TVS Motor has never had a proper off-road motorcycle in its portfolio. Even the Apache RTX 300 is more of an adventure tourer than a hardcore off-roader like the Royal Enfield Himalayan, Hero XPulse or the Kawasaki KLX 230.
A proper off-road motorcycle from TVS Motors has been revealed for the first time. This image shows a longer (longer than the Apache RTX 300) off-road bike with wire-spoke wheels and a more purposeful silhouette. Let’s check out the possibilities.
New TVS off-road bike?
The image of TVS Motor’s alleged off-road bike is from the official Apache RTX 300 manual. This raises many questions like, ‘Is this just a random illustration of the Apache RTX 300?’, ‘Is this what the Apache RTX 300 initially looked like?’, ‘Is this a new purpose-built off-road motorcycle from TVS Motors?’ Or something else.
This particular image shows a completely new and purpose-built off-road motorcycle that doesn’t match the Apache RTX 300 in any way. For starters, the bike has headlights that appear to be vertically oriented with a small windshield. It appears to have a small fuel tank, a very large beak, short fenders, high handlebars, small crash guards, a bash plate, large wire-spoke wheels (can be 21″ front and 18″ rear), high ground clearance, a high-set exhaust, a rally-spec seat with a tall seat height, and more.
The frame is completely covered in this image, while the Apache RTX 300 shows off its trellis frame. When compared to the Apache RTX 300, this bike looks compact and may have a shorter length and wheelbase. There is still a luggage rack at the rear, which is not as large as the Apache RTX 300.
Bicycle Parts and Powertrain
In terms of cycle parts, the Apache RTX 300 gets USD front forks as standard, but this off-road bike from TVS sees RSU telescopic front forks with fork gaiters. These forks look like they have a lot of travel compared to the RTX 300’s 180mm. The rear is hung on a mono-shock. The instrumentation is likely to be similar to the Apache RTX 300 or feature much simpler.
As far as the powertrain is concerned, the new TVS off-road bike looks to sport an air-cooled engine with fans and may possibly offer a simple SOHC architecture with a 4V/cylinder head configuration. It may also have an oil cooling radiator. Looking at this engine, it can be estimated that its displacement can be around 200cc to 300cc.
At this time, we are unsure whether this is a real motorcycle from TVS Motors or not. More details will likely be revealed in the future. If it is a genuine motorcycle, it will rival the above mentioned off-road motorcycles currently on sale in the Indian market.