2 years after I bought this wonder machine called
Honda Shine-125 I felt its worthwhile I pend down a review note on my (not so active) blog. And yes, there is a good reason for me to consider spending a few hours on this as I compete 20,000 KMS of riding on it and I feel a proud owner. This machine has been performing glitch free for over two and a half years now.
She came into my life on the 20th of Oct 2007 (I would rather call it
she as I am no fan of masculine bikes and their muscular looks... Sorry
Pulsar fans.) Making the choice wasn't an easy task for me. My first requirement was that I need a 125CC bike, as I am not someone who settles at the entry level. So all 100CC bikes were ruled out. My obvious choice was
Bajaj Discover 125. Unfortunately (later i considered this fortunate) Bajaj had discontinued the vehicle the very same period when I started looking out for one.
Discover was upgraded to 135CC and a new
Bajaj XCD DTS-SI had hit the segment. The showroom folks were too keen on promoting the new XCD, however the sheer look of it repelled me from the showroom itself. Its reptile like look, cheap workmanship to keep the price low and the ugly tail lamp were highly discouraging to me. I was not at all convinced with the cover-less chain guard and the new shape of the
Discover 135. The answer was obvious that I move out of the Bajaj showroom and look for better options. Bajaj was lacking quality and their new bikes looked to be some cheap Chinese toys, although the new digital instrument panel was still an attraction.Yamaha in those days had very few models to offer and was prone to problems with poor dealer/service network. The Gladiator was a good bargain otherwise. I was quite happy with the hero-honda I previously owned but my quest was for something better. I started of test driving each of the vehicles and Shine was the first one to attempt as the showroom was the closest here to my residence. The smoothness of the vehicle was amazing, though it was not a well maintained vehicle that the show room offered for test drives. I decided on this bike without even test driving any of the other brands.
Shine was aimed at a niche crowd, who usually thought beyond the Hero-Honda's and the Bajaj's. They had proven their credibility in India with the Unicorn and not to forget the popularity of the Activa. I picked up the top most model in black with alloy wheels, self-start and the disk brakes. Although, the disk brakes didn't seem to be of great help, it certainly was a distinguishing factor for the 125CC segment. The build quality is excellent and the Discover could come nowhere near to this. Gladiator scored almost equally in this regard. The engine is fantastic, amazingly smooth even to this day. Its feels as easy as sliding on butter :) as u drive away. The efficiency is best in class. Shine has been consistently delivering 55-60 KMPL since day one. My usage includes city and highway driving. My hero-honda wasn't this consistent as I had seen the numbers drop very soon with age. The Discover though claimed to be more efficient, it wasn't consistent across all users. I did come across several people who recorded efficiency in the range of 30's.
But no creation so far claims to be perfect. So did this vehicle too. The journey was extremely smooth up to a speed of 50-55kmph. The vehicle starts to vibrate beyond this, especially the foot rest. This makes the drive pretty annoying. I have made several visits to the dealer's service center and all their attempts to work on it have failed miserably. I see the lack of 5th gear in the vehicle to be the main reason. Gladiator offers the 5th gear and performed better here. To my surprise the problem almost vanished when I was speeding beyond the 75hmph mark. I could reach upto 105kmph with no problems!
At the time of purchase I did not bother much to the claim of ergonomic design. However I later realized over the last two years that the design is really ergonomic. Many of my friends with Splendor/Pulsar did complain about back pains and I never faced an issue with Shine though I have been driving 30-40 kms every day for the last two years. The sitting posture for which Shine is designed is really elegant and ofcourse ergonomic.
Apart from the vibes seen at speeds in the range of 55-75 kmph there has been no negative remark on this bike. Though Honda tried to fix this with the 5th gear included in Stunner, it failed to capture the market. The absence of a trip meter is sometimes annoying. The maintenance cost of the bike is extremely low too. Though the spares are expensive compared to the other brands, Honda spares rule in quality. In the last two years, all I have replaced is a head lamp bulb and a pair of brake pads. Obviously the air filter is the only other candidate for replacement.
Over all, Shine is still the best bike in the 125 CC segment and has proved its credibility over the past three to four years since it was released to the market.
