Its me again and once again its review time only this time round its shoot out time amongst the big boys.
The contenders:CBZ, Unicorn, P-150 DTSI(alloy wheels) & Achiever
The test: A 180 km ride from Bangalore - Chitoor
The festivities got underway in my basement in the wee hours of the twilight hours of 23rd December
Time - around 3 A.M
3 friends and I kickstart our journey on a freezing friday morning on our exciting journey
To begin we start our bikes the CBZ starts with a single press of a button & so does the achiever, the pulsar makes an awful sound with the electric start and is the most vocal at tht, the Uni takes some time but finally gets underway after abt 4 tries.
So off we go hitting the near empty city road doing abt 60 avg on it and once we hit the highway its throttle thumping time, the CBZ is the first and quickest to respond covering tarmac at scorching speeds, the pulsar keeps pace until 80 a couple of bike lengths behind the CBZ, but after 80 it just runs out of grunt the unicorn & achiever quicker after 80, the achiever being the lightest struggles to maintain a straight line easily being coaught out by crosswinds while the others have good staright line stability, the Unicron & Cbz however are the best, the pulsar’s heavy front & light back ensures it’s pretty less stable than the other 2 at speeds above 80, then we are met with a right turn, the pulsar thanks to its 17 inch wheels gets into the corner fast, followed by the CBZ, Unicorn & achiever.On the performance front there just is’nt any bike posing a challenge to the super fast & super agile CBZ, follwoed by pulsar, Unicorn & Achiever.As with the case of our highways there is an undulating patch of road which suddenly emerges out of no where all of us were at abt 80 kms and the disc brakes were used severly trying to make the stop well before again the braking stability of the CBZ is phenomenal ensuring maintained a straight line at the stop, the pulsar too is pretty impressive but the not the Unicorn & achiever thx to the thinner rear tyre.Then again we come back to neutral the CBZ, Unicorn & achiever’s top gear box ensures it happens in one go we literally had to move the pulsar back & forth to get the bike into neutral and later on the guy could not keep pace the notchy gearbox getting in the way.The CBZ’s sporty ride position and sporty handling is the best bike in terms of handling, followed by the Unicorn, achiever & pulsar.However the ride quality of the Unicorn is the best by the smallest margin from the CBZ thx to the monoshox, the pulsar with the nitrox suspension I also a close match the only problem being the suspension setup is not sport on, the achiever is not far behind.The UNicorn, CBZ & Achiever soak up bad roads, humps etc with applomb, the pulsar tends to bottom out though over undulating patches.We reach our destination in approx 3 hrs thx to all the theatrics, we take a nap for a couple of hours and at nearing 9 we set off again through the city.In the city the achiever & unicorn are the easier of the lot to manoeuver, the cbz too is awesome in city & traffic light drags, the pulsar with a heavy front is particularly heavy in entering corners and the heavy clutch & notchy gear box does not do it any favours.We stay overnite at a hotel & leave the next day i.e. 24th afternoon in the sweltering heat back to b’lore and the traffic is a real nuisance all 4 bikes make quick work of the traffic and we are again on the highway with all the heavy vehicles, the pulsars horn & pass light are used to good effect signalling overtaking, the next best CBZ has a loud horn but no passer light, the Unicorn & achiever though having the passer light have the weakest horns.We reach our destination at abt 8 pm.We then sit down and discuss our machines, it was clear tht the achiever & pulsar were’nt the preference, however b/w the Unicorn & CBZ its a close fight, the Unicorn has the best engine, the CBZ the better handling & performance, ride quality of both are equally good however the Unicorn is just a bit better thx to the monoshox, the pulsar too has gr8 ride quality thx to its nitrox suspension tht acc to me was the best of the lot as far as damping was concerned, though the suspension setup could do with improvement, the achiever well its gr8 in the city with its superb low end torque & its quite the fire breather after around 90, the pulsar is quicker to around 70 but then runs out of breathand labours to 100, the 80-100 is the worst timing of its class. The engine toois’nt tht refined and gets heated real fast and once it has it becomes really sluggish to ride, adding to the woes is the notchy gear box & clutch.Infact the diff b/w the 150 & 180 cc pulsars is astounding.
On the mileage fronts the Achiever was the best giving 400 km for close to 6 litres, the Unicorn abt 370 for the same 6 litres, the pulsar abt 330 and the CBZ giving abt 270 for the same.
So in short the parameter ratings are as follows:-
Performance (0-100 & top speed)
1) CBZ (Top speed of 120)
2) Unicorn (Top speed of 114)
3) Pulsar (112)
4) Achiever (109)
Handling:-
1) CBZ (thx to its sporty handling)
2) Unicorn (Too Commuter)
3) Achiever (Skinny rear tyre)
4) Pulsar (Heavy front)
Gearbox:-
1) CBZ
2) Unicorn
3) Achiever
4) Pulsar
Ride:
1) Unicorn
2) CBZ
3) Pulsar & Achiever
Mileage:-
1) Achiever
2) Unicorn
3) Pulsar
4) CBZ
Ergonomics:-
1) CBZ & Unicorn
2) Achiever & pulsar
Features:-
1) Pulsar
2) Achiever (Poor horn)
3) CBZ (No passer flash)
4) Unicorn (No trip meter & poor horn)
If you are looking for a bike with performance, handling & looks - CBZ
All rounder - Unicorn
Looks & feature packed - Pulsar 150
Unicorn minus the monoshock but with the Hero Honda badge and good performance & mileage - Achiever
Note this was a consensus we arrived at as we rode all the 4 bikes at some point during our journey.
With the CBZ now stopped & with a smattering of crayons the Unicorn is the best 150 cc bike today, guys fans of the pulsar go in for the 180 the 150 just doesnt cut it for me unless u want all features & looks, the achiever well is a viable replacement to the Unicorn.Infact its marginally faster too than the Unicorn & faster than the pulsar after 90.
The reason i’m recomending achiever is because its a very relaxed bike, best for the city, gives good performance, good ride quality, best mileage and good kknee recesses.
The CBZ is a 2003 May model.The rest of the bikes are from 2005 a couple of months separating the 3.
Right now I would say if u are the performance enthusiast and can spare an extra 5-7 grand go for the Pulsar180 else its Unicorn for u.
The pulsar 180 is the best value for money sports bike right now, although I like the Karizma better.
Looks like its up to TVS apache to challenge the Unicorn.
Well I know I would receive a lot of flak for the pulsar 150 as it is the largest selling bike in its segment, but it just does’nt cut it for me.Sorry pulsarites but the 180 is much better than its younger brother.
I suggest hold your funds for now and wait for the auto expo in Jan and then decide.The bikes to watch out for:-
TVS Apache 150
CBZ 180
Pulsator 250
Good luck
Pls post your comments,