Honda Unicorn Ownership Review by Manish

First of all I must tell all of my review readers that I am 46 yrs. young & my opinion about the bikes will be from the angle of a familyman which may be contrary to “youngsters”.
I bought this bike in March 2005 because it was then recently launched bike by Honda itself. I wanted to have mono-suspension experince. Seat of this bike was lengthier & slightly flatter than Pulsar & CBZ. In the first 5000 kms.I have run it 60000 kms.till now. Initially didn’t face any problem as I was running it at low speed of 40-50 kmph & without pillion riderduring running in period.



Later I came to realise that much hyped & advertised mono -suspension was a false & cheating story.Whenever I ride with someone behind me and cross the speed breakers, sound of THUK comes from the suspension & jurk felt by the pillion rider in his/her spine. I made complaint to the engineers of Honda they adjusted the tension of shocker’s spring hardest but in vain. I am still facing the same problem. This is the story of MONO-SUSPENSION.
Now I come to chasis/frame of the bike. Unicorn’s engine is not mounted on frame like Pulsar’s or Apache’s instead it is tightened between front downtube & rear frame leaving the engine unsafe at bottom. In case we cross some high speed breaker engine directly gets hit against the breaker.
I got skid twice on slippery road due to sudden front braking since rear brake becomes poorer with the time. All was well till then. After 42400 kms. my self start motor went out of order, I started using kick lever to start the bike. Sometime later I noticed oil seeping out from engine ‘s bottom where rider foot pegs are tighten.
My machenic told me that engine’s right side chember (not cluch cover) has cracked right from the place where foot pegs are directly mounted on the engine because when I skid the entire load of the bike fell on the foot-rest. Techometer Failed at 59000 kms.

I changed chain & sprockets at 43000 kms. rear tyre at 42000 kms. & front tyre at 55000 kms. Front suspension oil seals at 35000 kms., front disc pads at 22000 kms. & 43000 kms., rear brake shoes at 18000 kms & 35000 kms. Spark plug at 52000 kms. I use to change air filter at every 4000 kms. & engine oil at every 3000 kms.
Honda designers have concentrated on style of head lights not on the focuses. One can’t drive at night with lights on. If you drive with upper beam on you fail to judge the pot holes on the road & if driving on dipped beam you can’t see cycle or rickshaw pullers as they don’t have reflectors & back lights.
So far I have discussed the problems of the bike might be giving the imprssion that this is the worst bike but it is not so.
Now I come to engine for which Honda is famous. It is cool & butter smooth machine. If you are driving at 45-50 kmph passersby can’t notice the sound of the engine. At idling speed even rider sometimes gets confused whether engine is running or not because there are no vibrations in the handlebar.
I have set idling speed at 1000 rpm. So far I have not spent a single penny on the engine except replacement of spark plug & right side chember which got cracked due to Honda engineer’s folly who didn’t mount engine on dual cradle chasis. They are still making bikes with so called diamond frame.
I hope that my readers will able to take right decision & if some Honda engineer happens to read the review he might try to make necessary changes in the frame to protect the engine’s bottom & install driver foot rests on chasis like in Pulsars, Apache or at least like CBZ.

~MANISH~

Thanka MANISH for the nice article.

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