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The Apache is a ticking time bomb, a classic hooligan to the core that lives its life at the redline. Every time you get onto it, you grow horns on your head and want to let all hell loose. It’s got grunt throughout its rev range, but it really bares its fangs with a vengeance after 7000 rpm. Wheelies? You only have to think and they happen automatically. Feedback from the contact patches reaches Internet levels of information, which allows you to fine tune each and every input that you make. And then there is the lightning quick handling that feels twitchy and scary after the surefooted FZ. Quick steering it might be, but it’s far from unstable in corners by any stretch of the imagination, short wheelbase notwithstanding. Braking is as good as a giant parachute at the back and is feedback-rich, courtesy the 270 mm petal disc. Though the RTR rides well on good to medium surfaces, bad stretches do make the RTR skittish. Also, shifting your weight on the bike requires caution as the slightest movement can make the RTR wiggle around under you. One thing that’ll surely make the RTR more enjoyable is grippier tyres, even more of a necessity when you realise that the bike is happiest when it’s at the limit, where you need all the grip you can get.
At Rs 65,000 (ex-showroom, Mumbai), the FZ is more expensive than the RTR which will set you back by 59,000 one rupee coins. Quite a sizeable difference, especially considering that the RTR is the quicker and faster of the two. But the FZ comes with top quality parts and a built-to-last feel which are well worth the premium you pay for it. As of now, it seems like even a few years’ worth of hard riding won’t rattle its bones, another point in its favour. Yes, it could’ve been faster, but in the city you never really feel the need for more power. The FZ is more comfortable and smoother than the RTR and is also more than happy to go up on one wheel. Nothing fazes it and its friendly demeanour allows you to hop on and be instantly at home in the saddle. It’s made for the urban environment, where street presence and mid range power is all that you need, and it delivers superbly on both counts, all the while looking like a million bucks. With the RTR, you’ll have to make compromises, rev the living daylights out of it and only then will it be rewarding. Get it if you want to eke the maximum out of it by taming its hair trigger responses, and you’ll learn a thing or two about riding a motorcycle along the way. In the end, both are bikes that appeal to the heart rather than to the head and both are great fun to ride. Both are made for two different purposes and yet, either will do the other’s job quite well. As you may or may not be able to tell, it’s a tough choice between the two. However, with a gun to my head, if I were to pick one of the two, it would be the RTR, an orange fuel injected one, of course. Never mind my aching back.
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