BHPian SS338 recently shared this with other enthusiasts: Hi fellow Bhpians, It’s that time of the year again in Bengaluru when all the blessings of the rain gods had passed away, giving way to open skies and dry roads. With that I decided to give the bike for the 1st annual service and last of its 3 free services. While I may be someone who can forget my own birthday, but I do remember anniversaries of my precious goods – Such as vehicles and the bigger gadgets. While the bike itself starts to remind you of the upcoming service 1 week in advance, the reminders from ICICI Lombard for insurance renewal are downright obnoxious. I had received a minimum of 2 calls and 1 WhatsApp message daily in the 2 weeks prior, constantly pestering me to renew the 1P insurance. Celebrating her Anniversary Celebrating the 5K markWelcoming home a new companion to the RaiderThe situation:Due to the recent job changes in the family, the bike saw its usage spiked heavily in the month of June, travelling ~60kms daily in peak of Bengaluru Traffic. That’s no joke for a 125cc, carrying 2 up with all of their office luggage, 5 days a week for 3-4 hours daily. Speaking from the rider’s perspective, the ergonomics are comfortable and I didn’t feel any body pain even after this toiling daily, can’t say the same about the vehicle though. However, lack of storage options compared to a scooter, was becoming an issue for the pillion. So, we decided to purchase a scooter just after a month, so that my wife can manage her commute on her own.The decision process:That meant extensive research online to see what has changed in the market in the last 1 year. My wife was fixated on Activa only, since it has been her primary vehicle even before marriage as well. But that doesn’t stop me from visiting all the dealerships with her and seeking test-drives wherever possible. Good to say, I reserved a weekend for this activity and it couldn’t have been a better weekend for me, a vehicle buff. To summarise the showroom experience, I expected the same laidback attitude from Hero and was not surprised to see the same actually happening. Suzuki was the most surprising one, the showroom was small, SA was not aligned even after waiting for 15 mins and when he finally came, all he did was to hand the pricing list. That attitude from a company that sells the most expensive family scooter today (On Road Bengaluru, Access top model was coming at ~1.4L), was something that I did not like. I was familiar with the TVS experience itself. I called for my earlier SA, whom I knew. They quickly aligned a test-drive vehicle for my wife, while I sat with the SA. I clearly talked about our Activa preference and said that if they can bring the Jupiter a good 3-4K below the Activa, we will think of it. The Honda showroom that was near our house, is the most upmarket 2W dealership that I had ever visited. Very clean, very big, warm staff and good & knowledgeable SAs. We enquired about the variants & pricing structure. Wife being wife, wanted not to spend extra 14K on the gadgetry and wished to go for the base model. Instead, from the saved amount, she wanted to go and treat herself from shopping. Different utilities for different individuals, I guess (Economics folks, rejoice).The buying process and post purchase first impressions:Anyways, after not getting any response back from TVS, we decided to go ahead with the Activa 110 STD variant in Matte Grey guise, on the auspicious day of Pushya Nakstra. The cherry on top was that one of my colleagues was also planning to purchase an Activa on the same day, so we both went together and were able to haggle an additional INR 1500 discount for both. The delivery was standard affair. Mandatory Puja post purchase With her Stablemate I will not go deep into the pros and cons of the vehicle as Activa is a very standard affair on our roads. Instead, my observations will be compared to another commuter at the house, the TVS Raider. For the pros, the smoothness and NVH of the Honda engine is a highlight for me. Once the engine gets warm, you will absolutely not be able to hear the engine noise in our city traffic. For the cons, and this is from the perspective of our usage, is the abysmally slow size of the Fuel tank. With a 35kms round trip commute to work daily, it means queuing up on petrol pumps after every 3 days. Why can’t manufacturers try to give bigger fuel tanks in commuter scooters. I have seen the same 5.3L tank in scooters from God knows how many years. Another con would be the imperfect throttle/CVT calibration at speeds less than 10kmph. The machine will lurge no matter how much consciously you try to open the throttle at slow speeds, which results in a momentarily loss of balance while taking tight U-turns.The Raider life – Impressions after 1 year:Nice and Shiny after the service With three of her other friends on her B’day Let me summarise my long-term observations of this vehicle after having covered more than 7K Kms on it in the last 1 year. The below observation are in addition to what I observed in my first post.Pros:1]Low weight – The low weight in combination to good power for this class of bike, not only helps in quick overtakes on the road and general nimbleness of the bike, but also helped me get out of a few tricky situations with ease, whereas other heavier but powerful bikes were just digging a hole on the muddy section of the road. ECU features – While these are not explicitly mentioned or advertised, but this is in general, a very advanced ECU. A few things that I have noticed are – 1\ If the bike, on very rare occasions, doesn’t sputter to life in 1 push of the starter button, the ECU itself tries to give additional throttle and choke until the bike starts. This is not present in my other 2 BS6 vehicles, namely the Activa and Jupiter. 2\ GTT (Glide through traffic)- While GTT is an advertised feature in 200cc Apaches, here also the bike keeps moving at 7kmph in 1st and 10kmph in 2nd gear, without any throttle input. While this could also be due to the general torquey nature of the engine, but I have seen the ECU automatically raising the revs by 200RPM, when slotting a gear from neutral position. The other upside of this is even when encountering stop-start traffic on flyovers or underpasses, I could happily waft along just by modulating the clutch and front brake levers, resulting in less stress in such situations. 3\ Anti-stall – When you are dangerously close to stalling the bike and try to modulate the clutch, the ECU momentarily blips the throttle to prevent stalling. This feature is very similar in implementation to the 1st gen BS6 Marutis. The only downside is it only works in 1st gear, not in 2nd gear where it is much more required. 2]Connected Cluster – While this is a rich console in terms of feature, one would realise the usefulness & importance in Bengaluru traffic. As my job requires to be on frequent phone calls, I realise the importance of it. I can easily accept/decline/make calls with just 2 buttons on the handle and a TWS headset in one of my ears. You can also control music playback and change volume as well, through voice commands. 3]Engine and Fuel efficiency – Been tracking mileage through Fuelio since the start, the bike happily delivers ~50Kmpl in peak traffic commutes (ITPL, ORR, etc) with a single rider. I follow the habit of filling Shell/IOCL Power after 3-4 fill-ups just to enjoy the added smoothness & power of the engine after 4K RPM. 4]Ergonomics – The ergonomics are spot on for the purpose this vehicle is made for. Daily commuting for 3-4 hours in stop-start traffic also did not put any strain on my back, shoulder or legsCons:1]Lighter engine components – To eek out extra power from the engine, TVS reduced the flywheel/crankshaft weight. On most speed-breakers, with 2 onboard, one needs to go down to 1st gear to build the momentum again, as the bike can not continue in 2nd gear or have to very consciously modulate the throttle and clutch to pull of cleanly again. 2]Tyre profile – The bicycle thin tyres (90 & 100 section, respectively) that TVS has provided doesn’t do justice for the power and chassis agility on offer. Any kind of gravelly or slushy road, coupled with the lesser weight on front wheel; you immediately tend to lose confidence while changing directions or in general keeping balance. 3]Auto start-stop – While the feature and its implementation are purposeful, 1 thing I would have liked to be added is checking the gear position as well, before cutting the engine. From what I have read and watched, newer Hyundais only kill the engine when Neutral is engaged. Here in Raider, the moment speeds drop to zero, it starts the timer to cut the engine. This is hassle in stop-start traffic for any T1 city. As a rider, what you want is whenever you are at a stop light or anticipate a higher stop time, you can engage neutral and then the system should cut the engine. Anyways, this is all for the 1-year ownership review that I had. Looking forward to many more happy miles with both the horses in my stable.Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
