looks like a 2.0 version of Splendor
Brakes are spongy and disc brake variant is not available for test drive
Min down payment of 20K to buy the bike on loan
The Hero Splendor is smoother than this bike and costs just 2K extra

For people who want mileage they will go to Bajaj
For people who need smoother engine - Hero Splendor
For people who are TVS loyalists but love Splendor or have a confusion at a different level - Yes, it's Radeon!