CBF stunner test drive
Gone are the ages of bland bikes in India, the urban young customers prefer sports look over the conventional commuter bikes. The presence of more sports bikes than the commuter bikes in the 150cc segment is a clear testimony of this trend. Following the 150cc segment the 125cc segment is itself getting divided into two – entry level executive bikes aimed at 100cc commuters and sports bike which is aimed at young, urban consumers. Sport is the one word to lure buyers. Manufacturers started this phenomenon with sports stickering. But as buyers becomes more demanding. Auto makers are being pushed to make indian specific sports models from scratch rather than after treatment. Honda has come up with a new 125cc bike named CBF Stunner. Honda says the design of this stunner inspired from CBR 1000. But this bike doesn’t feature the necessary items what you expect in a sports bike (International convention). It has a very small engine, the engine is neither fuel injected nor liquid cooled. The suspension is neither monoshock. Stop there, CBF Stunner has tubeless tyres, sporty seating position, integrated front cowl and few more. Whether the CBF stunner is the indian answer to the sports bike?
In this test drive we find out whether the CBF Stunner do justice to its name and how it fares with other 125cc bikes.
1) Honda CBF Stunner: This new 125cc bike comes jaw dropping styling. The razor sharp styling elements includes a elegant visor, larger tank shrouds,aircraft type fuel lid and forged rear cowls and a new tail lamp. Attention has been given to every part to make the CBF stunner to lookalike a race bike. The new scoops on both the side of the tank extends all the way to end just before the turn indicators. The sporty foot step holders and The instrument cluster is away from the tank and nicely placed to suit the sporty stance. 17″ alloy at the front and rear enhances sporty character to the bike. The rear part of the bike proves this stunner is derived from CBR. Whether it can be called as a best sports bike or not. CBF stunner easily replaces the Gladiator and TVS Flame and grabs the crown for the best looking 125cc motorcycle.
2) Honda CBF Stunner: An 125cc which cranks out 11bhp of peak power at 8000rpm and 11Nm of peak torque at 6500 rpm powers the CBF stunner. This high performance engine is mated with a five speed transmission (1 down four up). This 125cc mill has a deep, round tone at high revs, which lets you know it’s working hard and sounds pretty good.
Thumbnail pictures: Stunner badge/ split seats/ CBR copycat rear
3) Honda CBF Stunner: After getting advised by the doctor to wear boots to ride my shine (to get insulated from vibrations), we were apprehensive about the refinement of the Honda’s 125cc mill. But to our surprise, the refinement level is high. The engine revs happily and gives excellent power at all speed ranges. The refined engine cannot take all the credit the five speed transmission make wonders. The Stunner’s gearbox follows the internationally popular one down, rest up shift pattern. Gearbox shift quality is impeccable and false neutral was almost non-existent. Stunner hits a top whack of 96kmph. While getting to 80kmph is a cakewalk, you have to spin the engine hard to move the speedo needle beyond that. You can crawl in the tight traffic even when you are in the fifth gear. We manage to chug as low as 16km/hr in fifth gear. Coming to the mileage, stunner returns 53kmpl in city and 58 kmpl in our highway drive.
4) Honda CBF Stunner: Toe only gear shift lever and sporty foot step holders are aimed to give the rider a sporty riding posture, The handlebars are mounted on the fork tops so your wrists don’t take a pounding and the seat isn’t massively hard either. The footpegs aren’t too high but i’m sure that it won’t suit for your mom. Also during hard braking, your spine has take care of inertia force and weight of the person sitting behind you. Blame the split seats which let’s the pillion to thrash on you during rapid deceleration. CBF stunner uses telescopic fork suspension at the front and 3 step spring loaded hydraulic shock absorber with rectangular swingarm at the rear. Ride quality of the bike is on par with its competition.
5) Honda CBF Stunner: CBF stunner gets 240mm disc brake at the front and 130mm drum at the rear. The brake don’t grab and are smooth and progressive, although you’ll need to use both front and rear to get the best stopping distance.
The shorter handlebars is a boon to Stunner’s handling character. Stunner handles the corner with ease even at high speeds. For the first time in 125cc segment a bike comes with tubeless tyres at the front and the rear. CBF stunner comes with 80/100 tubeless tyre at the front and 90/100 wider tubeless tyre at the rear. Thankfully, the result of new technologies is very much felt on the road. However the larger shrouds of the bike diminishes its nimbleness atleast when the fellow motorcycle rider rubs your elbow.
Thumbnail pictures: Tank shroud/ foot sport holders/ yellow springs
6) Honda CBF Stunner: The dimensions of the CBF Stunner are (l- 2012mm, w- 734mm and h- 1113mm). CBF Stunner weighs 129kg and comes with 10 liter fuel tank.
7) Honda CBF Stunner: The cock-pit and dials are “old-school analogue” with the large speedo and a relatively smaller round which houses the fuel gauge and all with easy to read markings. There’s a odometer, trip meter and lights for main beam, neutral and turn indicators. However the notable absent from this list is the tachometer. The knob for the choke is mounted on the top yoke and easy to get at.
8) Honda CBF Stunner: comes in three variants. The variants of CBF stunner – kick start with drum brake and alloy wheels, self start with drum brake and alloy wheels and self start with disc brake and alloy wheels. Self disc alloy and self drum alloy will be available in four colours sports red, pearl sports yellow,space silver metallic and black while kick drum will be available in two colours – sports red and black.
Verdict:
Bajaj revolutionized the 125cc segment with the launch of Discover. Later Yamaha added the appeal to this segment with the Gladiator. With the new CBF Stunner, Honda has lead this segment to a new direction. With its race steady stance, 11bhp engine, impeccable refinement,tubeless tyres and best in class fit and finish makes it the most exciting motorcycle in the 125cc segment. Don’t forget the price it is priced very sensibly. Don’t wait! just go and shock the fellow 150cc rider with this stunner.
Straight frm the heart:
Let’s come back to your our earlier questions. Can we call the Stunner a sports bike even though it defaults the universally accepted norm? Though this bike is superior to the bikes that exists in its class, it is no way nearer to the 125 CBR or other race replica smaller displacement bike. Honda India could have made a huge leap like Yamaha did it with YZF R15.
| Models | Chennai |
| Stunner with Kick start and alloy wheels | Rs54,013 |
| Stunner with self start and drum brake | Rs57,034 |
| Stunner with Self start and Disc brake | Rs59,047 |
P.S: Our sincere thanks to Kun Honda, Adayar, Chennai (044 – 42070319 / 329 / 339).