Share your AtherSpace and test-ride experience here.
Many months ago when I was walking on the Indiranagar 100ft road, I saw a showroom being set up near the hotel where I stayed. It looked very different and minimal and since the signboard was not up, I didnāt know that it would be the new Ather experience Center!
Rewind to 2015: Exactly three years ago, a dear friend connected me to this company that wants to make a āsuper cool bikeā. I spoke to the team at Ather and immediately pre ordered the S340 in August 2015.
Since then I have been eagerly waiting for the first bikes to roll off so that I can take them for a spin. Often when I would run in Indira nagar I would see Ather prototypes being tested (disguised!)
8 June 2018
I have been using an electric cycle for the last few years (Spero e100) and have been mostly happy with it. This experience has only made my wish for a superb e scooter stronger.
When I came to Bangalore in June, I was delighted to see the Ather Exp Center fully set up and the S450 ready for test rides! Woohoo!
Disclaimer: I have never owned a two wheeler motorbike and I donāt know much about the technical aspects of one. So, my review is purely based on how everything feels than about the technical details.
In summary: I loved riding it on my own and also sitting pillion.
What I really liked
-The stability and handling of the bad road conditions (Indira nagar has bad bad roads!)
- the quiet pick up and acceleration in general
- the sound feedback - not zero and not loud
- simple, intelligent features built into the bike
- dashboard info display and the integrated app
- superb foot rest space for the pillion rider and grab handles
- waterproof batteries
What could be better?
- dashboard touch sensitivity
- a mechanical joystick to access the dashboard
- Ather designed and branded helmet !!
I canāt wait for my own 450!
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At least when I did the TD, there was no written feedback collected, which I found rather odd. A simple questionnaire + feedback section would be helpful to ensure each riderās feedback is captured.
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Over the years I have seen how the scoters have evolved but I was waiting for a revolution in the Scooter industry which I believe is Ather.
I had always envisioned scooter having a large screen display with navigation built in was waiting for someone to do this, when TVS came up with TVS-NTORQ 125, I was very happy and felt we are moving in a right direction.
I also checked many EV scooters, but never impressed me and I felt EV scooters will take many years before I can think of buying one.
Then the Ather came and I was blown away by the list of features and way it was built, decided to go for test drive.
I was very impressed with the way the scooter performed was not expecting it to be like that, I liked that fact that I would not be missing my TVS scooter as this on packs a punch and great to see the acceleration that it provides considering it to be an electric scooter. I liked that fact that itās very practical, which is what we look in a vehicle, whether itās a car or scooter. Having said that design is very important in any vehicle and I was quite impressed the way it was built, and it looks, Ather please add more colors, and a Tesla kind of charger takes you to terminator day. I am not sure how is works in the long run, but I was ready to take a chance
Hence, I booked one for me right away
+1 for helmet and future versions could have a bluetooth interface with the bike.
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more colors would be great for sure. White is too bland
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Agreed. We implemented this about 10 days back. Visitors can share their feedback on an ipad at AtherSpace itself.
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I observed there is no side stand indicator or buzzer while riding.
Turn indicator sound was low and not audible in traffic.
Its not easy to find if the vehicle is turned on or off. I prefer to have a dedicated LED indicator to show red/orange/green. or a bigger indicator on the touch screen.
An adjustable theme on touch screen to have a dark or light mode would help with personal contrast preference and a protective cover in parking.
will the physical damages are covered as part of subscription?
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I walked away from the test drive completely blown by the performance of the scooter. In fact I couldnāt get off the scooter as I wanted more. The minimalistic design is a head turner and there has been a lot of thought put into various elements to make them user friendly. And not to forget, looks very futuristic and as some review put ā¦ straight out of a Star Wars movie 
Zippy performance that can give a serious competition to bigger more powerful bikes. The scooter handles beautifully and is very well balanced which gives you a lot of confidence to waltz around in traffic. Just the right size. With the rigid frame, the tail never goes out of line and the scooter feels light to handle.
On the flat road in Indiranagar where I test rode the scooter the acceleration was very good with two adults on the bike. It also handled the bad roads very well. Loved the reverse assist as I think it is a fantastic and useful feature to have on a two wheeler to get out of tricky parking situations.
Will it be able to handle the steep inclines in Banashankari? Donāt know. But I booked one as I will figure out if it doesnāt just for the sheer exhilaration of riding something as unique as this.
At close to 1.25 lakhs it is expensive and hope that the recent announcements of subsidy and reduction of GST on Li batteries will help bring the prices down.
7 Likes
Well I usually donāt give any reviews unless the thing/place/item is tooo good.
This review might be like a short story but I thought I will put forward my experience.
I have been following Ather from May 3 2018 and on Jun 5th 2018 I did get an email stating that pre-orders are open but initially I was bit sceptical about going with the Bike as I had no clue how it would perform. And finally after seeing a lot of videos that was shared on YouTube I pre-booked Ather 450 as on August 27th 2018 and even after pre-booking I have not gone for a test ride YET!!!
Now finally I booked for my test ride as on September 1st 2018. I took my wife with me for test ride as she initially didnāt like the amount that I need to spend on the bike and she found it was not worth investing so much on Electric Vehicle.
Nevertheless I took a risk and took my wife for the test ride. BOY I think I made a perfect decision by taking her!!!
September 1st 2018:
After struggling in Bangalore traffic for close to 1hr we reached Indiranagar office and my relationship manager out there gave us a detailed walk through on how the scooter works, how the charging point works and answered all my queries. Yes we did spend close to 30mins only on asking questions.
Then it was time to ride the bike. Me and my wife took turns to ride this bike, I did ride the bike for few KM and then she wanted to ride the bike. And when I allowed her to ride she was just spell bound with how easy was it to drive and especially the reverse parking assist, acceleration and the sensation of raw power. Additionally it even has a very good grip to the pillion ride as well.
Guess what when we came back home she convinced everyone at My home that it is worth buying Ather even though we have Honda active and Bajaj Dominor.
Now that I have pre-ordered we are all eagerly waiting to get our Ather 450 probably I would feel it is worth waiting to have my own Ather 450. My estimated delivery is between April ā June 2019 so I am eagerly waiting to have my own Ather 450.
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@shreyas.seethapathy I need to take a test rideā¦ I have booked the bike todayā¦16th Septemberā¦ May I know when can I get the delivery?
Sathish Kashyap
Had a good time with Ather Space Centre today. Manish from Ather team gave a good walk thru about product completly and before proceed with test drive he gave me safety guideless which helped me riding experience much better ā¦
Feedback which i would suggest Ather to fix in production,
- Increase indicator volume sound which i felt very it is too low.
- Change display light when engine is turned off or ON to notify users easily in traffic signals.
- Women side foot rest is not available and canāt be applied in current model.
To give some bare feeback i have mentioned above points part from that no problem to Accept the product !!!
Happy to Pre-Ordered Ather before giving the test drive.
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I have been reading a lot on the e-scooters but never really thought I will test ride it. Or should I say never really was there a compelling reason for me to do so.
On 28th Septemberā18 was a client holiday for me so decided to spend the day with the family wisely. My wife had some work at her bank and while returning back I suggested that we check out the Ather space on 100 ft road. She agreed and we stepped in. We were very courteously welcomed by someone who has initials B.S (forgetting his name) he spoke about Ather, S450 the scooter and he spoke well. The we decided that we should get on with the test ride and after finishing the formalities we were off!!
The first impression was though B.S said that this scooter was tested with 175 kgs laden weight I was slightly skeptical. And boy!! Was I thrilled to be wrong. I weigh 115 and my wife weighs 50 but still the S450 just took off as if we were non-existent. When we reached AtherSpace, we both had a wide smile on our facesā¦ this was incredible. I booked my copy on that day and I havenāt told anyone yet!! ļ
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I have pre-ordered my Ather 450 on 23rd Augā18. Excited to feel the ride experience. Planning to take the test ride. Me and my Wife also would suggest that more colours would be best add on to the product.
Thank you Ather Team!
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I heard, when battery charge is less than 50% vehicle performance will reduce and not like when fully chargedā¦ when I test driven time also they were charging and it was fullā¦ now my doubt is how is vehicle performance when battery is around 30%ā¦ I think ather owners can clear my doubt by testing vehicleā¦ Thank you in advance
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The performance should not vary with low charge in the battery. Ather has provided 2 drive modes. Eco and Regular mode. So, it doesnāt make sense to provide user the option and later perform this switch to eco mode automatically.
I had this concern.
But, when I took the test drive I did take it in 2 vehicles. One which had a charge level more than 80% and a completely different vehicle which had a charge level of 25%.
Did not feel any difference in the power or drive quality of the vehicle.
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Thank you for your feedback
I would like to thank Naveen who handled my delivery of the vehicle, as well as the all the team members of Ather Space and congrats to team Ather for the experience provided.
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