Hello friends,
I am the recent member of Mouthshut team, I came to know abt this site when I was searching for some electronic stuff on Google.com. Firstly I did not understand the purpose of this site but when I read the column ’What is mouthshut’ I came to know everything, & from that moment I became a member of Mouthshut team. Then I started reading the reviews of all my friends in my most favourite topic ’Automobiles’ & I liked it very much. I must appreciate the efforts of all team members of Mouthshut.com & my special thanks to CEO Mr.Faisal Farooqui.
Now I start with my review. I clearly remember the day 5th April, Monday 1999 morning 8.00a.m.when CBZ arrived in Fortpoint Auto, Mahim Showroom, Mumbai. I?d read the reviews earlier about CBZ in the month of Feb?99 in the magzn called Overdrive, I still have that magazine with me, which published a full illustration, tech spec as well as expected prices of this bike.
After reading the full review I decided to take a test ride as soon as it reaches in Mumbai, in fact I decided to buy one, since I was so impressed with its design & the disk brake which was totally new concept for everyone at that time, & after all its from the world class Hero-Honda tag on the petrol Tank.
I reached there early in the morning & surprised to see a queue to fill up the form for the test ride of CBZ, obviously I was also standing there in the queue.
At the time of test-drive I was feeling like I am the king on the road & riding on a foreign bike, wow I just cant explain that experience in the words. After paying Rs.25000/- as a advance to the dealer I booked it immediately a Black CBZ disk brake version on the same day, we were buying a bike exactly after 10yrs, earlier we have LML Vespa scooter bought in 1989 which is my father still using it. Incidentally my name was taken in their 1st lot, which they were going to dispatch in the month of July?99.
After long stretch of almost 3months I got the delivery of my bike on 8th July 1999. At that time cricket World Cup matches were going on & Hero Honda was a co-official sponsor for that tournaments, which they had a sticker above the head light on all the 1st lot bikes. I was so happy that I got a 1st lot bike & which was going to be a 9th bike going to hit the road in Mumbai. You can go & see my snaps in Fortpoint.
Plz pardon me, this was little lengthy but I wanted to express it to everyone here.
Now this is the year 2004 & my bike is still running like a silk, After running for 67000kms in a 5 years absolutely no problem at all. I?d like to figure it out as follows.
1) Long Lastssssss??.In terms of quality, durability, style, performance, reliability & so many other things hero Honda bikes are always ahead. Paint of my bike is still looks fresh; to maintain its shine I polish with ?Addon Wax? once in two months. As I said in one of my comment that no one can beat Hero Honda?s quality & its proved with my bike.
2) Unique performance: So far the performance of the bike is superb & am totally satisfied with it. I am not a rash rider at all I always ride my bike between 50-60. The people who r complaining for the poor fuel efficiency of this bike but let me tell them that its a 156.8 cc engine. One who is looking for best mileage should go for 100cc splendor not for cbz, I get avg between 40-43 as of now.
3) Safety : Picup, braking, roadholding at high speed is incredible, Frame work of this bike is designed so great that you get perfect balance while riding, HH provided MRF zapper tyres which was really a good sport pattern. Now I?m planning to change my old tyres this time, I don?t trust these Taiwani tyres, they look very tough but not in real, pls suggest me a good pattern of tyres.
4) Maintenance : Now the most significant part am going to write. I have preserved its original looks You wouldn?t believe but I haven?t changed my Clutch plates as yet & piston rings as well. (Apart from regular service) List of the spares changed in 5years time.
a) Front Disk pads only one time cost Rs.650/-
b) Rear brake liners, at least 6-7 times cost Rs. 600/-
c) Clutch cable (full) one time Rs.83/-
d) Throttle cable only inner cost Rs.43/-
e) Head light bulb 4 times cost Rs.92/-
f) Tail light bulb 3times cost Rs. 46/-
g) Foot rest 2times cost Rs.89/-
h) Front fork oil seals 4 times Rs.205/-
i) Fuel cock once cost Rs.81/-
j) Carburetor cover once Cost. Rs.55/-
k) Exide battery Rs.545/-
l) Indicator bulbs 4-5 times Rs.65/-
m) NGK spark plug 2times Rs.430/-
n) Speedometer cable Rs.110/-
5) If you see the list properly you?ll find most of the electronic parts have got changed. I have still not changed the parts, which are related to engine. Just add up these u?ll get a total of Rs.3094/- (spares) changed so far. Which is not at all bad I guess. & also I?ve got each & every bill of spares & service done as of today on my bike. Till now I do nothing but the regular service & engine oil change after every 3500kms. (company recommends after every 5000kms)
Oil change : You?ve to be more careful when changing the engine oil, Any unbranded oil not only affects on your average but reduce the life of your engine as well as your bike picup will also drop drastically & its direct affects on clutch plates & piston. I suggest all my friends to use Hero-honda genuine 4Tplus engine oil only which is manufactured by Savita Chemicals, if you see the tin of 4T plus, this oil manufacture by two companies Tide Water & Savita Chemicals, but according to me 1st one is not so good in long term if you ask me, I always use mfrd by Savita Chemicals.
Now every vehicle has its cons as well
1) Foot rest : Its foldable footrest which one needs to fold to kick start.. I was mentally prepared for it, but after sometime you get used to it, and it does not give me problem anymore
2) You cannot do or u do not attempt to do stunts on it, due to its heavy weight 136kg one cannot do wheely like RX 100.
3) It has lack of self start??..
4) Pillion comfort in this bike is almost ?Zero? One cannot hold the back seat more than one hour.
Apart from these cons I did not find any problem in this machine so far. If you find anything pls do let me know.
Message to Honda owners: I bought this bike only for its quality & the brand name, & that?s why I bought Honda-city in this year later, even though people say CBZ is a powerful bike but I never crossed the speed above 60, ?SPEED THRILLS BUT KILLS?. So friends pls do not over speed your bikes, always keep in mind that someone is waiting for you at home. At the same time I wd like to tell everyone that if you take care of your bike it will take care of you.
Plz forgive me if I made some mistakes in the writing, comments on this are most welcome.
Happy Riding.