Smoked Garage turns the TVS Apache RR 310 single-cylinder sportbike into a fluid neo-retro café racer.
The TVS Apache RR 310 might be small, but it’s a firecracker. Its 312 cc single-cylinder mill makes 37.5 hp and 29 Nm, and comes with a six-speed transmission, a quick-shifter, and a suite of electronic aids that rivals full-sized sport bikes. It also looks pretty sharp.
You can’t buy the RR 310 in the USA, the UK, or most of Europe. But in TVS Motor’s home country of India, it sells for less than the equivalent of $3,500. That’s roughly $1,500 less than the BMW G 310 R, which TVS manufactures for BMW using the same motor.
This custom TVS Apache RR 310 from Indonesia’s Smoked Garage takes everything good about the compact sportbike and cranks it up to eleven. Smoked calls this reimagined café racer the ‘RR310 Speedline’, describing it as “a pursuit of speed, purity, and purpose.”
Smoked Garage has built several TVS customs already, many of which were commissioned by the brand itself. So the team knows their way around the Apache platform. The idea of this build was to build a neo-retro racer with an emphasis on fluid lines and improved handling.
Starting with the rolling chassis, Smoked spooned a set of race slicks onto a new set of alloy hoops, bumping the rear wheel up in width with a 200-section tire. That proved too big for the OEM swingarm, so the team fabricated a new one, linking it up with an Öhlins shock.
The forks were upgraded, too, while the brake calipers were swapped out for RCB units. The front brake uses a four-piston caliper, with a custom air duct aiding in cooling.
Since the TVS Motor Company is 47 years old this year, Smoked wanted to strike a balance between heritage and future vision—a philosophy that was at odds with the RR 310’s sporty OEM bodywork. So they stripped it off and started from scratch.
First, the crew fabricated a new fuel tank with a more rounded silhouette than the original. Next, they built a composite half-fairing that flows seamlessly from the headlight onto the fuel tank. The design is slick and compact, with a custom belly pan and radiator shrouds tidying up some of the bits that were previously hidden behind the full fairing.
The fairing houses a round LED headlight in the front, with the bike’s digital dashboard tucked behind it. It also wears a pair of custom-made air scoops with integrated aero winglets; a nod to the RR 310’s original design. The cockpit wears low-slung clip-ons, fitted with adjustable Groza levers, bright red Smoked Garage grips, and the stock switchblocks.
The back section of the RR 310 is finished off with a composite tailpiece, with lines that sit perfectly between classic café racer styles and modern sportbike designs. With a decent-sized LED taillight embedded into the rear and stylish two-tone upholstery, the whole package has a factory feel.
The bike’s red and silver livery is just as well-judged, as are the late-90s graphics. Smoked finished the bike off with a wide-open exhaust system to give the RR 310 a throaty soundtrack.
Smoked’s RR310 Speedline looks fast standing still and will likely leave us with back pain if we rode it for more than 10 minutes, but we’d give it a go anyway. It’s machines like this that prove small bikes can be big fun.
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