After 4-5 weeks of sleepless nights, I ultimately decided to go in for Hero Honda Achiever the 150 CC newly launched bike from Hero Honda Stable.
I had short listed many bikes from 125 to 150 CC categories, and they were:
1] 125 CC Bajaj Discover DTSi (For fit and finesse)
2] 125 CC Hero Honda Glamour
3] 125 CC YAMAHA Fazer (For build quality and reliability)
4] 150 CC LML Beamer (For shear performance and for entirely different looks)
5] 150 CC Honda Unicorn (For the new sensational performance and wide acceptance)
6] 150 CC Hero Honda Achiever (For best all round package)
7] 150 CC Bajaj Pulsar DTSi (For fit, fenese and performance)
8] 150 CC TVC Apache
Now, one may ask me a simple question - why I had to focus on so many options especially from different categories? But my answer to that will be - I have ridden YAMAHA RX100 for 5 years, with which I was highly satisfied, then I bought BAJAJ Calibre which was a heavy disappointment and hence I wanted to have an all rounder with different brand altogether.
In today’s Indian Bike market there are lots and lots of good commuter as well as performance oriented bikes, even BAJAJ Motors have refined their products to such an extent, at least they look very very sexy and attractive as compared to any other product in the market...(No doubt about that) but having experienced the poor performance of BAJAJ Caliber 110CC bike, I was completely against BAJAJ, Also BAJAJ still has NOT eliminated its Ignition Coil problem from its bikes completely. Almost 2 in every 5 BAJAJ Owners face the Ignition Coil problem during first 2-6 months from the date of purchase, I had replaced the Ignition Coil 3 times for my Calibre. Also the gear shifts are bit notchy, and the accelerator is not finely calibrated. A small shift in the accelerator gives a jerk to the bike, and people feel that it offers a great pick up!!!! :-) Well then I must say that people have very poor knowledge about accelerator calibration, and I found it very annoying in Pulsars. So I ruled out Pulsar and Discover.
Glamour appeared to be over glamorous, and it appeared to me like a fashion model who got ready for the fashion show having dressed up and put up her make up in less than 30 seconds! Hufff...not my types of a bike!
YAMAHA Fazer was a real head turner and the detailing that has gone into making of this bike was really impressive. Its fit and finesse and legacy of YAMAHA engineering confused me again ...but I gave up YAMAHA FAZER due to its diminishing market popularity.... I refused FAZER simply because of its exorbitant prizing, and lack of some of the key features. The on road Mumbai price for YAMAHA Fazer is Rs.57000/- hufff (Its 125CC right?) and it does not have Fuel Gauge, Tube Less Tires, Trip Meter, Leg Guard and Saree Guard!!!! Not worth it.
Then came Unicorn. I took at least 3 test drives, and was always impressed with every ride I took, but the size of the fuel tank was bit annoying...I also had a look at the Unicorns that had met accidents and they all had the bulky fuel tank bent inside...and they looked real miserable....As far as the detailing is concerned Unicorn offered everything except for the Trip Meter and huge bundle of service network.It was priced at around Rs.60000/- So had to say Bye Bye to the Unicorn. One more reason why I did not go for Unicorn, and that is, my sister has got Honda Activa, and she lives at Panvel. She had been facing lots of problems in getting the spares in and around Panvel area, and even she told me, even though Honda products are new, refined and fuel efficient, but their after sales service is yet to catch up the level of HeroHonda and BAJAJs. And in Mumbai there are not more than 5 Honda Dealers.
Next came TVS Apache and LML Beamer, they offered lot of value for money but I wasn’t sure of their after sales service and also about the worthiness of their engines. But somehow I managed to get the Test drive of TVS Apache from one of the authorized dealers in Mulund West, but I realized that TVS had offered all the features just to keep up with the competition, no attention was paid to the detailing of most of the features. And the seat of the bike was very hard and one can not ride the whole day on Apache.
LML was entirely different looking bike of the lot. I took a test drive from a dealer located at Panvel. This bike offered lots of low end torque and riding the bike at slow speeds and at high gears wasn’t much of a problem. In fact it helps gain more fuel efficiency. But as I have the average height of 5.8’’, I found it little uncomfortable to ride this bike due to its elongated fuel tank and because of which I had to stretch my hands to keep the handle bar in full control. But then why LML was not so famous on Indian Road?? Still a question!!!! The latest lockout in LML factory at Kanpur also helped me arrive at the decision to give up LML Beamer.
LML cost - Rs.61500/- and APACHE cost - Rs.61000/- on road Mumbai.
Then I spotted Hero Honda Achiever, now this bike costed be around Rs.59800/- on road Mumbai with free leg guard, sari guard, buzzer, seat cover, grip cover. It also offered me Tuff Up Tube, Disk Brakes, Button Start, Trip Meter, Fuel Meter and reliable Hero Honda Service Network. It did not offer Alloy Wheel i.e. Mag Wheels but it hardly makes any difference as far as ride and handling is concerned. Yes but Mag Wheels are far better and easy to maintain. May be the newer versions will come with factory fitted Mag Wheels.
Well these are just the features, when I started using this bike, I realized how experienced Hero Honda is in making good, reliable, sturdy and economical bikes.
For the initial 2 days, I had little back pain as I took little while to adjust to the driving posture, but the bike was simple, rock solid, highly refined, and I am finding it very fuel efficient too.
The gear shifts of this bike are fine smooth and I never experienced any false neutral while changing the gears.
Pick Up - Now this is the area where there are real hick ups! This Bike doesn’t run quickly as I had expected, it’s relatively slow as compared to Macho Pulsar, but the ride quality is quiet comfortable and pleasant.
The Speedometer, Trip Meter, Rev Meter, Fuel Indicator are so neatly defined that they look uncluttered and easy to read and clean, unlike in case of Unicorn, where there are big round slots and lots of dust accumulates inside over the period of time.
Parking this bike on the main stand is real very easy and requires very little efforts.
I usually ride very slowly and hence I save lot of fuel. It’s offering me 50+ in heavy traffic conditions of Mumbai road. Did you read something else??? Yes..I said 50Kms+ on Mumbai roads.....The bike has got all utilitarian features and handy and reliable switch board.
The engine is very smooth and its Euro 4 compliant. It is so silent that hardly anyone to whom I had overtaken on the roads could notice my presence.
The rare drum brake is NOT very trustworthy and needs to be fixed during my first servicing but the Disk Brake is confidence inspiring and the candy blazing red color is a head turner too.
As far as pick up is concerned it can not beat Bajaj Pulsar, but otherwise in every other aspect, it wins over Unicorn, APACHE, Pulsar and LML Beamer. Most importantly Hero Honda has offered 40, 000Km / 3 Yrs of warranty. Considering the price, mileage, refinement of the product and after sales service from Hero Honda, I would strongly recommend this bike to everyone.
Until now I have covered 1000Kms, and very much satisfied with my Achiever.
Very soon my first service is due...so I will write my experience in that too.
Happy riding!