The TVS Shaolin has been built to a different philosophy altogether. Arvind Pangaonkar knew that he not only had to build bikes but also had to create new riders. As such he reckoned a friendlier power delivery would help the rider/bike combo to achieve good lap times which would come close to the all-out power-packed approach practised by the likes of Raju and Aspi.

The chassis was sorted out reasonably well but what gave the Shaolin the edge apart from its well behaved power delivery was the adoption of the disc brake on the front wheel. This made the rider much more confident going deeper into turns. The Shaolin carries the blue and white racing colours of TVS and while it did come without a full fairing, I was amazed to see TVS had still outfitted it with a standard design petrol tank as against the slimline racing job on the RX135.

Both bikes ran on near standard rubber, the RX135 using a MRF Zapper upfront and Michelin rear. The Shaolin had MRF Zappers at both ends. What also helped the Shaolin in the lap times was the use of 2.75 tyre on the rear wheel as against the 3.00 item on the RX135. In racing every minute detail counts and this was another detail which had the potential to pan out in the Shaolin's favour over a 15-lap race.

But in the end there was not much of a Performance difference between the RX135 and the Shaolin. An expert rider could win on both machines, definitely on the RX135 but an average rider would be hard pressed to deliver on the Yamaha while flying to glory on the Shaolin. The two approaches were vividly brought out by Aspi who was clocked at 137kmph on both bikes but was 1.2 seconds slower on the Yamaha which was wrongly geared and lacked the all important front disc. Just goes to show what the bike racing scene could have been had Yamaha backed its riders with the right ammunition.