I bought a Honda Unicorn ES in July 05. I am more than satisfied on having zeroed in on the Honda. I did try out the Bajaj Pulsar 150 & 180. The Bajaj Pulsar 150 had a dissapointing all down gear shift and though the 180 had the 1 down - 4 up config..it did not feel as good as the Unicorn.
I have done some long distance as well in addition to city riding and man, was I amazed. The bike could maintain 100 Kph + continuous for more than an hour. I have owned / ridden the likes of Roadking [Yezdi] and Yamaha [Rx100] and this Honda beat both hands down in intercity riding.
The only sore point I found was the MRF Zappers..lack grip especially when wet. The bike did not feel connected to the road and was scary in case we wish to switch lanes in the wet. I immediately swapped to CEAT SECURA 100/90 at rear and METRO up front to get the desired grip and now the bike is a beauty..handles the wet and dry with ease and grip.. I think HMSI should really give us customers more deserving tyres for the excellent performance of the bike.
The Electric start is a breeze and is the fastest starter I’ve used. It takes less than 0.5 seconds to crank the engine and we hardly feel the starter work. This is so unlike a Pulsar where the starter really cranks to start the engine - one more point tilting my decision to buy the Honda unicorn.
The bike returns 55+ Kpl even if ridden hard and the engine note is so sweet that you will fall in love with it.
The things I missed out was a side stand indicator, trip meter and an automatic fuel tap [so alike a Kinetic Honda]. This Auto fuel tap should make this bike more fun to drive.