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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hmm..thanks..ya i wont mind the drums at the rear..
Thanks Sagar for the kind words. In my opinion the Trigger doesn’t need much graphics. The cuts, creases and the slashes I feel are enough to add to the appeal of the motorcycle. Yeah the price is high- particularly the CBS Variant. But if you don’t mind a drum brake at the rear, would recommend you go for the standard variant.
Stickering of the bike is all a matter of choice when it comes to design. While on one hand you already have autographix available off the shelf, the other option would be to find out someone who does a decent job. But make sure the job is not overdone, a clean polished stock bike anyday looks better than a stickered one 🙂
thanks deepak for a very informative review.would like to know your take in terms of styling (single tone colour and no use of graphics at all)…i mean why is honda cost-cutting on a bike which is priced quite high…some things are not logical to me…also would like to know which colour would you recommend…also can you tell me if i would want to get some graphics done on the bike then from where should i get it done?:0
thanks deepak for a very informative review.would like to know your take in terms of styling (single tone colour and no use of graphics at all)…i mean why is honda cost-cutting on a bike which is priced quite high…some things are not logical to me…also would like to know which colour would you recommend…also can you tell me if I would want to get some graphics done on the bike then from where should I get it done?:0.
my next bykeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.