[shrey220]

I've recently completed over 1600 kms on my Tork Kratos R and below is my take on the motorcycle.

Background: My father being an EV enthusiast, there was no doubt my family would be one of the early EV adopters. I've had decent experience with EVs, since we own a Bajaj Chetak EV, MG ZS EV and now the Kratos R. The reason to mention this is that I'm not new to the driving/riding pattern an EV needs to know its potential.

Why Kratos?
1. The founder, Mr. Kapil Shelke, knows what he's doing since he's been in the same background for years now. Not to forget that this startup is backed by Force Motors, which separates them from many other EV startups.
2. I've always used a motorcycle for my daily commuting and scooters just don't do it for me.
3. The company being from Pune, Maharashtra itself, gave me the confidence of getting faster resolutions to early adopter issues.

I had booked the bike in black colour on the day of launch. Tork motors contacted me for the final payment in June, but was informed that only the white colour would be available in the first round of production. I decided to wait and finally got the black colour delivered on 5th October 2022.


First impressions:
1. The bike looks good! I did not have very high expectations since its their very first product, but the looks really impressed me.
2. As you go closer, the average built quality is pretty evident. Panel gaps are uneven, plastic quality is average, indicators have no flex whatsoever. Many users on their private forum have complained about the indicators breaking, but the company has promised to come up with a solution. The quality of the switches on the handlebar are below average and the experience is not smooth.
3. Display: It shows a decent amount of information, but being an EV and in 2022, one would expect a colored TFT screen, if not a touch screen. But this is way better than the one they had on the pre production model. The battery temperature and percentage is displayed like a fuel guage and not in numericals, which I find very annoying.

Issues:
1. I had faced charging issues on the very first day. The bike would charge in increments of 20% before stopping each time.
Due to lack of time, I could not visit their service center which is 25 kms away from my place. Surprisingly, the issue was resolved on its own.
2. All users had a battery drain issue where the battery would drain almost 3-5% when parked overnight. Just a few days ago, the company rectified this issue by changing some cables which were drawing current unnecessarily and with a software update.
3. Headlights are useless. There's absolutely no difference in the throw of upper and dipper lights.
4. The instrument cluster is too bright after sunset. Only a tinted film over it could help.

Experience:
The bike comes with three modes, Eco, City and Sport. Eco mode is very dull but lets you get upto speeds of 50kmph which is decent. City mode has better acceleration and goes upto 70kmph. I haven't bothered testing the range in Eco and City modes, as I never use them. But I must say, the motor is really really efficient. I ride it in Sport mode, exactly like I used to ride my Dominar 400 for my daily commute. Yet, the bike returns a good efficiency of about 95-99 kms per charge in Sport mode (Company claims 90kms). My accelerations are linear and I ride at around 55-70 kmph using regen instead of brakes.
Being chain driven, chain maintenance becomes mandatory which I really don't mind.
The App comes with a unique feature (compensating for the lack of modern instrument cluster) where the phone connects via bluetooth and displays a fancy version of the instrument cluster on the phone. It can be used by mounting the phone on the handle bar, but it's mostly a miss since it does not work well in real time.
The bike does have fast charging capabilities, but since the company has not finalised the type of charging port as of December 2022, the charging port slot has been left empty for now. The slow fixed charger at 750w does take a good 6-7 hours to completely charge the vehicle.

Likes:
1. Looks
2. Performance

Dislikes
1. Average fit and finish
2. Price (1.6L OTR Pune, considering the fit and finish)
3. Poor App and connectivity experience
4. Poor headlight throw.
5. Very basic looking instrument cluster.




Basic but informative instrument cluster






Black space left for the fast charging port.



Some storage space where a fuel tank's supposed to be.


Conslusion: Apart from the very few negatives, the Tork Kratos R is a really good, fun to ride motorcycle, at least within the city at the moment.

[GTO]

Thread moved to the Motorcycle section! Thanks for sharing. Going to our homepage today

[Rajeevraj]

Congratulations on the purchase and wish you all the best. Had never heard of such an EV brand. After reading the review, atleast to me, it seems like the cons are much more significant than the pros. The core of any EV is its charging and battery management features and I see there have been issues with it.

Was the purchase as part of some early adopter or testing program? If it is in full production, then some of the issues seem unpardonable.

Please do keep updating on the experience.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by shrey220

Experience:
The bike comes with three modes, Eco, City and Sport. Eco mode is very dull but lets you get upto speeds of 50kmph which is decent. City mode has better acceleration and goes upto 70kmph.
...
My accelerations are linear and I ride at around 55-70 kmph using regen instead of brakes.

Thanks for sharing this. I expect bike EVs to be the final frontier on 2-wheeler EV adoption. Waiting for the market to start offering more options. A few Qs

1) I'm guessing the silver box like setup at the center has the battery cells setup. How does it hold up in terms of body chassis? Say if we compare it to a normal bike chassis?

2) What is the ground clearance distance to the lowest point of that silver box setup? Also how is is the structure setup to hold it from the bottom (not clear in the pics)?

3) What about the security aspects (ABS, etc.) - I notice both tires have disc brakes so that's good.

4) What about weight distribution when riding - how does it fare when compared to a similar sized bike (I guess a 125 or 150 cc might be close)? How about when with a pillion?

[shrey220]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Congratulations on the purchase and wish you all the best. Had never heard of such an EV brand. After reading the review, atleast to me, it seems like the cons are much more significant than the pros. The core of any EV is its charging and battery management features and I see there have been issues with it.

Was the purchase as part of some early adopter or testing program? If it is in full production, then some of the issues seem unpardonable.

Please do keep updating on the experience.

Thanks!
The company has been in production since June 2022, but having limited production, they've sold around 500 units till date. Soon they will be shifting to a larger production facility, capable of producing 60k units a year.
I agree that the issues were related to the core components of the motorcycle, but they are fast in resolving them. With the new software and wiring update, now the phantom battery drain is absolutely zero.
The company claims to be sourcing 94% of the components locally and is a long time supplier of their Axial Flux motor to a three wheeler EV manufacturer.
So their future seems bright!

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

1) I'm guessing the silver box like setup at the center has the battery cells setup. How does it hold up in terms of body chassis? Say if we compare it to a normal bike chassis?

Yes, that's the aluminium battery casing. The bike is structured very well. Even though it has a funny looking tubular swingarm, it does its job well. Compared to the long termers I've had in the past, Pulsar 220 and Dominar 400, the Kratos feels more stable.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

2) What is the ground clearance distance to the lowest point of that silver box setup? Also how is is the structure setup to hold it from the bottom (not clear in the pics)?

The ground clearance is 165mm. I haven't scrapped it anywhere yet even with a pillion. The battery is mounted from the top and rear part of the casing on the chasis.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

3)What about the security aspects (ABS, etc.) - I notice both tires have disc brakes so that's good.

Sorry, I completely forgot to add this point in the original post! It comes with CBS which is a bummer! Braking is good but ABS is missed.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

4) What about weight distribution when riding - how does it fare when compared to a similar sized bike (I guess a 125 or 150 cc might be close)? How about when with a pillion?

With the huge battery pack, the weight is saturated mostly in the centre and is very well balanced. Yes, it comes between a 125 to 150cc bike. But with 38Nm of torque right from the beginning, it feels much faster. I've had limited experience with a pillion, but it did not feel any different than riding solo.