Im thinking of buying a UNICORN. Advice me in all aspects: Maintenance, Milage, Pick-up, Speed, Balance, etc?

Question

Actually I have 2 bikes on mind one is Passion and the other is the Unicorn. And Im much inclined towards Unicron because it being a heavy bike will be better I think. But unlike Passion it is not yet known that in the future when the Unicorn's engine will wear out, will the repair and the spares will be as easily available as the Passion or not? Otherwise I will look forward buying only the Passion. What say??? Please advice me between these 2 bikes only.

Answer 1

I am using UNICORN since August 2005 and covered 12000 KM.
Mileage - 45 KM per Litre
Pick up - Best pick up among all the bikes available in India. I brought it for pick up only as my older bike was YEZDI 250 which I used for 18 years and I could not find out any other bike which can be compared to Yezdi's pick up.

Maintenance - normal like any other present day's bike.
Speed - I normally drive in 70 to 90 Kmph - no problem.
Balance - excellent.
The rear centre shocker was a doubt but I have driven my bike with a pillion rider of body weight 90 Kgs and at a speed of 70 KMPH, crossed a bump without using break and there was not much of problem. No impact on shocker. Not much jerking.

This is obviously a better bike than Passion or Pulser.

Answer 2

passion and unicorn cant be compared. passion is 100cc commuter bike while uni is 150cc lifestyle bike. anyway let me compare:::::: uni is huge 135 kg while passion is 109 kg. so uni is more stable. uni top speed is 115. passion it is 85. uni mileage will be overall 50. passion mileage will be overall 65. uni= awesome power, pichup, mind boost. passion= ok power & pickup for city but unsuitable for highway driving. when it comes to maintanance uni is expensive because require much more lookout than passion. regarding wear and tear passion engine will wear out faster than uni because 100cc cannot carry load for long. passion engine will heat quickly. if i am there to advice , i will say obviously go for uni if u want speed,power,pickup,mindboost, etc etc. but in 100 cc i will never advice passion. because it is a very expensive 100cc bike. u can get 125 cc bike at that cost. next passion has no stylin;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; alloy wheels, sexy curves, eye-catching graphics, good fuel tank,,, nothing!!!! so in 100 cc my choice is always starcity. take a test ride and feel the diff. between passion and star city. so here is my advice.;;;;;;;;;; the last word. if ur avg. speed is over 60, always go for 150cc bikes. if u r crawling through city traffic at a max. speed of 50-55 always go for 100 cc bike=STAR CITY.

Answer 3

hey dear,i think ,c unicorn is ok,not bad,but itz ml is 45-50 km,per lt,passion is approx 60.
if u want pick up,milleage n speed go for pulsar 250 cc,55 km,
apache 60 km,depends on type of road.

Answer 4

8 year olds have BIG SCARY TEETH? 8 year old unicorns? I have big scary teeth. I shall eat the unicorns with them... chop chop... Except You're the Dream Unicorn who has answered already. HE is the KING OF YAHOO ANSWERS! Long live the.. Anyway... what was the question?

Answer 5

Honda Unicorn the most eagerly awaited bike in India from the world’s largest engine maker & also the world largest two wheeler maker. The bike is already in the showroom in all the colors & ready for sale.

I think Indian consumers suffered a bit as Hero Group & Honda couldn’t get to an agreement where Honda wanted more % of profits specially on the newer models that would use latest & best from the Auto giant I admire the most. Honda started their own game when contract with the Hero group became less restrictive & also Indian Govt. opened the market to foreign companies without a domestic partner.

Since their launch the Pulsar twins have ruled the premium segment of the
biking in India. Bajaj gave world-class performance, quality, style & panache at a very reasonable price & also made sure their bikes returned a GREAT mileage even with the performance that was equal or rather better than the competitors like CBZ/Ambition/Fierro etc.

Product Strategy : Honda waited for their Scooters to pick-up & also to get dealerships established before launching a bike of their own. The wait is over now & Honda has launched ’’Unicorn’’ in India. The bike is a 149 cc (very close to CBZ engine in architecture but) making a 13.3 bhp versus 12.6 of the CBZ. The bike also has above average styling to match the dynamic duo from Bajaj & is expected to return around 55+ kmpl in real world which is not that off from the Pulsar 150 DTSi. This is expected due to the Constant Vacuum (CV) carburetor .

Styling by judging the official launch snaps seemed good enough. It is the outcome of the consumer-clinics that Honda conducted. It is though not a ground-braking one is enough keep consumer interest. The looks are ofcourse enhanced by the monoshock suspension. The color-quality seems to be segment busting & in my opinion the bike would look better in the Red & Blue colors. The tank is the highlight like the pulsar twins. Actually when I looked at the bike in person it looked a little too generic to me. The front is very much like Wind125 & the rear has some Karizma/Ambition touch to it. I think Honda has played safer than needed with the front styling. Also, there seems to be a lot of cost-cutting as mirrors are straight from Splendor? No E-Start, No side stand indicator, No Trip Meter, The horn-quality etc.

Performance : The performance is expected to be a match to 150 DTSi (not 180 DTSi) i.e. 0 to 60 is expected to be in 5 seconds (5.5 more likely). The displacement is 149cc against the 156 cc of the CBZ & 143 of the Pulsar. The tires will be aggressive that is to say MRF zappers or better on 18 inch wheels & I think they are exactly like 150 DTSi for better handling. They are supposed to be puncture-resistant tuff-up tubes . The Frame is reportedly a single-tube frame with the engine mounted as the stressed member. I found the performance very similar to 150 DTSi, the bike was very comfortable/relaxed with a pillion & the suspension I thought had better control than Pulsar’s default setting (was more stiff).

The Gear-box is the standard fair i.e. 5 speed with 1 down, 4 up pattern. This is prob’ly going to be very similar to that of the CBZ. This time Honda might choose to have a taller 5th gear to aid the highway mileage. I found the gear-shift of Pulsar quality but a little longer-throw than Pulsar, good to find the neutral easily but a little frustrating when in heavy-traffic going from 1st to 2nd.

Suspension : The biggest attraction about this bike is the Suspension. Unicorn is going to be the India’s first bike with a mono-shock suspension This is an international std & race inspired setup that gives better ride & handling characteristics than the conventional shock-absorbers. Honda has always been the company doing it ’the hard-way’. Even with the Honda Accord which is supposed to be a mainstream car with volumes of 400,000+ in USA, Honda gives cutting edge technology both with the powertrain (engine/X’mission) & also the suspension componentry which is race inspired double-wishbone. I expect no less from Honda in India too. From long, bike makers have starved Indian consumers of good stuff. Both Govt & the manufacturers are to blame here equally.

Pricing : Hero Honda had to adjust prices on CBZ due to pressure from Pulsar twins & same is the case with Unicorn now. Honda has set pricing from 48-50 depending on region (check url below). That means on-road it should cost around Rs. 53200-55000 which is less than 56,000 of Pulsar 150 DTSi fully loaded & also the CBZ !!. But to be fair the Unicorn doesn’t have the Self Starter that is standard on DTSi (costs around 2000 & 60% of Pulsars are equipped with the self-starter!)

It all depends on whether Unicorn is able to return the mileage that Pulsars give. It seems the kerb weight of Unicorn is going to be 138 so the result should be close to pulsar 150. Unicorn in real life gives 55+ mileage which is equal to Pulsar 150 DTSI

Pulsar 150 Vs. Unicorn : I am just not sure, they are SO close that It will be a VERY tough decision if I was in the market for one. I think it will depend upon every individual & their preference. Brand Loyalty is very high in India & there are just TOO MANY Splendors/Passions on road & those satisfied customers will keep buying Hondas. Also the guy who gets 70+ mileage on a 6 year old Bajaj 4S is bound to buy a Pulsar no matter what you say. Personally, I would wait for more powerful bike from Honda. I am sure the presence of Unicorn will also help Pulsar => Surprised? Well, the reason is that more people in market for 150 cc bike which will help competitors too. If someone put me at gunpoint & I *had* to choose among them I might choose Pulsar for its much better (specialy front) styling as everything else is so close.

Conclusion
Launch of Honda’s own bike is a great news & hope it is start of the new era when Indian consumers get the ’real stuff’ from the biggest 2 wheeler Automaker & also the biggest engine-maker of the world. I do not think I am in danger of developing ’buyer’s remorse’ as I bought the 180 DTSi & couldn’t be happier. I just hope Honda gets down the CBR600 in India soon, I know at least one customer ready to buy it the day it is launched!! :-)