Sep 26, 2008 05:32 PM
3552 Views
(Updated Oct 29, 2008 05:12 PM)
Got all excited seeing the bike on the Hero Honda website; and reading the reviews. The reviews were good, and the website was fancy enough with disco tunes to make the bike look even better. [Has anybody noticed-- the HH websites are designed really well] "If it's good I'll trade my bike in for it"
And I was off; all merry that my old CBZ had a big brother now-- and a worthy successor? Since HH had released the Hunk without upgrading the CBZ Extreme, I supposed this bike would be the super upgraded version. And...I was kinda disappointed.
The bike didn't look as great as it did on the website. Yeah, the guy who designed the website deserves an award for lying this well. "This is the power of good photography, " I told myself; "and fine abuse of Adobe Flash".
The rear looked bad-- that was obvious from the website-- but the front didn't look all that great, either. The side fairing looked 'ok' at first, then on closer study, it began to look bad...and slowly mired into 'very bad'. HH had tried to keep the rear mudguard design the same as Pulsar 200, but they had not designed the rearside of the bike in accordance with it; unlike Pulsar whose rearside takes off sharply in concordance with these sort of mudguards.
The bike somehow didn't seem right, but this could have been due to comparisons with the CBZ all along. I decided then and there that I would not buy this bike. No, thanks. No Hunk for me; gonna just continue being the wimp that I am.
Nevertheless, I decided to take a testride: perhaps, the ride would upset my initial feelings?
The test ride...
The seat is lower than the CBZ. I felt like I was sitting in a bucket. It had gas-filled shocks [new for HH bikes]-- like the one Pulsar’s been having for years; but the shocks on these felt softer and superior to those on the Pulsar. As I went over some rubble, I felt like I was in a car. The acceleration was 'ok', brakes were 'ok'....quite stable; but the bike gave this feeling that I was riding a scooter. I didn't want to try any disco-stunts to further my experiments on the bike; after all I was supposed to be a Hunk, not a stunt-rider.
The front fairing gets more egregious while riding; it seems to grow out of your thighs [you wouldn’t want offspring like this]. I tried my best not to look down while riding.
One small round and I was back. I was happy to get off it; felt somewhat relieved actually. Washed my hands off it, and hoped I would never have to get on it again. Ewwweeew..
Hunks, please stay away from this bike. On the contrary, if you're old, and want a scooter-like bike that feels comfortable like a car-- then Hero Honda has done you a favour. I don't think there are very many 'old' men of this sort in our country; so I'm supposing that the sales of this bike is going to be lower than the rest from the HH stable. I have no idea what HH had in mind releasing this bike. They seem to have some bad statistics of our population count and its spread.
On the other hand-- it could be that I was overly sarcastic: I've been riding the CBZ for years and expected a lot from this bike. Maybe the bike isn't all that bad; but I don't think anybody would want to choose this bike when the Honda Unicorn can do all this-- and do it in a way more 'hunky' than this.
On a side note, the new model of Unicorn says it has 'Tumble Flow' in its engine as well; hmmm...Hunk and Unicorn share the same engine?
Statutory Warning: CBZ riders-- Riding this bike can give you a nauseating feeling; precaution recommended.
"Next!" --and the sales-guy rolled out the CBZ-Extreme.
