Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India has just launched the CB Hornet 160R. It is Honda's third attempt at getting the stylish, for-the-young-and-dynamic 150cc class, right. Honda tried it with the Dazzler; it didn't work. Then, it replaced it with the Trigger with more aggressive styling, but that too didn't work. Now, Honda is trying a different recipe, a dish it thinks the youth will lap up. Here's why.
The engine
The CB Hornet 160R uses the same engine and gearbox combination as the CB Unicorn 160, though the power output and peak torque figures have been bumped up slightly. It is powered by a single cylinder, 163cc engine that now churns out 15.7bhp and 14.8Nm. The gearbox is a five speed unit. Now, we will be riding the bike soon but given our experience of the CB Unicorn 160, the CB Hornet 160R too should prove to be a refined, peppy and tractable motorcycle. Plus, having chosen an existing and proven motor, Honda has managed to keep the pricing under check too.
The cycle parts
The cycle parts - the suspension, the brakes and even the tyres are different from the CB Unicorn 160 - which is finally in line with what the competition offers (and the target crowd loves). The Honda CB Hornet 160R does get a monoshock at the rear and telescopic forks upfront, but the latter are meatier units compared to the CB Unicorn to give the CB Hornet a more butch stance. The CB Hornet 160R also gets disc brakes at both ends complete with Combined Braking System instead of the standard Disc-drum setup on the CB Unicorn. The front brake setup also gets a bigger 276mm disc, in place of the CB Unicorn 160’s 240mm disc. And the tyres, especially the rear one, is a whole lot meatier compared to the CB Unicorn. The CB Hornet 160R uses a 140 section rear tyre. The chassis, however, continues to be the same diamond type frame with a box section swingarm. Again, as was the case with the engine, this has helped keep costs in check and the chassis setup on the CB Unicorn is a fairly sorted one in any case.
The pricing
The Honda CB Hornet 160R is available in two versions - disc-drum and disc-disc (front and rear). The latter also gets CBS as standard. The single disc version is priced at Rs 79,900, which makes it nearly Rs 7,500 more expensive than the CB Unicorn with a single disc. The CBS equipped CB Hornet 160R in the meantime is priced at Rs 84,400 which is less than Rs 7,000 more expensive than the CBS CB Unicorn even though the latter still runs a drum brake at the rear wheel. So, apart from a sportier and younger looking bike courtesy nicer colours and more plastic add-ons, one is essentially paying extra for the extra horsepower, a bigger front disc and a fat rear tyre, because the switchgear, the clocks and even the overall riding ergonomics are almost the same on the two bikes. But the bigger question is: Will the base CB Hornet 160R at Rs 79,900 ex-showroom in Delhi be able to justify a premium of nearly Rs 5,000 over the similarly specced Suzuki Gixxer?
Trigger replacement
Yes, the CB Hornet 160R will replace the Honda Trigger. Now, the Trigger hasn't sold well, but Honda firmly believes that there's a sub-segment in the 150cc class for a sportier styled bike; one that is currently addressed by the likes of the Yamaha FZ-S and the Suzuki Gixxer. And there are enough volumes to be had in this sub-segment as well. The CB Unicorn 160 cannot address this need. And given both the Dazzler and the Trigger simply couldn't match up to the FZ, particularly in the styling department, Honda needed something edgier, something fresher, something with a name that had heritage (read FZ for Yamaha and Gixxer for Suzuki). So, it has gone with the CB Hornet and finally given the bike a completely new, stand out identity. This one, our guesstimate tells us, will certainly do better than its funnily named predecessors.
The booking app
This is a first, and a smart move at that. With the CB Hornet 160R targeted more at the college and the young executive crowd - a crowd that swears by smartphones and free apps on it - having an app with all the details of the motorcycle, images and crucially, the ability to book the bike via the app, is bound to get more of this smartphone crowd into its fold. We are looking for convenience at the end of the day, and if something is just a click away, we are going to try it. Is this app thing alone going to make the CB Hornet a success? We don't think so. But, it certainly gives the CB Hornet 160R an added advantage, especially with more of the urban lot embracing the digital world.
