Suzuki Gixxer Vs TVS RTR 160

One Twisty Stretch Of Road, Two Little Motorcycles And One Incerdibly Rainy Day. Mondays Should All Be Like This…

- Ashok George

So there I was, staring at the blankness, trying to make sense of everything that has happened over the past few hours. My mind seemed to be drawing a blank. I couldn’t seem to make any progress. What do I do? The situation was killing me… But then I realised, it wasn’t so difficult to make sense of all this. Because, at the core of the matter, while the RTR 160 4v and the Gixxer might be two motorcycles of the same kind, they are both starkly different. Once I broke things down into little boxes and squares, the answers would all come. Oh, I also realised Aatish’s bald head was blocking my view as I tried to make up my mind. So clearly, things weren’t all that blank. Except for Aatish’s head.

It’s still bald. Jokes aside, once the moon moved over. Dammit! I mean, once Aatish moved over, I could really have a look at both the motorcycles side by side. And to be honest, the formula is similar. The styling cues are similar. It’s the same line that the first Pulsars took. Naked street-fighter, to be exact. No, not the video game kind, you dirty minds! The motorcycle kind!

So yes, the basic formula is the same. Muscular lines, alloy wheels, disc brakes, flashy paint, un-faired headlight, monoshock… You know, the works. But despite all this, there was one crucial difference. The RTR somehow, to quote Moto Moto the hippopotamus, seemed more “chunky”. It took us a while to figure out why, but we finally did. Turns out that the RTR’s belly pan is what makes all the difference. It creates the illusion of the RTR being a bigger motorcycle despite both being roughly the same size. The fact that the Gixxer has been around a fair bit longer than the RTR doesn’t help its case either. Familiarity and all that…