TVS Apache RTX 300 Upgrades (2026): Performance, Crash Guards and Touring Kit, Everything Worth Fitting

When TVS priced the RTX 300 at Rs 1.99 lakh, it put WP suspension, 180 mm of travel at both ends, cruise control and traction control on a bike that costs less than most 250cc adventure bikes. Riders noticed. Some dealers were quoting waits of around five months. If you sat through one of those, you probably spent part of it planning what to fit first.

This is that list, all in one place. We start with performance: the upgrades that change how the new RT-XD4 engine goes and stops, including a few that cost nothing, and the ones that do not exist yet. Then we compare all five crash guards we stock, because in the product photos they look much the same and they are not. After that come bash plates, touring luggage, navigation and comfort, in the order we would fit them ourselves. Where something is not worth your money, we say so.

Everything below fits the TVS Apache RTX 300 specifically. You can see the full range in our TVS Apache RTX 300 accessories collection.

What you are starting with

Before spending anything, it helps to know what the bike already does well and where it falls short, because the second list is your shopping list.

Spec	TVS Apache RTX 300
Engine	299cc RT-XD4, liquid-cooled single, 6-speed with slip-and-assist clutch
Power and torque	35.5 bhp at 9,000 rpm, 28.5 Nm at 7,000 rpm
Suspension	WP, 180 mm travel front and rear (adjustable on the BTO)
Wheels	19-inch front, 17-inch rear, tubeless
Ground clearance	200 mm
Seat height	835 mm
Kerb weight	180 kg
Fuel tank	12.5 litres

There are three variants. The base bike is Rs 1.99 lakh. The top variant, about Rs 15,000 more, adds the brighter LED headlamp, Bluetooth with screen mirroring and a bi-directional quickshifter. The BTO (built to order) at Rs 2.29 lakh adds adjustable suspension, a brass-coated chain and tyre pressure monitoring.

The chassis is the bike's strong point. Autocar India's road test praised the ride, the handling and the build quality, and scored it 9 out of 10. The same test also found the things you will notice within a month of owning one:

• The front brake feels wooden and needs a firm pull.
• The seat is tall for riders under about 5'8".
• The footpegs sit wide, so it is harder to grip the bike with your knees when standing on rough ground.
• The tank is small. Autocar reckons a little over 250 km at a brisk pace, and less when you are loaded.

EVO India added two more: the engine is slow to rev below about 5,500 rpm, and the stock Eurogrip tyres are good on tarmac but struggle on loose surfaces. Keep that list handy. Almost everything worth buying for this bike fixes one of those points.

Performance upgrades: what works on the RT-XD4

The RT-XD4 is a brand-new engine, the bike is still under warranty, and the aftermarket is only starting to catch up. So the performance list is shorter than it will be in a year. Short is not empty, though. These are the upgrades that change how the RTX goes, stops and lasts, starting with the ones that cost nothing.

1. Settings first: the free upgrade

Before you spend a rupee, spend ten minutes in the menus. The RTX has four ride modes: Rain and Urban use a softer throttle map, and Tour and Rally a sharper one. EVO India found even Tour and Rally a little mild, so if your bike feels lazy, check you are not riding around in Urban.

Ten minutes in the menus is the cheapest performance upgrade the RTX will ever get.

• Ride the mid-range. EVO found the engine slow to rev below about 5,500 rpm, while Autocar found its sweet spot between about 4,000 and 7,000 rpm. Ride a gear lower than feels natural and the RTX feels quicker than any bolt-on will make it.
• Check traction control every start. Traction control and rear ABS can both be switched off for loose climbs. According to EVO, the settings are not reset when you switch off the ignition. If you turn traction control off on a trail, it is still off on the highway the next morning.
• Be firm with the quickshifter (top and BTO). Autocar found it occasionally oversensitive, causing a brief hesitation. A deliberate, firm press with your foot avoids most of it.

2. Brake pads: sort the front before you tour

Reviewers disagree about the RTX's front brake, which tells you something. Autocar India found it wooden and needing a firm pull, while one long-term owner writing for Team-BHP found theirs so sharp it nearly lifted the rear. Feel varies between bikes, and between new and bedded-in pads. What everyone agrees on is that a loaded RTX coming down a long Himalayan descent needs a front brake that does not fade. Pad compound is the cheapest way to change how it feels:

• Strongest bite, best for touring loaded or riding in the hills: 66BHP Race Pro sintered pads, from Rs 1,989.
• Smooth and low-dust for city and highway: 66BHP Street Pro semi-ceramic pads, from Rs 789.
• NGage performance pads, front: the NGage HB 184 / HBS 184, shared with the RR 310. Choose HB 184 Whisker Ceramic (Rs 1,399) for quiet, clean everyday braking, or HBS 184 Sintered (Rs 2,249) for more bite when the brake is hot or wet.
• NGage performance pads, rear: the NGage HB 087 / HBS 087, in the same two compounds at the same prices: Whisker Ceramic Rs 1,399, Sintered Rs 2,249.

If you are torn between the brands: 66BHP's Race Pro sintered pads are the strongest-biting option here, while NGage gives you a ceramic and a sintered choice at both ends from one maker. For a loaded tour, we would run sintered at the front, whichever brand you pick.

Ceramic pads (grey) for quiet city braking; sintered pads (copper) for heat, rain and loaded descents.

Front and rear pads are different parts, so check which position you are ordering. Whichever you fit, bed them in with a dozen moderate stops before you rely on them. Our brake pad brands guide explains ceramic versus sintered in more detail.

3. A high-flow air filter

The NGage Hyper Flow air filter (NGAGE-024RTX300), from Rs 3,500, is a washable cotton-gauze filter that lasts the life of the bike. You will notice a slightly crisper throttle rather than a jump in power, and you stop buying paper elements.

Watch the part number. The older NGage filter for the BMW G 310 and the earlier RR 310 (NGAGE-016BMW310) does not fit the RTX, even though the bikes look related. And if you ride dusty trails, clean it after every dusty day, or it will flow worse than the paper filter it replaced. Our performance air filter guide explains why.

4. Engine oil

With a new engine under warranty, use exactly the grade and change interval in your owner's manual. If the manual allows a fully synthetic oil in that grade, it is the better choice for long, hot highway days and high-altitude climbs. We stock the Motul 7100 and 300V range in our Motul engine oil collection. Tell us the grade in your manual and we will match it.

5. The chain

The BTO comes with a brass-coated chain. On the base and top bikes, the stock chain is fine if you clean and lube it every 500 to 700 km and after every wet ride. We do not list a Rolon kit for the RTX yet. Our brass chain guide explains what is worth paying for when one arrives.

6. Exhaust and fuel modules: not yet

There is no exhaust or fuel controller for the RTX that we would put our name to yet, and a filter will not change how the engine is mapped low in the rev range. Be careful with listings that just say "Apache 310". The Barrel Rogue 2.0 exhaust, for example, is made for the RR 310 and RTR 310, not the RTX, which has a different engine and frame. When a proven exhaust and fuel module for the RTX arrive, we will add them here rather than sell you something half-tested.

Protection: all five crash guards compared

Most RTX drops happen at walking pace. A U-turn on a gravel shoulder, a foot that reaches for the ground and finds a dip instead, and 180 kg settles slowly onto its side. Nobody gets hurt. The bike, though, lands on its wide tank shrouds, which stick out further than the engine does, and then on the radiator surround and the engine cases. A guard costs less than replacing one shroud, and far less than an engine cover. Fit one before your first trail, not after it.

An upper and lower guard wraps the tank shrouds as well as the engine, which is where an RTX lands first.

What matters is coverage. The guards for this bike come in three types:

• Lower engine guard only. Protects the engine cases. Cheapest, lightest, least coverage.
• Full guard with sliders. One frame wrapping the engine and lower frame, with sliders so the bike rests on them instead of on bodywork.
• Upper and lower set. Two separate frames. The lower one protects the engine; the upper one runs around the tank and shroud area. The most coverage, and the one we would choose for anyone riding off tarmac.

Here is every RTX 300 guard we stock:

Guard	Type	Finishes	Worth knowing	Price
Moto Torque engine guard (MS)	Lower engine guard	Black	Budget option. Currently made to order, 2 to 4 weeks.	Rs 2,689
MotoCare upper and lower crash guard	Upper and lower set	Black	Covers the tank and upper frame as well as the engine. The only one here with a 1-year warranty.	Rs 5,599
Legundary Raptor upper and lower set	Upper and lower set	Black, white, red	Separate upper and lower sections, bolts to factory points. Pairs with the Legundary bash plate and saddle stays.	Rs 6,988 (red Rs 7,788)
Moto Torque crash guard	Full guard with sliders	Black, white, red	Integrated sliders, uses the original frame bolt points, all hardware included.	Rs 7,189
Moto Torque Stallion Pro	Full guard with sliders	Black, red, white	Four-point mounting with impact sliders. The RTX guard most riders look at on our site.	Rs 7,198

None of these makers publish tube diameter or wall thickness, so any website telling you one guard is "thicker" is guessing. What you can compare is coverage, sliders, how it mounts and how long the finish is warranted. If you want to see a guard fitted to a real RTX before you buy, message us and we will send photos.

Which one we would pick

• Most coverage for the money: the MotoCare upper and lower set. At Rs 5,599 it is the cheapest way to protect both the engine and the tank area, and it carries the longest warranty.
• For trails and gravel: the Legundary Raptor set, paired with the Legundary bash plate below. Buying guard and bash plate from the same maker avoids the usual problem of two brands' brackets fighting for the same bolt.
• For mostly road touring: the Moto Torque Stallion Pro. The sliders keep the bike off its plastics in a parking-lot drop, and it matches the Moto Torque saddle stays and carrier if you build a touring setup around it.
• On a tight budget: the Moto Torque engine guard. It is better than nothing, but understand that it leaves the tank shrouds exposed.

Browse them side by side in the RTX 300 crash guards collection. For why mounting points matter more than tube size, read the science behind motorcycle crash guards.

Underneath and up front

Two hundred millimetres of ground clearance is generous for the class, but on a broken trail it only takes one rock. The parts here are cheap compared with what they protect.

• Bash plate: the Legundary Vambrace aluminium bash plate in silver (also in black), Rs 4,795. If you only ever ride on tarmac you can skip it. If you ride anywhere else, do not.
• Radiator: the RTX is liquid-cooled, and a radiator full of bent fins from stones thrown up by the front wheel is a common, avoidable repair. Choose the Legundary Vector radiator grill (Rs 2,388), or Moto Torque's stainless (Rs 1,789) or mild steel (Rs 1,589) radiator guard.
• Headlight: the quad-LED headlamp costs many times more to replace than a grill costs to fit. Moto Torque makes a Spider (Rs 3,189) and a Honeycomb (Rs 3,289) design. Pick the one you like the look of; they do the same job.
• The small stuff: a front master cylinder guard (Rs 439, or stainless at Rs 399), a reservoir guard (Rs 498) and a chain guard in black, silver or red (from Rs 1,189). None of these is exciting. All of them cost less than the part they protect.

Touring kit: luggage, navigation and comfort

Touring is what most people buy an RTX for. With the right three or four parts, it will carry a week's luggage from Kochi to Leh without complaint.

Saddle stays, soft bags and a phone mount: the RTX set up for a week in Spiti.

Luggage

Decide which bags you will run before you buy anything, because the saddle stay has to suit the bag, not the other way round.

• Saddle stays: Moto Torque (Rs 3,589), Legundary Aviator (Rs 3,988), or the MotoCare saddle stay with plate (Rs 3,198).
• Rear rack: the Moto Torque back carrier (Rs 3,939), the MotoCare pipe carrier (Rs 3,038), or the MotoCare carrier with pillion backrest (Rs 4,079) if you ride two-up.

TVS also sells its own top box kit and a hard pannier kit through dealers. If you want hard luggage that matches the bike, ask your dealer for those. If you prefer soft bags, which are lighter and kinder in a fall, our hard vs soft panniers guide will help.

Navigation

The top and BTO variants can mirror your phone's navigation on the TFT, and it works well. On the base bike, or if you want the map larger, you will want a proper mount in your line of sight:

• Legundary Ploigos GPS mount with visor extender, Rs 2,588. Mounts on a crossbar above the dash and adds a visor extender.
• Moto Torque GPS mount, Rs 1,689.
• MotoCare GPS mount bracket, Rs 1,358.

Comfort and practicality

• Handlebar riser (Rs 2,899): the cheapest fix for the wide-footpeg problem Autocar noticed. Raising the bars brings them closer when you stand, so you are not bent over the tank on rough sections. Taller riders will also find it more relaxed on long days.
• Side stand extender (Rs 1,899): 180 kg on a narrow stand foot sinks into soft ground, sand or hot tar at a dhaba stop. A wider foot stops the slow lean that ends with your bike on its side.

On range: Autocar recorded 40.6 kpl on the highway at gentle speeds, so a full 12.5-litre tank goes a long way when you ride easy and noticeably less when you ride hard with luggage. If you are planning Manali to Leh, plan your fuel around the long gap after Tandi and carry spare.

What we would skip

• Assuming RR 310 or RTR 310 parts fit. The RTX is a new frame and a new engine. A few parts, like the NGage front pads, are shared. Most are not. Check the listing says RTX 300.
• A lower-only guard if you ride off tarmac. It leaves the tank and shrouds exposed, and those are what hit the ground first.
• Upgrading before you have changed the tyres for loose ground. If you plan serious off-road riding, the stock tyres will hold you back long before any accessory does.
• Piling weight on a top box. Keep heavy items low in the panniers. A heavy top box makes a tall bike feel even taller at low speed.

Four builds by budget

Performance basics, around Rs 5,500

NGage Hyper Flow air filter (NGAGE-024RTX300) and 66BHP Race Pro sintered front pads, plus a fresh change of oil in your manual's grade. Then set it to Tour mode and ride the mid-range.

Protection first, around Rs 9,400

MotoCare upper and lower crash guard, Moto Torque stainless radiator guard and 66BHP Race Pro sintered front pads. Everything you need to drop the bike and ride home.

Road tourer, around Rs 18,300

Moto Torque Stallion Pro, Moto Torque saddle stays and back carrier, Moto Torque GPS mount and the side stand extender. One brand, so the brackets line up.

Trail ready, around Rs 21,600

Legundary Raptor upper and lower set, Vambrace bash plate, Vector radiator grill, Ploigos GPS mount, the handlebar riser and 66BHP sintered pads.

Totals use current listed prices, which change. Check each product page before you order.

Common questions

What performance upgrades are available for the RTX 300?
Right now: the NGage Hyper Flow air filter (NGAGE-024RTX300), performance brake pads from 66BHP (Race Pro sintered and Street Pro semi-ceramic) and NGage (ceramic or sintered, front and rear), and a good oil in the grade your manual specifies. There is no proven exhaust or fuel controller for the RT-XD4 engine yet. The biggest free gain is in the settings: ride in Tour or Rally mode and keep the engine between about 4,000 and 7,000 rpm.

Does the RTX 300 need a crash guard?
If you will ever ride it off tarmac, or park it on uneven ground, yes. The tank shrouds are wide and plastic, and a standing tip-over is enough to crack them. A guard costs less than a single replacement shroud.

Which is the best crash guard for the RTX 300?
For most riders, an upper and lower set. The MotoCare set gives the most coverage for the money, the Legundary Raptor suits trail riders who also want a bash plate, and the Moto Torque Stallion Pro suits road touring with sliders and matching luggage mounts.

Will Apache RR 310 or RTR 310 accessories fit the RTX 300?
Mostly no. The RTX uses a new frame and engine. A few parts are shared, such as the NGage HB 184 front brake pads, but crash guards, luggage mounts and the air filter are RTX-specific.

Can I fit saddle stays with a crash guard?
Yes, but they share mounting areas, so the easiest route is to buy both from the same maker. If you mix brands, message us and we will confirm the two fit together before you order.

Is the BTO variant worth it over adding parts later?
If you want adjustable suspension, yes, because you cannot easily bolt that on afterwards. The brass chain and tyre pressure monitoring are nice to have, but they are not a reason to pick the BTO on their own. Everything else in this guide fits all three variants.

The short version

• Start with the free stuff: Tour mode, the 4,000 to 7,000 rpm band, and a traction control check every time you start the bike.
• For performance, fit the right air filter (NGAGE-024RTX300) and sintered front pads. Skip exhausts and fuel modules until a proven one exists for this engine.
• Fit a crash guard before your first trail. An upper and lower set protects the tank shrouds, which are what break first.
• Add a radiator guard and a bash plate if you ride anywhere rough. They are cheap insurance.
• Choose your bags first, then the saddle stays to suit them.

Not sure what fits your RTX, or whether two parts will work together? WhatsApp us on +91 94465 14691 with your variant and how you ride, and we will send back a list that bolts on first time. Or browse the full TVS Apache RTX 300 accessories range.