[Akash5653]

Dear Members,
I’ve started this thread to elaborate on how ugly my experience has been with my TVS Apache 160 2V Black Edition — and even worse, the after-sales service.

I purchased the bike on May 29th last year from Ramkay TVS, Adyar, Chennai, and right from the beginning, there was one issue after another. Within the first month itself, I realized I had ended up with a lemon.

Here are the issues I’ve faced in the past year:

Poor mileage: Despite driving only in the city under 60 kmph and never on the highway or long stretches, it consistently returned just 32 kmpl.

Battery symbol flickering: The battery symbol would randomly turn on and off. Sometimes the bike wouldn't start immediately — it would take a minute or two to fire up.

Tappet noise: Loud tappet noise started within the first 1500 km. When I raised this during service, I was told it’s “mechanical” and can happen to any bike — even a day-old one! Is this what TVS quality control has come to?

Heavy clutch pull: Despite adjusting the clutch play several times, the clutch always felt unnecessarily heavy.

Whistling noise: After tappet adjustment, the bike ran okay for about 1500 km, and then another issue cropped up — a loud turbo-like whistling noise under acceleration, along with noticeable power loss. During a service visit in December, I pointed this out. The sound was audible even to bystanders, yet the service advisor refused to acknowledge it. That visit must have been my 20th trip to the service center by then.


Eventually, I got in touch with the service engineer manager and explained everything. Yet, each time I visited, they refused to generate a job card for issue rectification. The manager was rude, dismissive, and acted like I got the bike in a lucky draw.

Later, Mr. Nellai Nayagam, the Territory Manager, got involved. He listened patiently but offered no concrete solution. I kept receiving calls from the service center, citing the territory manager’s name and asking me to bring the bike. But every time I did, it was the same cycle — no resolution, only wasted time. Over this whole ordeal, my bike has probably sat in the service center for at least one full month, and not once was I offered a loaner.

Then came April, and they claimed that a senior TVS team had inspected the bike and diagnosed a faulty magneto for the whistling sound. It was replaced, and I was called to collect the bike — but guess what? The exact same noise persisted.

After 5–6 more visits, they agreed to replace the entire engine under warranty. I was relieved and thought it was finally over. The new engine was installed in 5 days. But when I collected the bike, it sounded like it had already done 1 lakh kms — rough and with tappet noise again. Two mechanics confirmed it was tappet noise. I asked how a new engine could have this issue, and again the same lame response — “It can happen to any bike.”

I called the territory manager and asked him how a new engine could need tappet adjustment. He replied, “I’m a technical person. If there’s noise, I’ll open it up immediately.” I told him I wasn’t okay with opening a factory-sealed engine right away. He said, “No problem. Continue using it like this.”

Three days later, I met him in person and made him hear the tappet noise. He took the bike to the 2nd floor service bay around 6 PM. I waited nearly 3 hours with no updates. When I went up myself, I was shocked — they were replacing the camshaft without my consent. When I confronted the manager, he casually said there were visible scoring marks. I asked how a “brand-new engine” could require a camshaft change in just 100 km. No response.

At that point, I had completely lost faith in TVS. Despite having a budget of ₹2.5 lakh, I chose this bike purely because I liked the black color and design. I now regret the ₹1.4 lakh I spent — not to mention the ₹16,000+ in additional costs. So many calls, mails, complaints, and grievance registrations — all were useless.

Just as I was trying to move on, yesterday, after a short 5 km ride, I noticed engine oil leaking from the bottom. Closer inspection revealed it was leaking from the top too — and that’s when I just gave up. I'm completely out of options and emotionally exhausted.

Hence this thread. I sincerely request the help and guidance of Team-BHP members on what steps to take now.

To those considering a TVS bike, especially the RTR series — think twice. There are far better options today in every segment. Don’t end up like me, dealing with a brand that has zero concern for customer satisfaction.

[doomketu]

Parts unavailability, highly unprofessional service centre and an abysmal issues are rampant across the board for ALL their bikes. A Ronin is facing similar concerns right from the get go for their new bike. My advice is to cut your losses , find a good FNG and keep all evidences handy. Go higher up and threaten them with a consumer court complaint. The folks in my circle have done the same. A brand new rtr310 had qc issues from get go. A brand thats known for its racing pedigree is falling low.

[Akash5653]

Originally Posted by doomketu

Parts unavailability, highly unprofessional service centre and an abysmal issues are rampant across the board for ALL their bikes. A Ronin is facing similar concerns right from the get go for their new bike. My advice is to cut your losses , find a good FNG and keep all evidences handy. Go higher up and threaten them with a consumer court complaint. The folks in my circle have done the same. A brand new rtr310 had qc issues from get go. A brand thats known for its racing pedigree is falling low.

Exactly sir, all of the points that you've mentioned Here are absolutely right. Now my last hopes are This thread and consumer court case. I hope they Don't take it that far and replace this lemon for me.
I can only imagine the stress that the owners of Those bikes are going through. Damn

[BullettuPaandi]

Hey, Akash5653! The moment I read TVS Adyar, I recalled coming across another such thread; which turns out was also from you earlier this year. Sorry to hear that the issue still hasn't been resolved.

The best guidance has already come from doomketu. Better find a good FNG as suggested; it doesn't look like these guys know what they're doing. I only have a few thoughts and questions that I'll add here.

Your bike might've had improper valve clearance adjustments from the beginning, which over the first 1500km could've gotten obnoxiously worse and caused damage to rollers on the rocker arms. This is obviously just a guess, but only this would explain poor mileage and the noise. Just to be clear, as mentioned in my reply to your other thread, I don't think these roller tappets can cause such 'tappet noise' as the old school flat ones; and some noise on cold starts is normal, as it takes a while for oil to warm up and flow freely enough to lubricate parts on the head. But now that you mention facing this issue since 1500km, along with poor mileage from the beginning, I think there's a high chance that your tappets are blown.

I'm not well-versed in electricals- let alone electricals in a Motorcycle- but I can safely say that a whistling noise combined with loss of power is a blatant case of vacuum leak. I can't see how this is even remotely close to a "magneto"- which, by the way, is an old-school part/term I've seen mechanics using to describe the stator that lies inside the crankcase near the flywheel. This stator feeds the battery, which feeds the ignition coil, which has long replaced the actual magneto ever since we needed the battery. There are so many easier things to check for and look into than cracking open a left side crankcase to fix this particular issue.

I know parts availability is generally higher in metro cities than rural areas, but I find a brand-new engine replacement within 5 days hard to believe. Did/could you verify whether it was a new engine? I don't know how this works: Do they order a new engine with your engine number? Or change a new one in your RC? Or re-assemble an entire rest of the new engine around the old block where the number is etched? A brand-new camshaft just happen to be lying around in stock, is equally hard for me to believe. I wait for weeks to get even slightly not usually needed bolts!

If there indeed was scoring on the camshaft, the oil channel to the head may be blocked or chocked somehow- perhaps accumulation of metals shavings or packing adhesive that somehow got past the filter. This might explain oil leakage from the bottom and what appears to be around cam-chain tensioner from your pictures. I think all bikes have this port on the top with which we can check for oil supply to the head. Refer the manual for proper instructions, but it's quite simple to check- let the engine idle for a while, loosen the bolt to see if oil leaks out with enough pressure.

If you're not comfortable doing this, just take it to a mechanic as you'll anyway have to.

[Vagabond27]

Send a legal notice to the company and showroom demanding a full refund. If they fail to respond within the stipulated time, proceed to file a complaint with the consumer court.

[Akash5653]

Originally Posted by Vagabond27

Send a legal notice to the company and showroom demanding a full refund. If they fail to respond within the stipulated time, proceed to file a complaint with the consumer court.

Vagabond, That is the last resort I'm planning on. My only doubt is why don't they just take a bike which is riddled with problems, even after a claimed engine replacement and just replace it for me!

Originally Posted by BullettuPaandi

Hey, Akash5653! The moment I read TVS Adyar, I recalled coming across another such thread; which turns out was also from you earlier this year. Sorry to hear that the issue still hasn't been resolved.

The best guidance has already come from doomketu. Better find a good FNG as suggested; it doesn't look like these guys know what they're doing. I only have a few thoughts and questions that I'll add here.

Your bike might've had improper valve clearance adjustments from the beginning, which over the first 1500km could've gotten obnoxiously worse and caused damage to rollers on the rocker arms. This is obviously just a guess, but only this would explain poor mileage and the noise. Just to be clear, as mentioned in my reply to your other thread, I don't think these roller tappets can cause such 'tappet noise' as the old school flat ones; and some noise on cold starts is normal, as it takes a while for oil to warm up and flow freely enough to lubricate parts on the head. But now that you mention facing this issue since 1500km, along with poor mileage from the beginning, I think there's a high chance that your tappets are blown.

I know parts availability is generally higher in metro cities than rural areas, but I find a brand-new engine replacement within 5 days hard to believe. Did/could you verify whether it was a new engine? I don't know how this works: Do they order a new engine with your engine number? Or change a new one in your RC? Or re-assemble an entire rest of the new engine around the old block where the number is etched? A brand-new camshaft just happen to be lying around in stock, is equally hard for me to believe. I wait for weeks to get even slightly not usually needed bolts!

If you're not comfortable doing this, just take it to a mechanic as you'll anyway have to.

BullettuPaandi, Same bike, Different issues the engine didn't arrive in 5 days, the Installation took 5 days. Before that I had to wait For almost 15 days for the engine to arrive. The Engine had the same engine number as the old One and they did not provide three free services That a new engine would get. Everything felt shady And still is

[shatananda.k]

I guess TVS works only if their CEO is involved. There were issues faced by fellow bhpian
Link (Update on my Horrible Service Experience with TVS | How I got the issue resolved)

[Akash5653]

Originally Posted by shatananda.k

I guess TVS works only if their CEO is involved. There were issues faced by fellow bhpian
Link (Update on my Horrible Service Experience with TVS | How I got the issue resolved)

shatananda, I read that thread, in that the OP Somehow got the CEO's mail and he did not Mention how. So getting in touch with the ceo is Not easy I believe

[BullettuPaandi]

Originally Posted by Akash5653

So getting in touch with the ceo is Not easy I believe

I might have a lead; check PM. This may not be his current eMail. Still, not posting here with consideration to his privacy.

[ManualMaestro]

Originally Posted by Akash5653

shatananda, I read that thread, in that the OP Somehow got the CEO's mail and he did not Mention how. So getting in touch with the ceo is Not easy I believe

Hi Akash. I feel your frustration, especially because such major issues should never have occurred on a brand new bike. After reading your entire thread, I also came to the same resolution that you got a lemon. TVS service is mostly a bunch of non-trained mechanics. However, I must ask, did you not do the PDI? or these issues were not noticeable then? The heavy clutch sounds like a gunked up/deteriorated old cable..

Anyways, pls DM me. I'll try to help to my best ability.

[Santy19]

My family has a 2019 Apache RTR160 4V, while getting that bike we had to choose between Honda Hornet 160, FZ 150 and Apache 160 4V.

We chose Apache because it was better bike on spec sheet, had better pillion seat and had some features like pass switch, engine kill switch, which the compilation then lacked

6yrs in we still own that bike, but nobody rides it especially during monsoon

TVS quality control in 2019 was all over the place, our head gasket has been replaced several times switches have lost its smooth functionality, everything from horn to indicators are now a hard press.

The most horrendous part of that bike is its fuel filler cap, water gets in the tank as if its hydrophilic, This resulted in rusting inside the tank, oxidised iron now resides in our carb, resulting in stuttering whenever we start the bike after 2-3 days.

Yesterday itself, I wanted to get somewhere and the apache was only available, but to my surprise our bike wont start, if it started it wont hold idle revs, I knew it was water ingress in the tank. I had to take a rick to the place.

After returning when I drained the tank, It was holding 2ltrs of water and 5ltrs of petrol, also I had to drain the carb, the drain screw of the carb has seen soo many tinkering that the treads have started to wear out.

Whats the use of the bike when it cant serve its owner when needed and most importantly you cant trust it in case of emergency

[FalconRed]

Oh god, it is sad to see the amount of energy and money we spend on these brands and the way these brands handle our issues.

I was planning to upgrade from my 10-year-old RTR 180 to RTR 200 4v for my office commute. But the sad state of our beloved ready-to-race brand and its service centre is pushing me to purchase any Japanese or half-British brand.

I hope you get your issue resolved ASAP. Tag them on x, Instagram and other social media.

[VijayAnand1]

TVS' quality has definitely taken a hit. Now, where the onus lies is where the picture gets unclear. Is it a botched up job by the SVC or poor QC from factory is anyone's guess. With mechanics using new bikes as donor bikes if a particular part isn't available for a vehicle that's shown up for service, is rampant across many SVCs.

Sadly, you might have ended up with a lemon aggravated by the incapability of both the service center and TVS. Did you try escalating it through their escalation chart present at the service center? You have Works Manager, ASM, and Regional Manager their respective email ID and phone number provided on the chart which can come in handy.

If the bike's still troubling you, I'd consider you to cut your losses, move to an independent garage and get it inspected thoroughly and don't mind spending little extra to get it shape, if all else doesn't turn out to shipshape.

This engine is doing duty for decades -- it's an extremely simple engine. A competent mechanic can definitely isolate your issues, provided you stay put throughout the process as a wise sentinel.

Good luck.

Cheers!
VJ