BREAKING: Honda SP160 Sporty Commuter Launched

After a series of teasers about its new upcoming motorcycle, Honda has launched the SP160. It is available in two variants: Single Disc and Dual Disc and here are the variant wise prices:

(ex-showroom Delhi)

The SP160 is a sportier version of the Honda Unicorn. Since the Honda SP125 has been on sale for a long time now, the familiarity of the nameplate among its potential customers might be the reason why the motorcycle is called SP160. 

The LED headlight design is similar to that of the SP125 but gets a more chunkier cowl around it. The muscular fuel tank with the tank extensions give a bold presence to the front-end. The fin-like design elements on the side panels and the sharp lines on the rear panels give a dash of sportiness to the motorcycle.

The LED taillight has a V-shaped design with two lines that go upwards and then converge downwards at the middle. The motorcycle has an overall commuter design language like its 125cc sibling with a mix of sportiness. Features-wise, it gets a LCD instrument console that gives regular readouts like fuel level, gear indicator, odometer and trip metre readings, mileage, speed and time.    

The Honda SP160 is powered by the same 162.71cc, single-cylinder, BS6.2-compliant, counterbalanced engine found in the Unicorn, producing 13.4PS and 14.58Nm and comes mated to a five-speed gearbox. It gets a telescopic fork and monoshock suspension setup. Braking duties are taken care of by a 276mm front and 220mm rear petal disc brakes for the Dual Disc variant and a 130mm rear drum brake for the Single Disc variant with single-channel ABS. For reference, the Honda Unicorn gets a 240mm disc brake at the front and 130mm drum brake at the rear. 

The sporty commuter has a seat height of 796mm and a ground clearance of 177mm. The fuel tank capacity of the bike is 12 litres, which is 1 litre smaller than that of the Unicorn. The kerb weight is 139kg and 141kg for the Single Disc and Dual Disc variants respectively. As such, the Single Disc variant has the exact same kerb weight as the Unicorn’s.

The latest offering from Honda gets 6 colour options: Matte Marvel Blue Metallic, Matte Axis Gray Metallic, Matte Dark Blue Metallic, Pearl Spartan Red, Pearl Igneous Black and Pearl Deep Ground Gray.

The Honda SP160 will rival the likes of the Bajaj Pulsar P150 and the TVS Apache RTR 160. The Japanese bikemaker also offers a 3-year standard warranty with the option of extending it to 7 more years. Honda had introduced a sporty version of the Unicorn before, called the CB Unicorn 160, but it didn’t really set the sales chart on fire. Now with the SP160, Honda hopes to gain a bigger share of the 160cc commuter segment. That said, the SP160 doesn’t offer anything drastically different from the Unicorn for the Rs 7700 premium. It’ll be interesting to see how it fares in the market.