I can confirm that my scooter was taken for testing and here are my two cents:
Yes, The feel of my scooter was much better after it came back from Ather. I could feel the warp mode back in it’s former glory (we’ll give it a little slack because I put on 3kgs during the lockdown).
@Cloudgraphy and I had a candid discussion before our meet with @abhishek.balaji and @chaitanya.hegde and I was convinced that @ather would say something along these lines.
I can corroborate this as well. The Mi portable air compressor seems to be off. The question has to be asked: Which is correct? Mi or the petrol bunk or something else? I do not know if the petrol bunk compressor is any better calibrated. @abhishek.balaji you will have to confirm what device Ather uses to fill up tires.
I did the same thing with my scooter. I overinflated by 6 psi on both wheels and did not feel any major changes in the performance (other than the ride being a little unstable due to low surface contact). I then Underinflated by 4 psi on both wheels and that had very minimal difference. Conclusion: A few psi difference in tire pressure does not make a difference. Ather mentioned that the secondary belt tension was 52 Hz on my scooter when it was received by them.
Encouraged by @abhishek.balaji I also rode one of their test drive vehicles from the Indiranagar EC and I can safely say that my vehicle NOW performs exactly like the test drive vehicle, if not a bit better. (Also to note: The test drive vehicle was on 10.1.2-202117) Abhishek Balaji did mention that the test drive vehicles are always kept at optimum conditions (as should be expected) and they go through a lot of periodic services and checks.
I am now partially satisfied with the performance of my scooter. Partially because according to Ather, the belt tension, tire pressure and a few other superficial things are what determines the performance of the scooter.
This is my honest opinion:
- The scooter is not as robust as Ather thinks it is. Service intervals will have to be increased because my scooter is relatively new. It was delivered in late march and had only 1173 km on it when I gave it for testing. If what Ather says is to be believed, in less than 4 months my belt pressure went so bad that my scooter noticed such a huge drop in performance. Also, these are very minor things that should not affect the performance in a MAJOR way. Again it could be a case that there was a few more things wrong with my vehicle and it all added up. I simply cannot seem to understand that such a robust vehicle would degrade so soon.
This makes perfect sense.
-
Why on earth would so many people notice the issue suddenly: IMO I think it’s because the belt has been degrading so much during the updates and the lockdowns that one fine day someone felt the performance drop, put it up on the forum and a lot more people realized that they were not alone in this. I remember that I was not active on the forum for a while and when I noticed the issue I came to the forum to find a few people facing something similar. Once it’s out, everyone realizes that something is wrong and actually pays attention to their ride. A lot of people I know are too busy to care how their ride feels unless you ask them if they feel something is wrong.
-
I do not think Ather’s investigation should end with this. I also asked Ather to check if it was vehicles from one specific production batch that were reporting problems. They said it was not. In fact @Cloudgraphy and my vehicle were from very different batches. (Maybe they should inspect the parts used) A lot of us buy the 450X just for the warp and if it means that it requires more regular maintenance, then you should work out a way to solve the issue entirely or just reduce service intervals or introduce a ‘performance tune up’ every three months to all 450X owners.
I would like to point out that the ‘change’ was noticed first based on ‘judgement of feelings’. I did not run any tests and churn out any numbers and then say that the performance dropped. I ‘felt’ it. To just give you a better understanding, here is how I observed the initial change: I like to drive the first 100 meters or so from my house to the main road without my helmet on just to feel the air hitting my face IYKWIM. I like to do this on the warp mode because I love the initial torque and the little rush it sends my body. I have to do this about 3 times before I hit the main road because of turns. On fine day, I take out my ride, I engage the throttle and poof no kick out of it. I could not feel that initial excitement that I always felt. Tried it again a few times and nope, still was flat. This is how I knew something was wrong. Now, coming to how I tested my scooter after I got it back, I did the exact same thing and I felt that ‘kick’ (inertia) which was more significant than before.
Yes, the argument has to be made that I did not have my scooter for about a week and some amount of change that i felt can be attributed to me having driven an ICE during that week. Also contrary to @Cloudgraphy 's scooter, I noticed an increased level of vibration and noise on the scooter after it came back.
Honestly, a major part of this industry runs on ‘feelings’ of the customer. If I say, “Hey, this scooter goes 0-40 in 2 seconds”, that’s just a number unless the customer actually feels this happening. I felt the difference and I feel that my scooter is better now.
Need a “Ludicrous Mode” soon? 