[CoNrOd]

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Thanks for the update mate. Our highways are not safe for speeds in excess of 100kmph anyways that too on 2 wheels. I will normally be in the 90-100kmph range and hence happy to know that the bike is well balanced & stable at high speeds as well.

How many kms once do u change the oil? And with the Motul 300v, what is the interval of oil change?

Normally, 2.5k kms per oil change, with motul synthetic i'll be sticking to 10k km drain intervals (although its can easily go to 15-16k km).

I just realised i didn't answer one of your earlier questions

And any aches or pains during the ride? Were you riding solo?

No, I was not solo. was 3 of actually on 2 bikes, so we would keep changing riders.

Somehow, the seating on the RTR is much more comfortable for me on long trips than most other bikes (surprisingly). Initially it does take time to get used to the seating position though, but once you are set, i find it very comfortable. On other bikes, your mid and upper back start to pain after some riding; since you are effectively crouching on the RTR its not your back but your arms that take the load of your body. but yes, after riding for 800+ kms, my lower spine did start to hurt.
but hey, you do those distances on any bike and you are likely to get aches and pains! (nothing a little moov can't fix!)

If there are any complaints on the ergonomics side, its that my knees start hurting coz of the cramped racing style positioning of the footpegs. But even that takes around an hour to creep in. (I guess that depends on individual tolerance levels)

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by CoNrOd

Normally, 2.5k kms per oil change, with motul synthetic i'll be sticking to 10k km drain intervals (although its can easily go to 15-16k km).

I just realised i didn't answer one of your earlier questions

No, I was not solo. was 3 of actually on 2 bikes, so we would keep changing riders.

Somehow, the seating on the RTR is much more comfortable for me on long trips than most other bikes (surprisingly).......

Wow! 10k kms drain interval for motul synth. That is great!! Good i asked you coz i thought it would probably last about 4-5k only.

And thanks for answering the previous query.

[CoNrOd]

Ok, its been a reeeeeeally long time since I posted any updates, so here goes.

Its now exactly 7 months and 10 days since I took delivery of the bike, and the ODO reads 9300+kms. Some of the prominent points to be mentioned are:

1. I had reported the issue I was facing with my tacho earlier; it took TVS 5 months in all to finally figure out what was wrong with it. They were actually clueless about what was wrong and didn't know what to do. At one stage, they were even going to take the bike back to Hosur to conduct further tests and maybe even replace the engine!. Finally though, it turned out to be a simple fix and was just a faulty voltage regulator!
As a result of this problem, of the 7 months almost 2 months the bike spent in the service centre. Parts replaced for free under warrenty include (as far as I know) 2 ECU, 3 wiring harnesses, a pulsar coil(read magneto), the tachometer, the RPM pick-up sensor, the clutch cable, the headlamp relay, and a spark plug.
But hats off to the TVS guys, they were genuinely scratching their heads with this problem and gave it everything to try and solve it; I mean, its been over a month since the problem was rectified and even now the engineer from TVS calls me once a week to check if there has been a relapse.

2. Another peculiar problem I faced was a structural failure of my sparkplug. I was cruising along at around 70 on the NH4 when suddenly a loud clicking noise comes out of nowhere. Initially I thought the tappets had gone for a toss. I brought the bike home and on inspection found that the ceramic portion of the spark plug had separated from the metal portion! This was something I had never heard of and even the service centre technicians said they were seeing such a case for the first time. The reason for the noise was due to compression leak (the sides of the plug were covered in the light brown color that would normally decorate the electrode). I was later told that this was due to over-tightening of the sparkplug. Anyway I got a new plug under warranty.

3. Related to the plug again, an interesting observation is that after 1k kms of riding with the new plug, the electrode is still white as new! surprising since there are no signs of the mixture being overly lean either.

4. The mileage has been consistently 46-47kmpl from the time I bought it, and it has never deviated from that figure. And frankly for my riding style, that's fantastic!

5. Minor niggles have been coming which I rectify instantly; such as the rear foot-pegs coming loose (they don't stay closed due to lack of spring tension) and the centre stand failing to retract fully released. But these are really minor niggles..

6. recently fitted a ratchet based throttle lock system for highway cruising. (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...e-v-2-0-a.html)

The bike overall is fantastic and performance is as enthusiastic as a young stallion. I am enjoying every bit of the bike and the kms on the ODO should explain it all!

[nkrishnap]

That is a very neatly documented review.

Off late even I am facing the tacho problem. It appears only when ridden in wet or when the bike is washed.

Off late even the batter is not getting charged properly. Suspect the RR unit to be culprit for this.

By the way completed 100K kms on the Apache. (62,813 kms on the old type Speedo and 37,250 kms on the digital Speedo).

[shridhar.s.i]

Hello,
I own an apache RTR 160 EFI - Model 2009,
Since it will be completing 2 years shortly i am planning for certain customizations to the bike as follows
1. Replacing the stock pilot lamps with blue LED's
2. Replacing the main headlamp with an H7 Projector having angel eyes option
3. Replacing front and rear tires with wider options: I drive a lot on wet conditions so the zappers tend to skid very frequently
4. Iridium spark plug

Please suggest if the above points are feasible and also any other additions are welcome