I love the bike for what it offers. It’s fast, nimble, somewhat idiot proof and has good safety features at a reasonable price.
BHPian doomketu recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
8 months & 5,000 km is a good time to write a long-term review.
My primary usage is restricted to city and occasional highway rides for now owing to work and other commitments. I have not had a chance to fully enjoy the bike like some of my other club members, who have taken it on coastal rides from Bangalore to Kannur to Kanyakumari and back and are planning Motosoul/IBW Goa in December. I have enjoyed my bike equally nonetheless.
The bike has seen 2 services and both were a pretty normal affair. The AOG community Whatsapp is monitored closely and grievances are addressed quite effectively. We do get a fair share of dealer-related issues, and we get them sorted quite quickly. With the updates to the bike (which I got done in June as a part of the TVS Care Craft camp) rolling out to all customers as a part of their service (free of cost), their complaints with the bike had reduced as well.
Let me split this review into multiple parts: the sum of all parts is what I love about this bike and while opinion may vary, I am sure at 3.5 on road Bangalore, no other bike comes close. Duke is for sure a segment higher and with good reason holding its crown.
1. How much time has it taken?
Let’s get this addressed first. I drive in Sports mode all day (35hp) rather than Urban (25hp) as I don’t like the aggressive throttle response in Urban, the Sport mode provides a smoother throttle response. I get 30 on average tank to tank. You can thank the tin factory for this, as without this bottleneck, I have averaged up to 35 in the city.
2. Ride comfort
The bike is a bit on the smaller side for my dimensions but the seats are comfortable. I have ridden 4 hours in stop-and-go traffic and my non-Kardashian posterior was not very sore. Those with the climate-controlled seats will face a harsher time as that has a thinner seat to accommodate the heated/cooled seat.
3. Suspension
Even with non-adjustable suspension, as mine is non-BTO, I get a stiff yet comfortable ride. The rear is set to my weight, so it’s adjusted a few clicks stiffer. I have gone over bad roads and can say that family jewels are protected. Just don’t expect the Himmy experience. User judgment requested. But on Flat surfaces and good tarmac, boy oh boy it shines. The bike is always in control. While I can’t carve out corners to save my life (too scared), I have seen better riders than me push this bike and get beautiful results.
4. Build Quality & Service
In the 9 months of ownership, it has been driven 3 days a week each week with a few highway rides thrown in. No single part has rattled or fallen off. The fit and finish is stellar. I do wish folks would give this bike a chance. While service centres are still the weakest link, the feedback is taken seriously by the company. In Bangalore, we were recommended about 6 service centres for the 310 twins scattered across the 4 corners. I am sure other city AOG groups will have similar recommendations. Follow your service schedule and enjoy the ride. Service cost is in the 3.5k ballpark including oil change and labour for paid service. Please see the grid attached below for both my services which ran me a total of 1700 and 231 Rs for 1st and 2nd free service.
5. How it rides
Engine is rather strict and does not like to be outside its favorite rev range based on gear. So I stick to 2nd gear till 20/25 kph and then up-shift. Any lower and you can hear knocking. If you master maintaining the correct gears to the speed, the bike pulls and deftly hits the speed quite quickly.
Being a rather inexperienced rider overall, I don’t like to push it in the city and stick to sub 60kph. Out on the highways, I do let the engine breathe at 8k rpm and touch triple digits quite effortlessly. The bike is quite stable till 4 x 30, but as I am a heavier + wider rider, my body created a drag (is what I assume) and I don’t feel the need to push it 20 times 7.3 (which I did achieve on a closed private road). The engine heat is quite manageable even in city traffic and the fan switches on when temps hit 105 automatically. It brings down the temps quite fast.
Michelin Road 5s are some of the stickiest tires on our roads and I am not worried about losing grip even in rains. I have heard that there is a stock issue and for my next set due after another 9k km, I may have to settle for TVS Euro Grip which is also quite good based on feedback.
The stellar highlight of this bike is the cruise control. I had some issues with it initially but got used to it quite quickly. I set the speed to 85 and enabled the CC and cruised 150km back to Bangalore on a lazy Saturday afternoon. The journey was smooth and I did not face any fatigue.
The brakes are Bybre with 300mm at the front and 240mm at the back. I did have some initial concerns with the softness of the brake and this was adjusted in the first service. These did save me from a stick situation when an Innova decided to take a U-turn on a highway road illegally and put us all in danger. Engine braking by downshift (god bless the butter smooth Quickshifter) and engaging the brakes correctly dropped my speed to 30 kph within seconds and I was able to come to a halt. I did not leave the location for another 10 mins as it got me a flashback from 2018, when traveling to Trichy on the wagon-R, a random drunk crossed the road suddenly with a cycle near Namakkal forcing me to swerve and ABS saving my rear.
6. TFT instrument cluster and Accessories
I did not add after-market parts and got the BTO USB charger and TPMS fitted to the bike. They are handy for daily use. the TFT cluster is quite useful. The information display is crisp and using the Left side buttons on the handlebar you can control the TFT functions. It shows only the bare necessities of life and riding. For more function, it is recommended to connect the TVS smart connect app but I don’t use it as it’s clunky and drains the phone battery. The 5.5in screen shows time and RPM and Speed and gear displayed centrally and changes based on the riding mode. I just put a cheap 300Rs scratch guard on it to prevent any scratches to the screen.
I got a BOBO mobile holder with a waterproof cover, and use that daily. It’s cumbersome to fit in on but once fit, it’s stable. I see folks also using some sort of Android auto solution, but that is close to 17k. I am using my 7-year-old One+ for navigation and it does the job.
Other Purchases
I invested in riding gear quite seriously. Got the Rynox Tornado 4 jacket, Storm Gauntlets (Highway rides), AirGT gloves (for city use), RE Platoon boots as my daily wear and an LS2 Storm FF800 helmet. Got the TVS S20X intercom quite recently and have been enjoying its usage daily.
I am afraid to look at the total spends, but for clarity’s sake, it is close to 40k.
Conclusion
Pros
I love the bike for what it offers. It’s fast, nimble, somewhat idiot proof and has good safety features at a reasonable price. It makes a great bike for someone like me who has set his eyes on the 660 Trident. Its design is polarizing and I love it, while others may not.
With the updated handlebar weights, padding under tank, bushes under the seat and foam change in the body, vibrations are no longer troublesome. Remember this is a single-cylinder engine, and will still vibrate. Taking our feedback seriously, TVS ALWAYS follows up and has made subtle improvements to the new batches that are getting delivered.
Special shout out to the AOG_Bengaluru community. I was added to the Bengaluru group about 3 months after I got the bike and the proactive members are walking repositories of information on the 310 twins and good service centers, parts and other 310-related stuff. Admins going above and beyond to exacerbate our issues makes it a joy to own this bike. (You are lurking here man, I know)
Cons
Service centers are slowly improving but we as customers need to follow the manual to a T and tell them not to do anything else extra. Go up the chain if needed. Parts availability is good but still some patience is needed(this is based on anecdotal experiences of others seen in our group).
Will I recommend this bike? Heck yeah, I will. If you approach it objectively, it has its cons but the pros do outweigh it significantly. I conclude this review and go back into my hibernation by sharing this parting shot from a group ride (Photo credits to Desi_masala)
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