The new Apache RTR 180 carries the same hooligan character of the old Apache RTR 160, but makes it more tractable for the street without losing its track focus. Varad More straddles it to find out if it has the go to match its show

Performance:

Finally, India is witnessing performance wars in the motorcycle industry and bike-makers are slowly upping the ante in terms of performance of their products. While Yamaha stunned the competition with its YZF-R15 last year, this year Bajaj Auto went all out with the new Pulsar 220 DTSi - a blow which landed directly on each and every manufacturer in India trying to make a mark in the premium motorcycle segment. The TVS products have always been competitive but the top honour of being the fastest bike in the market has been evading them ever since they entered the premium segment with the Fiero.

Sadly, this time also the new Apache RTR 180 fails to beat the top contender, the Pulsar 220 DTSi in the performance war. However, the new RTR 180 beats its direct competition, the 2009 Pulsar 180 DTSi in terms of acceleration, just. The RTR 180 completed the 0-60km/h dash in just 4.44 seconds, beating the Pulsar 180's time of 4.64 seconds. The power on the RTR 180 is more focused towards the mid-range and it can be seen in the 30-70km/h roll-ons as the 180 bettered the time of the 160 by over 2 seconds in third gear and over a second in fourth gear roll-on. With the increased displacement and additional horses the RTR 180 recorded an impressive top speed figure of 119.95km/h.