Raider 125

Overview

The Raider 125 is TVS doing the unusual: spending money on electronics inside a 125cc price. Ride modes trickled down from the Apaches, the adjustable clutchless gearbox feels a generation ahead of the class, and the top variant carries a colour TFT console that costs more in some bigger motorcycles than the whole Raider does here. It is the most over-equipped 125 in the market on options list alone.

The mechanical story is a proper five-valve head on a 125cc single. 11.4 bhp arrives up high enough that the rider uses the gearbox, and the torque band is broad and clean in the way that suits a light motorcycle — though this TVS is not that, at 151 kg with the extra chassis and brake hardware. Claimed 60 kmpl survives real-world use because the tall gearing lets sixth gear loiter at city speed.

The mass is the honest caveat. It weighs as much as several 160cc motorcycles in this catalogue, and the 11.2 Nm is pushed around a little more deliberately than the lighter rivals’ outputs. Buyers get the strongest structure, the best brakes and the richest electronics at 125cc, and accept a slightly lugger feel for it. Loaded two-up the gearing, not the torque, is what saves the day.

• Ride modes and an adjustable clutch at 125cc
• 60 kmpl claimed from a five-valve engine
• Top variant offers a colour TFT console