I want to share my experience of buying & owning honda shine. All it started with my old scooter Kinetic Nova 115cc giving hell lot of problems after strugling with it for over a period of 6 years I got so much frustrated fedup that I sold my vehicle just for Rs 3500
After selling that old scooter I wanted to buy reliable bike. which doesnt have any starting problem like my old scooter.
For a period of 3 months I consulted many persons & gone through all the reviews on the net espl mouthshut.com. I found that most of the reviews were highly rated or too poorly rated confusing the reader to take decision. Then I decided to write my own review of real experience and the problems I faced irrespective of the bike I purchased.
My intention was very clear to buy 125cc bike with self start. with this constraint the bikes I compared are
1 bajaj platina 125cc
2 tvs flame 125cc
3 suzuki zeus 125cc
4 honda shine 125cc
i was waiting for the launch of bajaj platina 125cc. finally it was lanched in the feastive season oct 2008. the bike was not to my expections
Tvs flame 125cc I liked the bike for its styling and looks , but hardly you like these bikes on the roads I was afraid to go for it. I went for a test ride on this bike the first impression was that the engine sound was unsual & worst , I learnt that the bike is having starting problems & poor mileage.
Suzuki Zeus 125cc for its enquiry I consulted one of my closest freind who is using it since 2 years he said "the bike is fine its giving me good mileage of 58kmpl but initially it was giving starting problems I used to kick 100 times to start the bike in the cold weather. and only once front suspension fork oil has been leaked & I got it changed."
Regarding honda shine I consulted many users regarding its mileage & performance I got good feed back on this bike. Finally I made up my mind and booked honda shine black grey in oct 2008. I got the vehicle on 24 nov 2008 from Haiku Honda domlur Bangalore. Since then I am using this vehicle and completed 1600km and 2 free services.
The ride is dum smoth upto 50kmph over that speed there is little bit vibration. every 100cc or 125 cc has this kind of vibrations at speeds above 50kmph. but in this bike it seems to be little more this may be due to its tumble flow engine technology.Down shifting the gears from 4th to neutral is noisy and hard & some times it struks.The pick up of the bike is excellent and controlling is pretty good even with its 2.75 inch rear tyre. Daily I travel 14km up & down the mileage iam getting is around 55kmpl (pakka) with in city limits still I havent tried on the highways.
Still today I havent found any other problems other than which I have said above. the only dissatisfaction in the bike is the height of the bike iam 5’3" height it is difficult for me to land the both feet on the ground sitting on the bike, those who are less than 5’3" height check ur comfortness sitting on the bike. This my true experience nothing has been fabricated to influence or discourage buyers/owners of the bike Honda shine.