Honda Unicorn Long term report

Honda two wheelers are a major force to be reckoned with in the motorcycle market here in India and for good reason too. They keep updating and upgrading their motorcycles every year and that’s something everyone would like other manufacturers to do too. Last year they launched their beefed up version of the Unicorn – the CB Unicorn 160 which has a slightly more powerful engine and some good upgrades too.

We got a CB Unicorn 160 as a long term vehicle for testing and have clocked almost 8,000km on it. We’ve taken it mostly for weekend rides and the daily office commute of course. We had a problem with the rear mono-shock initially with it being too stiff but were able to put it on a softer setting at the service center. Now the suspension works great, and that’s good news for us because the conditions of the roads in Mumbai are getting worse. Another aspect that we found to be of great help and that works really well, is the braking. The braking power is very progressive and powerful even if you’re using just the front brake to come to a stop. I’ve used the back brake a few times on patches of gravel and was impressed with its response.

It’s currently returning a fuel efficiency of 55kmpl which is great for us as we rarely have to visit the petrol pump. But after riding for almost 8,000km some issues have cropped up. The engine has started to make a lot more noise than it used to, this might just be the tappets that need to be reset and for some reason the bar end weights on the handlebar keep coming loose. We’ve already lost one of them while riding and the other one keeps coming out too.

But overall the Honda CB Unicorn is well packaged motorcycle. It’s comfortable to ride in the city and can let you have some good fun out on the highways too. We’re going to get it serviced now and will give an update soon.