UNICORN - My most prized possession
“The civilized beast” is the befitting term for the unicorn. Well, some might scratch their heads wondering what the hell this senseless half-wit is blabbering. If you think I am referring to the mythological horse sporting a spiral horn on its forehead, you are absolutely incorrect as I was talking about my most prized possession, Honda unicorn and its nothing but a recently unveiled bike from the Honda paddock which I luckily managed to buy some 6 months ago. I was sick of witnessing “every alternate bike is a Hero Honda” situation and was in dire need of a bike, which has some semblance of performance if not like the lightning quick and incredibly fast track bred Superbikes. Honda really seemed to have perceived the thought running in my mind and launched the most technically advanced and superlatively refined bike, the unicorn. My brief 6-month stint astride this lovely and really capable machine has forced me to document how my perpetual hatred towards Honda amazingly transformed into ever lasting love and here I go.
Let me start with the most mundane aspect of any bike, the styling (mundane in the sense that every common man would have a natural inclination towards a bike’s styling more than anything else). The bike is definitely no head turner and every bike enthusiast would vehemently concur with this very fact but it doesn’t implicitly undermine unicorn’s style statement. Well, the bike is very much known for its prosaic looks just like pulsar is known for its aggressive styling. Honda’s very late foray into Indian market convinced every bike freak that the numero-uno manufacturer is all set to fire its lethal salvo and firmly believed that their debut bike launch would be an imposing landmark in the history of Indian motorcycling especially after watching Bajaj, the Indian bike maker, which kept on unveiling new models and they literally sold like hot cakes. Much to their chagrin, it happened the other way around. When people’s expectation was an obvious “aggressively stylish bike” (more aggressive than the pulsar), Honda launched its sedately styled unicorn. It’s only Honda’s styling department that played spoilsport and made what was supposed to be a landmark launch, a damp squib. But being genuine bikers at heart, we should not needlessly expend our energy in cursing Honda’s design engineers, instead lets overtly praise the computer sculptors who were responsible for astonishing “pulsar styling” after all its our Indian blokes who had the wherewithal to leapfrog even the Japanese guys in the design area. Full marks to them. I think the topic is slowly getting steered off towards pulsar, now lets get back to our intended subject. After spending few years as a mute spectator by making just scooters, I’m sure Honda would have learnt its vital lessons on “Indians’ expectations from any bike maker”. Till now I had been voicing the common man’s standpoint and here comes my viewpoint on unicorn’s styling.
Being a bike enthusiast myself, I was mightily disappointed with its calm styling but an eagle-eyed look left me extolling the same. Honda was simply lavish in its attention to detail. The paint job was neatly done which resulted in a stunningly glossy appearance of its body. Honda has really played it safe by cleverly designing its front fairing by making it very conventional, as fairing is something, which decides a bike’s appeal and for the above-penned lines, Fazer is a clear testimony. Fazer was phenomenally capable but was put off by many a customer due to its bug-eyed fairing. The low-slung nature of its front cowl definitely lends it a sporty look. Behind the fairing, we have the tri-pod consoles gently accommodating the Speedo, Tacho and the much needed fuel-gauge. The different angular resting positions of their respective needles and the way they make brisk movements when the vehicle is on the move will have you in raptures. The instrumentation is of very high quality and believe me, unicorn’s cockpit is way ahead of any other bike’s cockpit in the country. The omission of a trip meter is a culpable oversight. The petrol tank has been well chiseled to offer the best knee recess for comfortably housing your fleshy/skinny thighs inside, not to mention the pristine beauty of Honda’s most respected “wing” logo adorning the macho fuel tank. Just like the front dome, tail part is paramount and the sharply raked in tailpiece is simply a class act. The smartly executed rear part exudes a race bike feel, which gets heavily complemented by the brilliantly swept in taillights. The mega phonic silencer, which breathes out the carbon effluents, is jazzily upswept and wonderfully makes up for the “not so aggressive” styling in good measure. The unicorn’s body is luckily devoid of the most sought after graphics and decals, which have resulted in its cool looks. Keeping in mind its displacement and the number of valuable horses it punches out, a meatier rear tyre should have been the obvious choice but again Honda has let us down by employing a thinner rubber. The bottom line is that the overall styling of unicorn is nothing more than contemporary and looks a bit bland at times.
Now, let’s zero in on the heart of this phenomenal performer. This high revving mill displaces a mammoth 149.1cc and smoothly churns out 13.3 bhp of consistent and linear power. Having woken up to people’s demands, Honda incorporates a slickly designed 5-speed gearbox culminating with the universal 1-down, 4-up shifting mechanism, which drubs pulsar for having employed a harshly condemnable all-down pattern. Gearshift feel is awesome with proper feedback emerging every time you make a shift, which doesn’t give room for false neutrals at all. Seating position is spot on and the chunky cushion seat can house a puny framed kid to a 100-kilo hulking mass with so much hospitality that every rider will instantaneously feel at home once astride. The kick lever is irritatingly tall that one has to bend his body with much difficulty, grab and rightly position the lever with his right hand for the start. Once it’s done, all is needed is an effortless and gentle kick to fire up this ultra-smooth motor. The engine is so smooth that you’ll have to raise the acceleration a bit to believe that the engine is indeed running but I warn you, let this smoothness not deceive you. With a whopping 13.3 bhp on call, this bulky monster can post blistering acceleration times. The unicorn theoretically boasts the best pick up in its class, which is very much evident when engaging in traffic light GPs. The bike literally takes off to a flying start with proper clutch action and can comfortably win the drag race (which is a matter of great pride for all road racers) if the rider is in a sporty mood. The supreme refinement of this powerful bike can play havoc by robbing you of the badly needed sensory thrills which were abundantly present in the phased-out two-strokes but its time we moved on to greener bikes. The class leading torque figures also minimize the need for frequent gear shifting while wading through the impenetrably congested traffic and this very torque can generously help you in breezing past any slow moving vehicle with consummate ease.
Coming to serious performance! Let me reiterate one thing; don’t let its smooth nature deceive you. The bike is definitely capable of showcasing shattering performance. This mean machine can don the role of a humble commuter while lazily revving the engine at crawling speeds and can easily transform into a mature performer at staggering speeds. I have clocked an indicated top speed of 110 kmph but the irony here is the top speed was achieved on the very busy GST road. I was involved in a road rage with another bike and we kept pushing our bikes and the limits like crazy until I was caught unawares when I accidentally eyed the striking-red Speedo needle briskly sweeping its way past the 110kmph mark. My heart stopped pounding for almost a second, as I have never gone this fast on any bike that too on the madly populated GST road which is notoriously known for people’s eccentric riding anomalies. You really have to look at the speedometer to believe the kind of pace you are doing on the bike and it always endows you with a plush ride quality. The bike is bewilderingly devoid of vibrations even after taking the tacho needle to the highest RPM possible. What is the point of doing scorching speeds if you are unable to haul it down when encountering an unexpected obstacle. The highly powerful disc brake up front does its job cleanly by offering awe-inspiring stopping power with no drama staged (drama here refers to rear wheel lock-ups, tyre skid). Unicorn fares astoundingly well on cleanly laid roads and no wonder it can tackle even the pothole filled roads brilliantly. Its is here unicorn’s monoshock hogs the limelight as it can deftly ply on broken roads thereby providing a superior ride quality to the rider. The mono suspension, technically speaking, aids in “mass-centralization”, which in turn leads to its stability and agile handling thereby providing you with the extra dollop of confidence to take the corners more easily and to zip through the straight line in a very composed manner. Honda again breaks new ground by stuffing the highly cursed thinner tyre with a technologically advanced “tuff-up tube” which makes tyre puncture merely an imagination. The vehicle’s mature demeanor is strikingly evident even when you mercilessly push it to attain its claimed top speed of 114 kmph where the engine would still sing the effortless exhaust note (with slight bass tone which makes you feel its power). The brakes, performance and the ride quality set new benchmarks in the 150cc category.
We kept on talking about rider’s comfort, performance…blah blah blah but what about the pillion rider who often would be your most loved ones. Unicorn treats even the pillion rider with the same quality levels and gives him/her the same good feeling without partiality. The high-perched rear seat can be a serious problem if you want to take your mom or granny and reaching it can be an arduous task for any oldie but after clambering on to it, it’ll be like heaven. By now, every reader’s mind would have started thinking about the most critical aspect of any bike, fuel efficiency. Build a bike with terrific features, matchless style and no matter what you do; there will always be a question on fuel efficiency and that’s our mentality thanks to the skyrocketing fuel prices. Unicorn doesn’t disappoint us on the efficiency front as it can return very decent efficiency figures, keeping in mind the bike’s performance and its porky weight. Honda says the bike’s high torque has resulted in going for taller gear ratios which in turn would help the bike in doing those extra miles to a litre of fuel. Ride the bike with a sensible right wrist and the bike can return you an amazing 60 km/l while riding the bike fast and really hard can drop the figures to poor numbers as I am telling it out of my own experience. I rode my bike few days in a very conservative manner (calm pace, sparse clutch action, anticipated turns and braked accordingly) and I was delighted to see a commendable 57 km/l but few days of high-speed and reckless ride plummeted the average to an unacceptable 31km/l which is considered very poor for even the thirsty two-strokes. Overall, 45+ km/l can be easily seen with occasional ripping fused with proper riding habit.
You are approaching the end of my 6-month experience on this gem of a machine. Having said all I like and hate, there are some serious areas of improvements especially in the looks department. Its high time unicorn switched over to alloy wheels at least for the fact that its competition offers it. Incorporation of a trip meter, indispensable side stand indicators, horns that need to scream high decibels, can work wonders in catching up with the pulsar in sales numbers. To be frank, unicorn trails severely in its sales as unicorn sells only 1/3rd of what pulsar sells each month. Bajaj has made several revamps of the pulsar that almost left people chanting pulsar... Pulsar. In the light of these things, Honda did strike back by refurbishing its entire model line up albeit they are just visual. It seems Honda decided to tread the path walked by all by splashing the unicorn with body graphics. The enlarged wing image is a good idea but the colour combination chosen is nothing less than stupid. Having documented my most memorable biking experience, I seriously expect Honda to correct the flaws, which can very well propel this smart machine to the top step of the 150cc podium but Honda had better watch out as its arch rival Yamaha is all set to take the 150cc world by storm with many impending launches, of course, I am talking about the launch of performance bikes. It’s ultimately a treat to watch all the bike makers going hammer and tongs in building competitive and exhilarating bikes that get better and more powerful incessantly yet improving on fuel efficiency, great work folks…!!!!!!
Let me start with the most mundane aspect of any bike, the styling (mundane in the sense that every common man would have a natural inclination towards a bike’s styling more than anything else). The bike is definitely no head turner and every bike enthusiast would vehemently concur with this very fact but it doesn’t implicitly undermine unicorn’s style statement. Well, the bike is very much known for its prosaic looks just like pulsar is known for its aggressive styling. Honda’s very late foray into Indian market convinced every bike freak that the numero-uno manufacturer is all set to fire its lethal salvo and firmly believed that their debut bike launch would be an imposing landmark in the history of Indian motorcycling especially after watching Bajaj, the Indian bike maker, which kept on unveiling new models and they literally sold like hot cakes. Much to their chagrin, it happened the other way around. When people’s expectation was an obvious “aggressively stylish bike” (more aggressive than the pulsar), Honda launched its sedately styled unicorn. It’s only Honda’s styling department that played spoilsport and made what was supposed to be a landmark launch, a damp squib. But being genuine bikers at heart, we should not needlessly expend our energy in cursing Honda’s design engineers, instead lets overtly praise the computer sculptors who were responsible for astonishing “pulsar styling” after all its our Indian blokes who had the wherewithal to leapfrog even the Japanese guys in the design area. Full marks to them. I think the topic is slowly getting steered off towards pulsar, now lets get back to our intended subject. After spending few years as a mute spectator by making just scooters, I’m sure Honda would have learnt its vital lessons on “Indians’ expectations from any bike maker”. Till now I had been voicing the common man’s standpoint and here comes my viewpoint on unicorn’s styling.
Being a bike enthusiast myself, I was mightily disappointed with its calm styling but an eagle-eyed look left me extolling the same. Honda was simply lavish in its attention to detail. The paint job was neatly done which resulted in a stunningly glossy appearance of its body. Honda has really played it safe by cleverly designing its front fairing by making it very conventional, as fairing is something, which decides a bike’s appeal and for the above-penned lines, Fazer is a clear testimony. Fazer was phenomenally capable but was put off by many a customer due to its bug-eyed fairing. The low-slung nature of its front cowl definitely lends it a sporty look. Behind the fairing, we have the tri-pod consoles gently accommodating the Speedo, Tacho and the much needed fuel-gauge. The different angular resting positions of their respective needles and the way they make brisk movements when the vehicle is on the move will have you in raptures. The instrumentation is of very high quality and believe me, unicorn’s cockpit is way ahead of any other bike’s cockpit in the country. The omission of a trip meter is a culpable oversight. The petrol tank has been well chiseled to offer the best knee recess for comfortably housing your fleshy/skinny thighs inside, not to mention the pristine beauty of Honda’s most respected “wing” logo adorning the macho fuel tank. Just like the front dome, tail part is paramount and the sharply raked in tailpiece is simply a class act. The smartly executed rear part exudes a race bike feel, which gets heavily complemented by the brilliantly swept in taillights. The mega phonic silencer, which breathes out the carbon effluents, is jazzily upswept and wonderfully makes up for the “not so aggressive” styling in good measure. The unicorn’s body is luckily devoid of the most sought after graphics and decals, which have resulted in its cool looks. Keeping in mind its displacement and the number of valuable horses it punches out, a meatier rear tyre should have been the obvious choice but again Honda has let us down by employing a thinner rubber. The bottom line is that the overall styling of unicorn is nothing more than contemporary and looks a bit bland at times.
Now, let’s zero in on the heart of this phenomenal performer. This high revving mill displaces a mammoth 149.1cc and smoothly churns out 13.3 bhp of consistent and linear power. Having woken up to people’s demands, Honda incorporates a slickly designed 5-speed gearbox culminating with the universal 1-down, 4-up shifting mechanism, which drubs pulsar for having employed a harshly condemnable all-down pattern. Gearshift feel is awesome with proper feedback emerging every time you make a shift, which doesn’t give room for false neutrals at all. Seating position is spot on and the chunky cushion seat can house a puny framed kid to a 100-kilo hulking mass with so much hospitality that every rider will instantaneously feel at home once astride. The kick lever is irritatingly tall that one has to bend his body with much difficulty, grab and rightly position the lever with his right hand for the start. Once it’s done, all is needed is an effortless and gentle kick to fire up this ultra-smooth motor. The engine is so smooth that you’ll have to raise the acceleration a bit to believe that the engine is indeed running but I warn you, let this smoothness not deceive you. With a whopping 13.3 bhp on call, this bulky monster can post blistering acceleration times. The unicorn theoretically boasts the best pick up in its class, which is very much evident when engaging in traffic light GPs. The bike literally takes off to a flying start with proper clutch action and can comfortably win the drag race (which is a matter of great pride for all road racers) if the rider is in a sporty mood. The supreme refinement of this powerful bike can play havoc by robbing you of the badly needed sensory thrills which were abundantly present in the phased-out two-strokes but its time we moved on to greener bikes. The class leading torque figures also minimize the need for frequent gear shifting while wading through the impenetrably congested traffic and this very torque can generously help you in breezing past any slow moving vehicle with consummate ease.
Coming to serious performance! Let me reiterate one thing; don’t let its smooth nature deceive you. The bike is definitely capable of showcasing shattering performance. This mean machine can don the role of a humble commuter while lazily revving the engine at crawling speeds and can easily transform into a mature performer at staggering speeds. I have clocked an indicated top speed of 110 kmph but the irony here is the top speed was achieved on the very busy GST road. I was involved in a road rage with another bike and we kept pushing our bikes and the limits like crazy until I was caught unawares when I accidentally eyed the striking-red Speedo needle briskly sweeping its way past the 110kmph mark. My heart stopped pounding for almost a second, as I have never gone this fast on any bike that too on the madly populated GST road which is notoriously known for people’s eccentric riding anomalies. You really have to look at the speedometer to believe the kind of pace you are doing on the bike and it always endows you with a plush ride quality. The bike is bewilderingly devoid of vibrations even after taking the tacho needle to the highest RPM possible. What is the point of doing scorching speeds if you are unable to haul it down when encountering an unexpected obstacle. The highly powerful disc brake up front does its job cleanly by offering awe-inspiring stopping power with no drama staged (drama here refers to rear wheel lock-ups, tyre skid). Unicorn fares astoundingly well on cleanly laid roads and no wonder it can tackle even the pothole filled roads brilliantly. Its is here unicorn’s monoshock hogs the limelight as it can deftly ply on broken roads thereby providing a superior ride quality to the rider. The mono suspension, technically speaking, aids in “mass-centralization”, which in turn leads to its stability and agile handling thereby providing you with the extra dollop of confidence to take the corners more easily and to zip through the straight line in a very composed manner. Honda again breaks new ground by stuffing the highly cursed thinner tyre with a technologically advanced “tuff-up tube” which makes tyre puncture merely an imagination. The vehicle’s mature demeanor is strikingly evident even when you mercilessly push it to attain its claimed top speed of 114 kmph where the engine would still sing the effortless exhaust note (with slight bass tone which makes you feel its power). The brakes, performance and the ride quality set new benchmarks in the 150cc category.
We kept on talking about rider’s comfort, performance…blah blah blah but what about the pillion rider who often would be your most loved ones. Unicorn treats even the pillion rider with the same quality levels and gives him/her the same good feeling without partiality. The high-perched rear seat can be a serious problem if you want to take your mom or granny and reaching it can be an arduous task for any oldie but after clambering on to it, it’ll be like heaven. By now, every reader’s mind would have started thinking about the most critical aspect of any bike, fuel efficiency. Build a bike with terrific features, matchless style and no matter what you do; there will always be a question on fuel efficiency and that’s our mentality thanks to the skyrocketing fuel prices. Unicorn doesn’t disappoint us on the efficiency front as it can return very decent efficiency figures, keeping in mind the bike’s performance and its porky weight. Honda says the bike’s high torque has resulted in going for taller gear ratios which in turn would help the bike in doing those extra miles to a litre of fuel. Ride the bike with a sensible right wrist and the bike can return you an amazing 60 km/l while riding the bike fast and really hard can drop the figures to poor numbers as I am telling it out of my own experience. I rode my bike few days in a very conservative manner (calm pace, sparse clutch action, anticipated turns and braked accordingly) and I was delighted to see a commendable 57 km/l but few days of high-speed and reckless ride plummeted the average to an unacceptable 31km/l which is considered very poor for even the thirsty two-strokes. Overall, 45+ km/l can be easily seen with occasional ripping fused with proper riding habit.
You are approaching the end of my 6-month experience on this gem of a machine. Having said all I like and hate, there are some serious areas of improvements especially in the looks department. Its high time unicorn switched over to alloy wheels at least for the fact that its competition offers it. Incorporation of a trip meter, indispensable side stand indicators, horns that need to scream high decibels, can work wonders in catching up with the pulsar in sales numbers. To be frank, unicorn trails severely in its sales as unicorn sells only 1/3rd of what pulsar sells each month. Bajaj has made several revamps of the pulsar that almost left people chanting pulsar... Pulsar. In the light of these things, Honda did strike back by refurbishing its entire model line up albeit they are just visual. It seems Honda decided to tread the path walked by all by splashing the unicorn with body graphics. The enlarged wing image is a good idea but the colour combination chosen is nothing less than stupid. Having documented my most memorable biking experience, I seriously expect Honda to correct the flaws, which can very well propel this smart machine to the top step of the 150cc podium but Honda had better watch out as its arch rival Yamaha is all set to take the 150cc world by storm with many impending launches, of course, I am talking about the launch of performance bikes. It’s ultimately a treat to watch all the bike makers going hammer and tongs in building competitive and exhilarating bikes that get better and more powerful incessantly yet improving on fuel efficiency, great work folks…!!!!!!
posted by Rodeobiker at 1:30 AM
3 Comments:
Aravind, the article was cool. More than the bike, I am impressed with your vocabulary. Keep it up.
Hi Sweetie,
Skimmed thru both the articles scribbled by u,still wondering how u went down in ur gre dude....
Aneway the descrption of bike is gud but it wuld be better if u dnt and too much of technical jargons to ur content,i agree it is meant for biker's,but a lay man like me finds things difficult and some times boring.Okay, thought of highlighting my view.
take care
iyer
A very articulate and well laid out review which definitely has the right jargons at the right places.. amazing use of vocabulary which makes the article even more fun to read. great attention to detail and your short but lively experience with the bike is evident. I wud suggest u start getting in touch with bloggers who have similar bike related blogs... that way u'll get to know a lot of similar minded ppl and also get their valuable comments/inputs... wat say... ? well this is the way to go dude... rock on!!!
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