FIERO-WELL F2

Final report A year and 13,000km later, it’s time to bid farewell to our Fiero F2.

Traversing Mumbai CITY can often consume more time than a quick dart up the hills to Pune. Downsides to sustained stop-and-go riding in the city are poor fuel economy, wasted time and dealing with pollution. It would thus be fair to say numerous Mumbaikars amicably live more in four-wheelers than within their homes.
Slightly better off than them are the bike commuters who save cash on fuel, while splitting the city faster than possible in any car. This bargain proves even more compelling with TVS's brilliant Fiero F2 which performs without a glitch under such circumstances. The bike feels a little hard put today when matched against the punchy Pulsar DTS-i 150 for sheer power and sporty performance. But when inter-city commuting is called for, the F2’s glossy engine and fluent and light handling character put it in a different league.

The F2 has clocked 13,000km and the delight simply hasn’t faded, with not a single breakdown to speak of, and only a typical list of niggles built up through the complete year. The bike recently completed its third free service and needed oil and filters.
Our hard-working F2 was ridden by staffer Sushant from Thane to office and back every day, a distance of 80km come what may. Brake pads for the front disc duly needed replacing at their regular interval and brake fluid in the master cylinder was topped up as well. A regular problem was the drive chain losing tension each time this bike saw high speeds, though this can be attributed to our neglecting timely replacement of a vanished dust cap and not lubricating it on time. Another gremlin was the tachometer pointer, which lost sense of direction from time to time. Total cost for all maladies put together was a paltry Rs 501, which included all fluids as well! This combined city-highway riding pattern saw the F2 average around 49kpl — a figure which could be higher given better traffic conditions.
It’s adieu time for this friendly machine, but one wonders which bike is able enough to take its place?l
Rishad Cooper

Captions:

F2 took daily 80km ride in its stride, without any breakdowns or reliability issues.

Headlight beam very powerful.

Neglected chain needed attention; disc pads were changed once.