TVS Apache RTR 200 4V

Waited long to purchase the bike. Ride quality and all features are excellent. Satisfied with the product.
Very nice bike and very refined engine. Most value for money in this segment as per price and maintenance of bike.
Used for daily commute and occasional weekend rides. Very fun to ride machine.

About the Reviewer

History: i've been a tvs fan since 2005 when my father got his first bike- tvs victor gl. I've learned riding a motorcycle in this bike. And i was amazed by its performance. I've rode many bikes be it old or new, but i loved tvs's victor gl. I love all the bikes from tvs but i was more attracted to its 4v series and specially the 200 4v. I've googled every possible information i could get about the apache 200 4v for three years straight and I have been a fan of all its models. I've wanted to own it for too long but couldn't due to lack of money. Finally in 2020 i did decide to get one and of course I sold my father on the fact that the bike has dual channel abs and is safe, has rlp and slipper clutch. I also showed him how abs, slipper clutch works and all in all he was convinced to get me one. Being a rider for about more than 25 years he knew a hell lot about motorcycles and safety than me.
Purchasing: on October 16th of 2020 one fine afternoon my father decided to get the bike for me. A few days back he urged me to see if any showrooms near us had the bike and i did inform him so. So on that fine day we visited the showroom closest to us and to my utter disappointment the showroom had only the single channel abs variant. So we went to another showroom (MH automobiles, Islampur, 733202, uttar dinajpur, west bengal, India) and got the bike. I chose the glossy black color though if tvs provided matte black i would have preferred it more. Glossy black is more prone to minor scratches than the pearl white one, but then it had, dirt issues more than the glossy black one. Moreover you can't convince a black color lover to chose white over black. My father accidentally thought to get a blue one which was actually one of the 160 4v s there. Point to note, i got the 2020 bs6 model and there were only two color variants available- glossy black and pearl white, the matte blue came later along with the riding modes variant. I got it on cash the showroom charged me 1,58,500 INR which is more than what the actual on road price is even in Delhi. But when you got to get a motorcycle you got to get a motorcycle. So technically we did spend a bit more as there were no showrooms near our city and those there were did not have the model. We struck a deal of 1,60,000 INR which included 5 liters of petrol, indicator buzzer, ladies footrest and seat cover, i knew more about the bike than even the salesmen employed there so i paid no heed to them.
Post-purchase: coming to the riding experience post-purchase, maintaining a top speed of less than 50 km/h for 750 km was a gigantic pain in the a*s. But the owner manual had to be followed. I accidentally twice or thrice took it near 60 km/h. You can't really pay heed to the increasing speed in this bike. Its a throttle magnet and hungers for power like a beast.
First service: showroom feedback was satisfactory. Its the same showroom i got my bike from. They washed it, changed the engine oil and lubed the chain, didn't touch the brakes. I really didn't like their bike wash. But in reality i didn't care. I purchased a tvs chain lube, got back to my home and washed and polished and lubed it myself. I did purchase a dashboard polish and a Teflon polish beforehand. I made it shine as new. The indicator buzzer was a pain due to water encounter and i it beeped in a continuous frequency that pissed me off so i got it out and left it to dry. I put it back afterwards. I was very eager to test my top speed so the day i finished my first service, i gave it to the motorcycle attaining a top speed of 126 km/h right after service. I know its not very wise and i may have hurt the engine but when a dream comes true you ought to be pretty nuts sometimes. Well i did the same again twice or thrice not more. I basically stuck to 80 km/h maximum cruising speed afterwards.
Second service: took it to the service center again, the same one i got my motorcycle from. They did the same thing again, disgracefully washed it, changed the oil, didn't touch the brakes and lubed the chain. I returned home and did the same thing i did after the first service, i improvised. Again the buzzer was a pain in the a*s. Right after the 2nd service, the bike realized the monster i was. That was my fastest 2500 km in less than one months due to long 200-300 km rides and also the most intense throttling and speeding period. I basically did it to complete the rider tuning part in which the engine wears and tears from inside according to the rider's riding style. One of my friend suggested this. No, i did not abuse the engine, by sudden throttling of braking and revving, i just took it near the rpm red light set at 8000 rpm sometimes. At this stage the engine gave me a top speed of 127 km/h maximum.
Third servicing: in my 3rd service i got concerned about the bike a little more as i begun to understand it. I took it to a tvs dealer service centre (r.S. Automotive, Siliguri, Darjeeling, west bengal, India). I did order engine flush to flush out the iron dust from engine wear and tear, brakes normally got slightly less responsive, there as a noise from the handle bar joint, which annoyed me whenever i went through a small bump on the road making a thud. Chain got loose. All were normal stuff. I hate to say this, but I have never felt such humiliation in my life. I even gave the mechanic a tip before he took the bike for special care. They just washed the bike, did the engine flush, changed the oil and handed me over the bike basically. They didn't touch a single thing else. I had to return home 65 km far and so in a hurry i left and returned after going 1 km realizing the fault was there. When i asked them they told me all has been done and there is nothing left. As it is a dealership, obviously it was crowded and i hated waiting in the line again after sitting in the waiting room for 3 hours beforehand during the service. I took the motorcycle in the same condition and returned home. I took it to a local mechanic who tightened the chain and lubed it properly, he did actually tighten it a little bit more than recommended resulting in loud chain noise, but the chain slapping was gone. The handle bar sound was so annoying that i had to take it to a local mechanic again to resolve it. The good fellow, took a test ride and concluded that it was a handle bearing loosening issue. He then resolved it and asked me for a test ride and i was satisfied. Unlike the showroom guys he then cleaned the whole chain and bike and freshly lubed it, solved the brake issue, also changed the number plate bulb and charged 100 rupees only. I was very satisfied. Until the next service the bike performed well. I did not over speed much in this period and kept the bike around its comfort zone. I did hit 137 km/h top speed then. This happened only once. High speed riding was done sometimes but i usually had to ride in city so it usually remained in good rpm.
Fourth service: this time i had a series of problem. The gear box was choppy, fi tuning was a little unstable, i knowingly messed my clutch adjustment that helped me in long rides but not in city , number plate bulb was again gone, and the chain got loose again. This time i took it to another service center where the mechanics were friendly and tried to resolve all the problems. They cleaned and washed the bike, cleaned and lubed the chain, changed engine oil, cleaned the air filter, made the brakes more even and more responsive, solved the clutch issue. They did not have the number plate bulb and said the choppy gear box was the result of oil level drop that again pissed me off about my 3rd service. For the first time i was very satisfied with service center work. I found out that a chain noise was there, which came only when the bike decelerated, i was told that it was natural and would go away, i could lube it if it stays.
I willl repost.

About the Reviewer

Starting from where i left.
The very next day i lubed it well and rode for 60 kms but the noise remained. So 2 days after servicing i got back to the service center where I did my fourth service (the good guys of S.S. TVS, shivmandir, 734014, Darjeeling, West Bengal). They took the bike and cleaned the chain intensely, washed the bike and lubed it freshly this time making the chain shiny as new. The chain noise they said will remain because open chain is deemed to make noises like every other 200 cc bikes. The chain noise did calm a little and i also stuck to their instructions of lubing the chain whenever it made creepy sounds and it works every time. However the sound remained till this date and I am looking forward to my 5th and last free servicing. I did adjust my wheel alignment few days back and also changed my worn out clutch switch from service center. Those guys fixed the clutch switch once but it had to be changed so i did it. The clutch switch cost me 360 rupees.
Each free servicing costs around 700-850 rupees. That ridiculous 3rd servicing with engine flush cost me 1150 rupees.
Riding experience and performance: it is a beast. You know the torque and max power numbers. However my model has a little less power than the carbureted one that was there before for bs6 conversion the 2021 model is nearly same to the 2019 carb variant. The exhaust is what excited me most when i rode it for the first time. That grunt releases adrenaline in me. I have done 0-60 km/h in 3.8 seconds and 0-100 km/h in 9.5 seconds, 120 km/h in around 16 seconds, the remaining depends on the riding conditions. I got the highest speed after my 3rd servicing that is 151 km/h. City ride is better with the gtt technology and you don't need to use throttle in traffic, it attains considerable speed without clutch. I recommend using the 1st gear only when pillion is present otherwise 2nd gear is better for single person. Throttle response is amazing in all types of roads. There is a hunger for power. The moment you hit the throttle it tries to deliver instantly. I have taken my beast to hilly roads of mirik, rohini, kurseong, the pull is good. But don't hope to get the hill ride done in above 3 gears. The roads have potholes and at places the road is too straight upwards. If you put it above 3 gears that in the hills it will try to work hard, but will struggle and hurt the engine. Maximum power delivery is in the 1st gear and 2nd gear only. One who hears the exhaust can understand when the bike is struggling and when it is enjoying the roads. I personally love the exhaust because the sound changes. When you start the bike and ride it at 4000 rpm it gives a sweet sound bit whenever you pull the throttle above that the sound instantly feels like a beast growling. Moreover when you ride for few minutes at high rpm say 700 rpm and then return to 4000 rpm or stop the exhaust sound gets a different tone. It feels ktmish to be exact. I've already mentioned the power figures i have experienced. I feel most confident while leaning. The tires may be small compared to some of tvs 200 4v rivals but the lean angle can get really high in corners. The bike enters a sharp corner quite confidently and exits it proudly. But i advice not to lean too much. Of course the bike leans to a great degree but that is already more than what you can ask from such tires. Anything more than that you may loose friction in rear tire causing an accident that may get more deadly in the hills. So i would recommend not leaning too much, it is a naked bike with no fairing or frame like Yamaha r15 v3 or Ktm bikes. But overall lean angle is in great competition to its rivals. It has a 197cc engine displacement and performs really well from what i can tell you from my experience.
The abs are life savers, they did save me several times. I do know how to lock and release the brakes in other non abs bikes but as you know abs is better, it works in fractions of seconds, so you don't need to worry about losing traction. If you tires are good, disc plate and brake pads are in good condition you will definitely stay up straight. However too much trust on abs can sometimes lead to accident. Remember it will save your bike from traction loss not from a crash. The job of abs is to prevent the wheels from losing traction and it will do so, even if it needs it's sweet time. For example, in rain and dirt the abs gets triggered easily and takes more time to stop than in a perfectly good road because it releases the brakes and again locks it every time the wheel loses traction until the bike stops. That means if a vehicle in front of you suddenly hit brakes, the moment you hit brakes the abs will try to stop the bike, but pressing the brakes harder won't do anything, the brakes will lock and release automatically and in this process may lead to a collision, and if you are luck not to deadly one.
So the stopping depends on how actively you use your brakes not how hard you hit it. In the rains the bike roads nicely and the abs also works perfectly, but the stopping distance increases. This means you should not ride in speed during the rain to avoid crash. The abs will decide how it will stop the bike but the rider needs to decide how to stop the bike fast, so be careful and do not test your limits in this respect. Also you need to understand the abs is an electric function, which means it can malfunction and stop working in unfortunate circumstances so keep an eye on the abs indicator in the console. I personally practice pumping brakes despite having abs. It prepares me to ride bikes without abs. It is basically being the abs oneself. Talking about the tires i must say i am pretty satisfied with both the tires. However, i like the front tire more because it has better grip all over it and plays the most crucial role in braking. The rear tire on the other hand is good, but i personally think tvs should have given the Pirelli option that they used to provide before 2020. The rear tire feel a little too bald to me. The grip on the corners is good but on the middle i feel tvs could have provided some extra layer of grips and cuts for better road grip. Using the brake in a straight position when the bike is upright result to a slow braking to me than in an inclined state or curves. However that's from my pov.
The slipper clutch is excellent, you can downshift multiple gears without holding the clutch and not skidding the wheel. It feels super smooth if you release the throttle a little gradually, like when downshifting in regular bikes. However do not use it if not needed. I personally don't use it very often, only occasionally. I usually follow the traditional clutch using style. Suspension is showa in the back and kyb in the front. No complaints from them. However i feel riding with a pillion is more comfortable. The suspension easily absorbs bumps on the roads and the front suspension can take really bad potholes during critical situations. The front suspension even has stoppers so that the shockers don't go too deep bursting the oil seal and remains as a front suspension security. However, i suggest you ride carefully and safely. Try to avoid potholes because they may bend and disorient the suspension and cause oil seal leak that can in turn be bad if spilt on the brakes. The clip-on handles are too good and provide excellent handling, you can adjust its free movement if you want from a mechanic. The handling feels like gliding on bad roads. Of course rider skills matters but the motorcycle has excellent handling and feels very comfortable and light in turns, twists, curves and braking. One of the best handling motorcycle of its segment. There is a dual speaker horn that gets very load, sometimes annoyingly and embarrassingly loud in narrow roads.
I speak too much, I will post one last time.

About the Reviewer