Advantage Scooter. Review on Kinetic Honda DX

How much is the expansion of a typical suburb? I am not asking population wise but area wise. Our city is a densely populated (over 0.6 millions) Mumbai suburb extending few kilometers in area. We have the concept of East City and West City. The local railway line bisects a city in to two sub cities called East and West. I wonder sometime how this division affects people’s minds. Take my example for an instance. I personally don’t like to go to the other side of the town and prefer staying at the east. I keep telling how good our side is with all basic things (Water Supply, Transport Facility out of the town etc.) supplied properly. Sometimes I tend to get very narrow minded with the ME and MY kind of mentality. So it turns out to be even a smaller area to live with. All roads are usually small and Traffic rich. Still the city is big enough to need and own a vehicle.

A million dollar question, ’what kind of vehicle one should posses in a situation like this?’ Yeah… two-wheeler of course but still what kind of? If you tell me Hero Honda CBZ, Bajaj Pulsar then I’m very disappointed. The power of these bikes and money spent on them would be wasted in small-congested areas like ours. What I’m talking about is a sleek, economical, handy, simple, powerful and yet durable kind of a vehicle. Yes again the boring Golden Mean stuff. I will name few bikes that come under desired category.

TVS Scooty is a possibility. NO gears, 60 cc engine makes it difficult to drive on upslope when double seated. Performance of these types of soft motorcycles is deteriorated and affected by heavy weight carrying and speed driving. Despite their limitations I still like them and believe them to be the best if used properly and carefully. Factors like style, elegance doesn’t impress me much. I give priority to usage.

Next is Kinetic Honda DX an old player in the market of specific need soft vehicles. Gearless, 98 cc displacement, good pick up, hand breaks, button start, sound average are few qualities characterizing this fantastic elegant little scooter. Many (including a MS member) call it a ladies bike. Lightweight, sweet firing, pliant structure does give it a soft feel but I am sure after driving it you will change your mind. Basically it looks like a Scooter in structure and size. Feature wise it is way ahead of a outmoded, obsolete scooter.

I have got some technical specifications for you from the instruction manual.

Specifications

Weight – 99 kg

Capacity:

Fuel Tank – 7.0 liter

2 strike engine oil – 1.0 liter

Passenger – Operator + one

Battery – 12 V

Rests of the specifications are for paper work and Automobile Engineers. I don’t know what do they mean by Alternator, Compression ratio, Primary reduction and stuff like that. I will let you know my understanding and experience with the scooter.

Speedometer, Odometer (mileage indicator), Fuel gauge, Oil level indicator, signal, beam indicator are located in the panel on the handle. Front and rear brakes can be adjusted easily. But be careful and don’t forget to check-recheck with this Do it yourself project.

Ignition switch has 3 key positions. In Steering lock mode engine and lights cannot be operated. Other 2 are ON and OFF. The headlight and instrument panel light operate only when the engine is running there by saving power.

Seat lock guards the petrol, oil opening lids. A glove box is provided on the handle panel. Weight limit for the glove box is about 1 kg. Any 2-wheeler is sensitive to changes in weight distribution. If a partner at the back seat makes a little move while driving the balance is disturbed and effect of instability is amplified. This is however a temporal and minor example of importance of weight distribution.

Excess loading of luggage and mounting of accessories can adversely affect the stability and performance.

The possible problems include wobble, footboard lowering, and steering accuracy. This is not a one-day process. Years of carelessness result in poor performance of your bike. I have faced the problem of footboard lowering. We also think of scooters as a good carrier of load because of the space we get with footboard. But after facing the problem I would highly discourage you from children, accessories, and pets on the footboard. The parking stand of my bike has lowered so much that it hits anything that is above road height (Speed breakers, stones etc.).

This bike is suitable for city areas only. Mileage of the bike is 50+. Possible suggestion for improvement is good brakes, enduring, and durable, solid body structure.

With a little care and safety you can expect many miles of happy riding for the years coming ahead.