Jun 05, 2008 04:06 PM
10017 Views
I purchased the new Honda Shine in Jan2008 and I have done over 2000 kms in it. It is an excellent city bike and the major advantages are given below:
1) Great ergonomics: The rider position is superb, the way the tank is designed is great and your knees can have a very natural grip on the tank. The handle bar position, brake and gear lever position is also spot on. Because of this you will start feeling one with bike soon after starting to use it.
2) Very nimble handling: Handling this bike in city traffic is very easy. Because of the excellent ergonomics you can easily manevour the bike in any nook and corner.
3) Pick up is FANTASTIC: The pickup on this bike is simply outstanding. Overtaking or starting from a red signal is quick and fast. I have been able to overtake even pulsars and apaches from the starting point with the pulsar/apache owners looking quite surprised. Of course soon the pulsar/apaches take over as they accelerate much harder and then they can overtake my bike. After all they are 150cc bikes. But for the first 40-50 metres or so the Honda Shine can give them a run for their money.
4) Powerful Headlight: The headlight is very powerful and night riding is very easy because of this.
5) You can start the bike in any gear. No need for neutral. Sometimes if I stall the bike because of laziness in downshifting gears, all I have to do is press the starter without stopping and I can continue riding without any halts.
6) Gearing is very user friendly. Frequent gear shifting is not required. You can ride at quite low speeds without down shifting. For example: if I am going in 4th gear and I approach a speedbreaker, I have been able to slow down to around 20kmph, cross the speedbreaker and then accelerate all the while remaining in 4th gear.
7) I have been using this bike in Chennai city only. The maximum speed I have been able to find the road for has been 70 kmph, that too for a distance of about 500 metres. After that either traffic or signals will force you to slow down. At 70kmph I have found no unnatural vibration or any such thing that I have read from some other users. It is quite surprising to hear about vibrations, as in my experience the bike behaves very normally at speeds of upto 70kmph.
8) Fuel economy is excellent. I am not a close fuel economy watcher, but rough back of the envelope calculations have shown that I am getting around 60km to the litre. I expect it to be better after I run the bike for more number of kms.
9) Finally it is an original HONDA bike, as such the quality levels of all materials used is very high, and the peace of mind factor is also high. Also it has a muscular and masculine look and is a full size bike.
The only drawbacks I can think of is the absence of the fifth gear (although I have never felt its need for city riding). (After all how many car owners you know who are able to drive their cars in 5th gear in the city – the same applies to bikes too). The other is the slightly narrow rear tyre which I think is a deliberate thing to increase the fuel economy. But overall an excellent city bike with no major drawbacks.
