Spied TVS Apache 200 close observation

Indonesia is huge marketplace for TVS, where TVS have it's whole lineup, some of mopets are specifically sold in Indonesia due to market specification so hence it's no surprise if TVS wishes to test it's upcoming Apache 200 in Indonesia.

Spied sometimes back in India this upcoming sporty TVS will go head to head against Pulsar range in It's displacement capacity, This new Apache will be powered by 200 CC 4 valve SOHC setup it could be 2 valve setup as well , we'll discuss it further in article.

First lets have some closer look on this mean machine.

As you can see above this image beside is snapshot taken from video and the guy who have taken this video claiming that this machine was cruising at 110 - 120 kmph on highways, which means newer engine have tones of performance on the tap,
The older Apache was known for its punchy mid range but it was lacking in top end performance which is required on highways, seems like TVS have sorted out that performance issue with newer power plant.

 The side profile seems pretty sleek with Hero CBZ sports like appearance due to longer mudflap but as you can see in Indonesian spyshot , the mudflap is removable for more sporty look, the front dome have minimalestic typical street fighter look, something which we already have seen in TVS Draken concept.

 

 The headlight cowl is not completely visible so it's hard to imagine it's final look, but what you can see is absent windshield n front of console for more streetfighter appeal something which we see in bigger streetfighter bikes like BMW S1000R or KTM's Superduke 1290.

Apache have clip on handlebars and fuel cap at right hand side rather than in center, moreover split seats are clearly visible in this picture.

  Here you can see brake hoses for rear disk brake and engine cooling fines which confirms engine is not liquid cool it could be just oil cool.

Engine appears to be taller which suggest bike will be in square bore and stroke or longer stoke, The idea of longer stoke gets support from longer exhaust pipe to suppress loud scream of longer stroke motor. Remember exhaust canister of  Royal Enfield ? it's longer because longer stoke motor produces heavy thumping sound.

and if TVS decides to develop bike which is high on torque rather than horse power TVS might ditch the idea of 4 valve in favor of 2 for punchy mid range torque something previous generation Apache is renounce for.

  The Instrument cluster seems come with all the important information and it's all digital!
The digital tacho have redline define at 12 k rpm and thus engine should surely climb 10 k rpm at least.
The gear indicator is visible with clock beside,
The big digits for current speed takes place at center below which fuel indicator is present , which the wording RACE ON might be welcome text on console.

with this Apache TVS will try to  strike upon the performace segement bikes which costs around 1 lakh , so there's no doubt TVS will try to keep price of this TVS apache 200 under 1 lakh

Feel free to post your comment below let us know what you feel for this next generation TVS Apache.    

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2015 Bajaj Avenger !

If you ask general people which Indian sportbike they like the answer will be undoubtedly Pulsar ! That's right people Pulsar made Bajaj famous and that's because radical marketing strategy. Bajaj made Pulsar the whole new series consisting of bikes from lower displacement to the higher displacement and that's the success formula for Pulsar.

Now it seems like Bajaj is going to try same strategic move with Avenger too! and it's going to happen sooner than you thought, Avenger was started it's journey as Kawasaki Eliminator roughly 10 years before. Then gradually Bajaj given started to install Pulsar powerplant into Avenger but real thing with Avenger happened when it got powerplant from Pulsar 220. Unknowingly Bajaj Introduced option for Pulsar 220 although these two are radically different bikes but personally I have seen lots of people getting confuse between these two bikes.

Heavy resemblance from Street 750

Now come to these spyshots what you're seeing here is Avenger street. How do we know name ? look at the side panels ! Bike does have small but apparent changes like all black treatment , newer rims, front fork covers, mechanically bike is said to have 200 cc engine and you can see it's oil cooler which means it's powerplant from Pulsar 200 which was discontinued after coming of 200 NS.

Visually bike looks more catchy to eyes, the newer silencer might give nice growl from cruiser perspective. Honestly this new Avenger street reminds me alot about Harley Davidson Street 750.
The alloy rims will help to install tubless tyre sets.

It is expected that Bajaj will roll this newer avenger in this Diwali festival season, the ongoing  Avenger 220 model will get update as well and few sources coming around suggests that Bajaj is also working on smaller Avenger motorcycle something between 150 to 180 cc displacement range.

We're expecting this newer avenger will get prices tag range of 90 thousands to 1 lakh onroad in India.

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Royal Enfield Himalayan's , cleanest spyshot

The loyal Royal Enfield fans might know that company is going to introduce bunch of new products with extensive foreign R&D involvement, and what you're looking at is one of such new product.

The Himalayan (Indian's knows how to spell) is visually most radical Royal Enfield motorcycle to the date. Royal Enfiled believes there's huge potential for adventure bikes in India as well as around glob.

At top of tier there's some top dogs like BMW's R1200GS and and KTM's 1290 Super Adventure with complex electronics packages but Royal Enfiled believes in man and machine philosophy and willing to keep things simple, moreover it's company's first adventure bike, so in some sense Himalayan is like prototype machine for market response.

There's no official words regarding powerplant but most likely it'll be powered by 410 cc thumper derived from Continental GT,  Same with it's frame  but rear sub frame seems highly modified for off-road purpose, the inputs for frame is most likely taken from Harris Performance.

The front high travel forks and sharp threaded tyre's shouts loud about it's offroad capability. It's good to see such variations regarding products in Indian market, now it'll be interesting to see if any other Indian manufacturer gonna try distinctive move like this !      

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Hero HX 250R first ever spyshots

 

Yes guys you heard it right this is first spyshot of hero HX 250R taken few days earlier , what basically you're seeing is bike with heavy influence of Erik Buell machinery, The rear end in this specific spyshot taken from above appears very similar to Hero's Karizma which is not attractive but actual story may different than pictures, just as we've seen this bike looks gorgeous in Delhi Expo.

We can see horizonally placed shox at rear, bike's tubular frame is known to be very lightweight , Just to get idea bike's whole dry weight is just 149 kg which is surly impressive at least on paper.

As most of you know its 249 cc single cyclinder producing 31 bhp of peak power at 9000 rpm sounds damn short stroke motor. but what makes this Hero interesting is it's duel ignition mapping! just as we know liter class bikes comes with various engine mappings for manageable power delivery.

In case of Hero HX 250R one mode gives bike full 31 bhp on tap power while other eco mode caps it's power at 24 bhp for efficient operation in city riding's.

Hero HX 250R was suppose to launch at present time but it got delay because of it's partner company Erik Buell been bankrupt. For those looking for performance machines in quarter liter segment hold  your money in banks until HX 250R get's out, Cause HX 250R is suppose to be international product which means fit and finish quality should be upto really high standards.

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Yamaha MT 25 spotted in Indonesia

If you love naked bikes then you'll love to know, This MT 25 is just spotted in Indonesia as we know Indonesian government is applying heavy taxes on bikes above 250 cc displacement that's why Indonesia is blessed with some awesome 250 cc bikes.

For example this Yamaha MT 25 based on Yamaha's YZF R25 and YZF R3 with removed fairing and flat handlebar for street fighter character. If this bike could make it's way to India it'll go head to head with Kawasaki's Z250 and upcoming duke 250 as well as some others. But chances for getting this bike in our country is far less instead we believe this bike will make it's way to mostly European   countries. 

But not to loose hope riders, there are chances for YZF R3 in India at the ending of this year or beginning of 2016 as competition is heating up in 300 cc segment and we don't think Yamaha is willing to late in this party. 

This front end is surprisingly alike new FZ 2.0

Same liquid cool parallel twin from YZF R25

Tail section is straight pick from YZF R25 and YZF R3

Exhaust pipe as well as tubular chassis is carried from YZF R25 and R3

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Pulsar's official Facebook fan page teases with new images, Suggesting Pulsar 200 RS instead of 200 SS !

It's clear that Bajaj is going to launch their new Pulsar 200 SS in next month, What  you're seeing here is teaser images of Bajaj Pulsar's official Facebook page, mentioning Pulsar 200 RS , while it's least possible that Bajaj will give RS name to 200 SS at last moment , but possibility we can't ignore, Bajaj could go ahead and change name of 200 SS as 200 RS or it could be just teaser image to make hype in fan's till launching period.

 

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Fully faired Gixxer is not Gixxer SLK but Gixxer SF

As our earlier report we mentioned fully faired Gixxer is Gixxer SLK,but it is GIxxer SF, which get's clear from graphics on side fairing cowl of spyshot, bike is getting same engine as naked Gixxer ,155 CC air cooled single , twin valve motor producing 14.8 bhp and 14 nm of torque, fuelling via same carburetor system unlike FI. Bike is expected to get launch in this year infact we think it'll get launch in next month because spyshot's shows almost production ready motorcycles.

Suzuki Gixxer SF's main rival will be Fazer FI V2.0  even though later benefited from electronic fuel injection system, Gixxer SF have more power and torque advantage plus bike is wearing full fairing unlike semi fairing on Fazer.

White color front end seems somewhat similar to older Karizma ZMR front end

Confusion in naming got created due to one of the spy shot on which Suzuki was written in cross across tank to fairing transition on blue color motorcycle(you can see in previous report).
Gixxer SF will be price 4 to 5 thousand premium over naked Gixxer.

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Spyshots of upcoming fully faired Suzuki, Gixxer SLK ? sounds interesting!

Rear end is same as Gixxer which isn't bad either

After huge success with Gixxer, Suzuki seems not in mood to hold back, and currently testing fully faired variant of Gixxers known as Gixxer SLK , We know you already thinking about Yamaha's strategy with FZ and Fazer and you ain't wrong ! But interestingly Suzuki repeated lesson of Yamaha  with slight different fashion, Instead of introducing semi faired variant of same bike, Suzuki stepping one step further to bring fully faired motorcycle, Brave move Suzuki! cause Indian's are always thirsty for fully faired motorcycles.
Looking at first spy picture it's clear that Gixxer SLK retains same tail section as Gixxer. Tail lamp, signals, mudguard, 140 section grippy tire, twin port side slung exhaust with chrome end everything is identical.

Front end is inspired by bigger GSX-R motorcycles

      Front fairing is cleverly crafted inspired by big bore GSX-R bike's, with pseudo air scoops somewhat similar to Hysoung GT 250R. with yellowish black strips. what interesting thing we're seeing here is Gixxer's existing headlamp assembled with fairing elements beautifully. Where Yamaha did that with twin headlamps in Fazer, and thus Suzuki have shown fully faired sport bike doesn't needs to have twin lamp setup to look sporty.

Rear brake is drum type, disk should be given at least as an option

Side profile is nothing spacial with front fairing going down till engine bottom. with exception of Panel mounted instrument cluster, everything else remains same, there are yellow color strips to wheels, we believe Gixxer SLK to be powered by same engine as current Gixxer. 154.9 cc air cooled motor with twin valves at overhead camshaft producing 14.8 bhp at 8000 rpm, with same 5 speed gearbox.
Gixxer SLK is expected to launch this year,  SLK will give definitely solid fight to Yamaha's Fazer due to higher power figure and could steal few sale numbers of R15 due to fully faired design.
Late but not least we're happy for Suzuki with their decision to bring some handsome looking bike's in India.   

 

 

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Our thoughts over spied TVS bike. Is that really 250 cc motorcycle?

almost modified offroad looking test mule.

Few day's back almost every Indian automotive site were talking about TVS's spied bike, speculating  spied bike is Draken inspired 250 cc bike, while this may be true that bike has employed host of technological update from Draken concept, but truth may far from fact.

Draken 250

Draken was shown in last years auto expo at Delhi, short stroke liquid cool single with 250 cc putting some 38 bhp at very high 12000 rpm which is hard to believe. But again giving over optimistic figures in such big expo grabs media's attention cause no one care's to prove those no's and even if that bike make's somehow to production version with same power ,

Even Draken's dash seems inspired by Superduke 1290's dash.

 we're sure Draken won't gonna pass sound pollution test because of almost muffler less exhaust pipe to which TVS proudly calls reverse exhaust! TVS really ? anyways bike looks fantastic and futuristic with Superduke 1290 inspired bulky tank.

New frame is apparent, piston block cooling fins are visible, monoshock is present.

Now  let's have look at these test mules look's somewhat incomplete because TVS have removed excessive plastic cowls to hide identity of bike, In this second spied image if you look with your precise eyes , you will see cooling fins around piston block and this single clue is enough for us to understand that this isn't Draken 250 employ power plant, instead it's bore up version of Apache 180 block and may be TVS is willing to brought Apache 180 in 200 cc format, or to increase power of existing Apache 180 by increasing compression ratio and adding 4 valve setup! whatever it is but we're sure TVS don't wants to jump from 180 cc to direct 250cc. from the spy picture you can also see there is no double cradle frame like current model instead there is new perimeter or trellis frame just like Draken so like we said before TVS is using technological development taken in Draken but this bike is no 250 cc Draken, instead bike that spied is upgraded Apache. Draken was relatively premium bike and we don't believe TVS will test that bike on public road just like what hero did with their HX 250R.           
 

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200 AS spied in India

It appearing that Bajaj is planning to take whole range of pulsar in second generation phase, first there was 200 SS spied all year long in 2014 and then came 150 NS in second half of 2014 and now what we're seeing is bit unexpected , we thought 200 SS will be successor to the last generation flagship 220f  but no. The name evokes 200 AS in India just like Indonesia.
back in few days we have reported that Bajaj have displayed 200 AS to some Indonesian communities and this time we're seeing this camouflage model of 200 AS , AS stands for Adventure sports which means bike is sport tourer version of 200 NS, all the elements of 200 NS is carried forward to 200 AS with change in front semi fairing which houses projector headlamp for high beam just like 220 f.

This is the same bike which is spotted few days back rigorously testing at  Bajaj's private test track.    

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Mahindra Mojo spied in lonavla

And again Mahindra Mojo has been spied and this time at Lonavla, It's the bike which is being under testing phase from past five years. When Mahindra have displayed bike. Bike was surely revolutionary for it's time back in five years but alot is been changed in past five years mainly when orange street fighter arrived in market, people who were hoping to get hands on Mojo, changed their choice for duke which is fantastic bike. I think Mahindra have lost it's many of customers due to heavy delay in launch process , This delay may cause due to SUV oriented company or not so well knowledge in two wheeler engineering but surely Mahindra have lost many prospective buyers, also the market situation is very competitive at current, there are many performance products in Mojo's territory already present such as CBR 250 R, Duke 200 ,Pulsar 200 NS  and many more.

Picture source : motorbeam.com

From the visuals we can see bike have same twin ribs pipe as  Mahindra Centuro but in case of Mojo those pipe's actually works as chassis, there are inverted fork at front which is good, rear is monoshock for sure but we can't figure out much about it, rims are 17 inch format with front having 110 section tire while rear appears 140 section, side slung cylindrical exhaust give's muscular appeal to Mojo. Both front and rear have employed disk brake's , front having 300 mm roto petal disk for greater heat dissipation while rear seems 230 mm disk with twin piston calipers. Somehow front headlamp have some degree of resemblance to flagship Z series Kawasaki streetfighter's.

picture source: motorbeam.com

At it's heart Mahindra Mojo have 295 cc single piston liquid cooled engine which producing modest amount of power of 27 bhp at 8000 rpm with peak torque of 25 Nm coming at 6500 rpm engine is powered by 4 valve setup with single over head cam shaft rather than twin cams for better low end torque and keep price well under control. Mahindra Mojo will take launch in early mid of 2015 with price of 1.6 lakh inroad expected, anything above this will result in customers going towards more appealing bike's such as KTM's RC 200.

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Pulsar 150 NS Spied with short license plate bracket, Just like 200 NS !

Image source: Overdrive.in

       The smallest displacement next gen pulsar is still being tested in India, according to few reports It was to be name as 160 NS. But as showed in Turkey there was no sign of naming 160 NS, instead it was called as plain 150. Not even NS. that might not true for Indian market. As we have stated various possibilities among power plants, It seems like engine might keep its 150 cc displacement with 4 valve camshaft which will help this pulsar to produce more power among competition as there is no 150 - 160 cc naked bike having 4 valve setup. Unlike camouflage body, this test mule is in fully body colors which is same as 200 NS white. One more change here we can see is rear tail section unlike previous test mules or even bike which shown in Turkey: long conventional tail section is given away for sporty short bracket tail section just like 200 NS.
Bike is almost identical to 200 NS with few changes. The rear drum brake which might come disk as an option in final model and front radiator is missing due to air cool motor though oil cooler might make its way to production version.             

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Spy Shot Of TVS-BMW join Outcome, This will be the new Flagship Apache!

This test mule bike is Developed by BMW for sub 500 CC segment as well as flagship bike for TVS in India.

 Mule image reveals liquid cooled four-stroke naked sport bike is being tested in Germany last week.
This bike will be 300 cc, powered by single cylinder, 4 valve motor. And it will be the first product from TVS-BMW joint venture.

This test mule has single headlight unit which is probably projector type, upside down forks, alloy rims with grippy Michelin tyres, disk brake at front and rear as well as Side slung exhaust. We're not saying this is final avatar of bike, but it could also possibly come with fairing, Just like KTM RC series.

This bike will go head to head with Duke 390,Mahindra mojo, CBR 250 and RC 390 in India, expected price is around 1.8 lakh (ex-showroom).

BMW test riders also been caught in action riding duke 390 through paces most probably for comparing performance level with this new Apache. As previous report this bike is in development phase being K03 as code name.

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Force Induction Suzuki Recursion! Will it reach till Production stage?

News from Japan seems to suggest that Suzuki is making a production version of its Recursion concept. For those who don't know, the Suzuki Recursion Concept was based around a turbocharged 588cc two-cylinder engine.
The idea was to achieve liter-bike power from a middleweight-sized machine, thus offering enthusiasts high-power but nimble machines to ride.
The news that Suzuki is putting the Recursion into production isn’t too far-fetching, though the original source does seem to be the not-always-accurate Japanese publication Young Machine.
We will let you measure out how much faith to give that report, but make no mistake that a new era in motorcycle motor design is upon us.
The Japanese OEMs are looking to forced induction to help make smaller, more efficient, more powerful machines, and bikes like the Kawasaki Ninja H2 and Kawasaki Ninja H2R show us how serious the Japanese are about bringing these models to reality.
We have already seen forced induction gain a foothold in the four-wheeled space, so it comes as no surprise that the two-wheeled world would follow suit.
That Suzuki would find the courage to produce the Recursion, after seeing Kawasaki’s successful launch of the supercharged H2, is believable as well.
Suzuki Motor company is in desperate need of a model or two that will revitalize interest in the company’s motorcycles — a bike like the Recursion could do just the very thing.

 Now Big question buzzing in my mind and probably yours too will manufacturer in India like Bajaj, Hero or even TVS for that matter will do something like this? it could be interesting to build turbocharged bike of 100 cc with having power up to 200 -250 cc bike with efficiency same as 100 cc naturally aspirated motor!  Well for now let's wait and watch !

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