The Honda Unicorn has been one of the mainstays of the Honda stable. Setting new benchmarks in engine refinement and with its bullet-proof reliability, the Unicorn except a few cosmetic changes has remained unchanged since inception and continues to have a special niche in the 150cc premium commuter segment.
The 150cc segment has heated up more than ever before. The market today offers a wide spectrum of motorcycles with fuel economy to performance as their USPs. In such a tough scenario, the Streetfire inspired Honda CB Trigger was launched as a balance of modern styling, performance and economy. We got our hands on Honda’s latest offering and with monsoon lashing Aamchi Mumbai, it proved far from being a decent testing ground for the bike, which made us take the Trigger to Pune, which surprisingly happened to be drier. From crawling traffic to wide open highways, from well paved flat stretches of tarmac to the broken trail, from arrow straight high speed runs to the twisty ghat sections, from dry sunny hours to dark rainy nights- the Trigger was put to the paces in every possible way we could think in both solo and two up riding mode.
So does the new Honda manage to ‘Trigger’ any excitement? You’ll find out- read on
STYLING AND BUILD QUALITY
The Honda Trigger is a reasonably good looking motorcycle except, probably at the rear where the chubby LED tail light manages to overwhelm the 110 section rear tyre. The Trigger looks best from the front three-quarters with the oversized faux air scoops (thankfully no sabre teeth here) and the headlight reminiscent of the Honda Streetfire. Endowed with some nice cuts and creases in profile, the Trigger does inspire a second look.
The muscular style statement is expressed convincingly by a newly designed fuel tank and side panels, which appear like a perimeter frame and conclude into a sharply styled rear panel. A new look exhaust befits the chunky look of the motorcycle but is somewhat neutralized by the rear foot-peg assembly.
Coming to build quality, the Honda Trigger is a well pressed together motorcycle with top grade plastics and panels with no inconsistency in panel gaps. There is absolutely no plastic buzz or rattle even as the bike is ridden to the limit or taken over bad roads. The paint quality looks great with decent matt finishing on the engine and other metallic surfaces.
The grips are of good quality and are reasonably soft to grab onto. Mirrors are adequate in size and give a clear view of the trailing traffic. The switchgear got us confused though- both in quality and operation. We were expecting better finished and more ergonomic switchgear on a premium motorcycle. The switchgear seems to have been pulled from a level below, and along with the not so impressive rear footpeg assembly works towards bringing the finesse quotient a little below Honda’s lofty standards
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Thanks Hemant! Yeah Honda does manage to pinch you a bit with little things.
@Anonymous: Thanks man! And congrats on the bike. Do post pics of your bike on our FB page when it arrives. Till the “Happy Waiting” 😉
THANKS DEEPAK..was pleasure to read your review. (which looked fair enough to me without nagging much on petty issues) you seemed to be impressed with Honda from start though 🙂 I was looking to buy a new bike as I had to sell off my Pulsar 150 last year coz of some abroad assignment. Still pulsar looks best suit for a good class commuting in city traffic. But as I already rode that..this time was looking for some new bike to treat myself. There wasnt a good enough review till date on net…your write up helped alot. I have booked Delux – Red in Blore haiku last week. Dealer said the wait time is 1 month…im more skeptical even if bike would be delivered as per that! Anyways thanks for this review. Njoy 🙂
Nice Detailed review there, Deepak! Seems the Trigger is overall a very good package. Only sore points seems the high price and the low feel switch gears, which seems to be straight from dream yuga! Guess the Leg guard and saree net is also not part of the package which will take the cost further up. But all in all good lineup after dazzler from Honda.
Thanks a lot Akash! Yes the CBS is expensive indeed, but a fabulous feature to have on the bike. I wish it becomes standard across all motorcycles.
Do test ride the Trigger if you get an opportunity- you will be floored by the handling 🙂
Superb review and fabolous bike . . . .
And 120 kph on a 150cc bike is fantastic. And its price is around 1000 more than chu pulsar 150. But cbs is costly