Whose motor is it anyway?

The motor in the Apache RR 310 is from BMW Motorrad but is actually an old Husqvarna engine. We all know about the BMW-TVS partnership. The G310 R and the off-roadfocussed 310 GS are both built at Hosur, on the same assembly line as the Apache RR 310, but BMW Motorrad’s focus right now is on meeting the global demand for the 310 while building a premium positioning in India with the big GS bikes, before moving down the order. BMW Motorrad has already confirmed that the 310s will only become available by the middle of 2018.

Behind the (very sexy) fairing the 310 Apache is identical to the Motorrad bikes. It shares the same frame and engine as the Motorrad machines. However we did learn, on a recent visit to BMW Motorrad’s Munich facilities, that this engine was designed by Husqvarna (that was owned by Motorrad before being sold to KTM) for a baby off-road bike.

The single-cylinder, liquidcooled motor displaces 312.2cc with bore and stroke dimensions of 80 x 62.1mm and is uniquely reverse-inclined (a format that suits off-road bikes really well) with the exhaust having no bend pipe. TVS R&D people are playing up the advantages of the cylinder head canted backwards – of the weight moving closer to rider leading to better mass centralisation, of the intake positioned in the air stream and delivering a ram-air effect, of the down draft port in the cylinder head getting an eight per cent better volumetric efficiency due to the gravitational effect.