New Honda CB Unicorn 160 Review: Distilled Dexterity

The world of sports often witnesses great players who earn a name for themselves for their extraordinary talent. Sachin Tendulkar, Pele, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali are a few great names who changed the history of the games they played with their genius and gained unprecedented honour. Exceptional talents, all of them, and their dedication to their respective vocations meant they were destined for glory. Then there are those like a Rahul Dravid or the Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who may not be the most naturally gifted athletes, but worked relentlessly on their technique and achieved greatness in their own way. These sportspersons may not have the sheer magnetism of the personalities mentioned before them, but they have the much needed character and will to pull their respective teams out from the most dire situations. The motoring world is no different. So while there are swanky looking machines which would smoke their rivals, there also are balanced, rugged, reliable products which do almost everything right. The Honda Unicorn is one such trusted workhorse that has become a benchmark in the 150cc segment of motorcycles for a decade now.

It was back in 2005, when I first swung my leg over the Honda Unicorn for a short spin. Back in the day, I rode a Hero Honda Splendor and the refinement of the Honda engine swept me off my feet. That refinement, along with a sweet handling package, decent punch and unmatched reliability has made Unicorn one of Honda’s highest selling products in the country today. The older version of the Unicorn, before it got replaced by the motorcycle here, still required prospective buyers to wait three months before delivery! Such is the success of the brand among the Indian masses. Honda did try to squeeze out more juice out of the Unicorn brand name with the introduction of the CB Unicorn Dazzler – a more premium variant with new design, digital instrument cluster and rear disc brake – but the new product could not steal the limelight away from the original Unicorn.

So the new Honda CB Unicorn 160 has some really big shoes to fill. And after riding the motorcycle, we realised that the CB Unicorn 160 might have ticked most of the right boxes. So sit tight for an exhaustive review of the new Honda CB Unicorn 160.

Design and Styling

Honda has added a lot of design elements to the new CB Unicorn 160 to keep up with the changing times. The two-wheeler major targets the youth of the country as its prime audience and has designed the CB Unicorn 160 accordingly. You can can see hints of understated sportiness in places. The headlight now gets a larger shape compared to the 150cc variant, in a bit to enhance both form and function. However, Honda could have designed the headlight a tad better as the current unit does not gel properly with the rest of the design, especially in profile. The tank now dons a more muscular shape and receives angular side cowls. The shape of the tank recess flows with the lines of the side cowls which also feature a chrome drenched 3D Honda emblem. The side panel is formed by two piece plastic unit in dual colour tone. The lighter shade features a satin finish and is shaped like an angular, elongate anvil. The black part of the panel features three fins in the upper section and a cavity down low to add some more detail. Those details, however, somewhat get lost owing to the black colour of the surface.

The rear panel of the motorcycle, with its fluidic, wavy interplay looks good in isolation. The deep, rich paint on the motorcycle reflects really well off the panel highlighting its curvy lines. The organically styled panel, however, doesn’t mingle very well with angular styling of the front end though. A sharper, edgier shape for the rear panel would have worked well to lend the new Unicorn a more complete design. The grab rail is painted in the same satin finish shade as the plastic side panels. A good addition to the CB Unicorn 160 is the modern, stylish looking saree guard that’s been picked from the Honda CB Trigger.

The tail section, when viewed directly from the rear looks impressive. Honda has introduced the Unicorn with a LED tail light that has been designed to look like an “H”. Conventional clear blinker turn indicators are placed below the tail light. The new Honda CB Unicorn 160 also receives a rear number plate illuminator whereas the previous Unicorn used the illumination from the tail light to shed light on the number plate.

We love the more mature look of the previous generation Unicorn. The new CB Unicorn 160, on the other hand, in terms of overall design, felt a tad out of proportion, especially because of the rear panel. Moreover, as much as we liked the tail light design, the headlamp, although with better utility value, could have been nicely designed. As we said earlier, Honda targets younger crowd with the new CB Unicorn 160, and we sincerely hope they succeed.

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