Story of Twins: TVS 50 XL - Sold

[Mr.Boss]

Some old memories, couldn't resist myself from starting this thread.

It was somewhere in 1998 we felt that a 2 wheeler is must for my brother as he used to leave from workplace late in the night (read 11pm / 1am) and could not depend on the public transportation.

Requirements
- Must be a gearless vehicle (my Dad should also use the vehicle)
- Cheap (1st and foremost criteria)
- FE
- Easy to maintain
- Budget 20k max

Choice
I hope you people could guess what will be the coices
1) TVS 50 XL (Namma ooru vandi)
2) Kinetic V2

V2 was ruled out for the poor A.S.S and left out with a single option.

Purchase
On a fine day, went to TVS dealer in palladam, Bharat Autos. No test drives, even didn't had a look around the display vehicle as we already had a TVS 50 in our uncle's home and my brother driven it for considerable mileage and years.
Got the quote for something around 17k on-road. Paid 2k down-payment and the rest loan for 12 months (my brother wanted to purchase it with his own salary and ofcourse 17k was a lump sum amount for us by that time).

We were left with only 2 color options, dark green and black. Mom was against the black color. Taken delivery of the vehicle in less than 2 hours (without registration)
We got some freebies too, RVM, saree guard, ladies handle on the side, tank cover, mud flaps, number plates.

Went to temple for Pooja, and then to home. Next day left the vehicle to dealer for registration. Number we got is TN39L5537

First Impression
After getting the vehicle registered, my brother gave the keys to me for a short drive (not to the main roads). I could feel like flying in air, since this is our very first vehicle. After driving our uncle's 3 year old vehicle, this brand new one was butter smooth.

Twin Brothers
In the mid of 1999 we got another TVS 50 XL for my dad, same green color, same dealer, with a slight hike in price. TN39M6873

Long term ownership
In 2001 when I entered my Class 9th, pain of Special classes started. I should leave home by 7:30am as my class starts by 8:15 and ends by 5:30 in the evening. All buses will be full of crowd by that time. So my brother gave me his TVS 50 and got a TVS XL Super for him.

From 2001, I used it for around 2 years, then switched to XL super, Bajaj BYK, TVS Max 100R, Hero Honda Splendor and finally TVS Star sport in 2007.

Coming back to TVS 50, it is one of the no non-sense vehicle I ever came across. Very light vehicle with a decent power and FE, very cheap to maintain. Throughout the journey, she delivered nothing less than 50kmpl even with full throttle drives.

My daily commute will be 10+10km for 6 days in a week. Max mileage will be 140km/week. Once in a week it required a tank full petrol. I remember for a tank full petrol + 2T oil I paid less than 100Rs (Petrol price was something close to 30 INR/lit)

I got it with 10k on odo and in next 2 years it crossed 25k.

Mods done
- Changed the rear chain sprocket to Swega one, with smaller dia (lesser teeth)
- Got Toyomite horns (sorry I'm not sure about the name) with switch on LH side
- Changed the stock Headlamp bulb with Bosch halogen.
- Single bar bumper to 3 bar bumper
- Yamaha mud flaps in front & rear
- Soft handle grips

Service & Maintenance
All that I could remember is we changed the spark plug once, both tubes, accelerator cable once. Thats all. Regular service never crossed 700 Rs.

From 2003 to 2006 it was used for my brother's business (by our office staffs) then we exchanged it with another XL Super.

What I like
- Light weight, easy to handle
- Decent FE
- City driving is never a big trouble

What I dislike
- During monsoon starting the vehicle will be a big challenge (if the belt is wet)
- Narrow seat is not comfortable

Sorry guys for such a long and boring writeup. Pardon me, I don't have any snaps of the vehicle, but it is always there in my heart.

 

[Varun560061]

Good review about tvs 50.. this was the vehicle which was mostly found on roads before 10-15 years...

This moped had a very good pickup, many people used it for their small business purpose..(carrying material, etc)

I am attaching a photo of tvs 50, hope you don't mind..

 

[Mr.Boss]

Thanks Varun.

This is one of the moped gave complete flexibility in loading. It can take the LPG cylinders without any pain, medium size luggage, even we carried a full 40kg yarn bags in the front.

With 2 on board I could easily close the speedo.

There are few funny incidents, I added a milk cooker whistle to the silencer which gave a nice sound (with drop in acceleration), but street dogs started chasing me.