When Honda decided to launch bikes out of HH flag in India, curiosity was bound to be there among riders. When they introduced Unicorn, Pulsar was rocking in the market. Fortunately or unfortunately Unicorn couldn’t offer a serious threat to pulsar empire.
Now coming to the bike, pros:
Very good handling, good road grip and a well tuned engine. Mileage around 50 isn’t bad at all for this segment. Though Unicorn engine is sold with three flavours Unicorn, CBZ and Achiever, being a genuine Honda product Unicorn can be trusted for the engine setting, though CBZ offers a better power with same engine but comparatively stressfree tuning of Unicorn offers a more reliable, robust and long term assured engine. Riding position is decent and pick-up is good if not excellent for this segment. Mileage isn’t a problem too as you can easily expect 45 to be pessimistic.
Oh I forgot to mention a well balanced mono shock absorber, congrats Honda for being first in India. But unfortunately Honda has also made many mistakes in this bike, I hope if they make some changes Unicorn it can be the segment best model
First if u r thinking to have a bike to carry two ppl most of the time, drop this one immediately. Seat for the pillion is horrible and extremely panic. A very high seat, getting very broad ahead. Just for looks comfort factor is completely overlooked. Seating on pillion seat for one hour is guarnteed to give you a good pain in all joints. Fuel tank, I don’t understand requirement for such a big tank, tank of Shine could suffice for Unicorn too. Apart from increasing unnecessary weight and making the bike bulky I don’t understand the logic behind this tank. Another factor where there is a sufficient room for improvement is Brakes, thanks to Disk brakes otherwise it isn’t easy to check down a Unicorn at high speed easily just by rear drums. Her twin CBZ has done a better home work.
Overall this bike is well desinged, good for long ride as well as urban commutation. If you are planning for this one(for single riding only :)) don’t hesitate, simply go ahead.