TVS has a rich history in motor racing and one of the categories it has been most successful in is the 165cc Pro Stock class at the Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship (INMRC). To comply with the rules of this class, the team has to use an appropriate engine from one of its road bikes — the 160cc unit from its Apache RTR 160 4V.
The engine is heavily modified for the race, but one thing that cannot be tweaked too much is the cubic capacity. This leaves an extra 5cc displacement that TVS could use, but is unable to, because it does not have a 165cc road bike. TVS has rectified that with the Apache RTR 165 RP. The company has built 200 of these to allow it to homologate the engine for use in next year’s national championship. It costs ₹ 1.45 lakh, which is over ₹ 20,000 more than the RTR 160 4V, which is considered to be the costliest. A break down of the pros and cons:
This bike’s displacement is a neat 164.9cc with a significant change to the cylinder head, with larger valves and ports, and different cam profiles. The piston is also different from the 160. The end result is a power figure of 19.2hp, which is higher than the 160’s 17.5hp. Torque, though, is actually slightly lower, at 14.2Nm, compared to the 160’s 14.73Nm.
