wake up to a new dream

8/6/2019 Wake Up to a New Dream

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Pilot lamps have also been omitted from the bike. On the styling front, every inch of this bikeoozes out style and Honda seems to have stuck the right angles and curves at exactly the rightplaces. The huge extended tank shrouds act as beautiful design elements which play a very vital

role in the overall looks of the bike. They are big but not overdone and help the bike stand a frontbiased stance. The tank is big and muscular which has extensions and bends at absolutely right

areas with the typical trademark Honda knee recess which we like very much in almost allHonda bikes. The knees get so very well plonked into them that you will feel the bike is tailor

made for you. The conventional fuel tank cap acts as a dampener here. A better designed fueltank cap or the one that is put on the latest Unicorns would have added to the charm. The seat

looks compact from a distance but is wide enough to carry decent sized butts and the cushioningis also a right mix of hard and soft which also enhances the comfort level. Fortunately, Hondas

sticker mangling team has been kept away from this product so far and we expect Honda not todestroy another fantastic looking product by the addition of some crappy unnecessary gleaming

stickers in future upgrades of CB Twister. The upswept rear is beautifully crafted with gorgeouscontours which go in line with the front. In fact no part of this bike feels oddly placed; almost

every little part complements each other. The rear panels on all colors are silver grey in color,which apart from the Red colored variant, gels well with all the other colors. However, the

exhaust looks funny and seems to be taken from some of their scooter models, polished, coveredand attached onto this bike. Honda definitely could have made a better attempt at it; It seriously


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looks like a roadside job! Front mudguards are small but designed with a lot of detail and lot ofcurves and edges.

Inbuilt with the rear section are the innovatively placed grab rails which need some time to get

accustomed to but provide ample amount of space for all your fingers to grab them. Tail lamplooks good but again clear lens might have done a better job. Hondas red color fetish continues

as they have painted the rear shock absorbers with red color as standard. They do add a bit ofstyle to the bike but unfortunately, they are non adjustable! The half chain cover does add a dash

of exclusivity in this segment but will also bring in the worries of taking extra care of thesprocket-chain set.


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This bike does 0 to 60 kmph in around 7 seconds flat which even puts some 125ccs to shame.Along with these ground shattering figures (for a 109cc engine these are ground shattering!), the

bike does a Speedo indicated top whack of 100 kmph which is close to 95 kmph true!Astonished? Wait we have more. Twister is the bike this has the best roll on times amongst any

bikes in its segment and is even close to some starting 125ccs. Thump start the bike, flip thethrottle and you would notice the bikes urge to move forward rapidly. The exhaust note is also

meaty and the sound from the silencer also adds to the overall fun factor. The torque build upright from the word go is fantastic and the way the bike pulls up had us excited about every little

prospect the bike offers. Even at as l speeds as 20kmph, the bike pulls up in 4th

gear withconsiderable ease. The best feature about this bike is the lovely spread of power and torque

towards the lower range keeping the city driving conditions in mind. Contrary to what Shine hasbeen infamous for, this bike oozes out Honda at every little RPM. The engine is silky refined and

even at higher rpms behaves itself. We were doing 75 kmph on the Speedo with a pillion andonly a glance at the console made us believe that we are actually travelling that fast. Only at

extreme rpms vibrations crept in but still were tolerable and much to our disbelief had usapplauding this mill all the way, simply because we never expected such a response from as

puny an engine as just 109ccs! Twister comes with a 4 speed gearbox with the regular 1 down 3up pattern. In keeping with the overall sporty nature, the bike comes with a toe-only shifter


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which might not be liked by all age groups especially the above 30s. Gear change is fairlysmooth with a typical Honda buttery clutch but we did land on false neutrals a couple of times.

Overall feel of the box is slightly on the harder side with the bike requiring slight effort for gearchange especially while shifting up to higher gears at mid rpms. The default lever was also set to

a slightly lower groove so we hope HMSI might move it up a groove or two. The front foot pegs

are wide enough but are non adjustable. On the other side, rear foot pegs are adjustable but theoverall quality was not very much applaud able. Summing it up, this bike is more refined thanboth of its siblings Shine and Stunner (PGMFI version included) and even more responsive then

all the HMSI bikes in the market obviously considering the respective engine sizes. On the consside, the gearbox could have been bettered!

Engine, Transmission & Performance: 8.5/10

CHASSIS, HANDLING & DYNAMICS: The diamond twin pipe type frame with the engine

as the stressed member feels sturdy and lends the bike with fantastic handling abilities. On thelooks of it, the pipes resemble the classic Pulsars. The front does with nice telescopic hydraulic

shock absorbers whereas conventional spring type shock ups do duty on the rear.


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Although they are set to slight stiffer settings, city drive is smooth and the presence of therectangular swing arm also helps in the fantastic cornering abilities of this bike. To be frank, we

are yet to come across a Honda bike which doesnt handle or corner well! A setup of 70/100 and80/100 17 inchers do the rubber duties on this bike. The good part is that both of them are

tubeless. The bike which we rode sported MRF Nylogrip Zapper both at the front as well as the

rear. As a result of this setup knee scrappers might find this bike an ideal companion on thosehard cornering days and we assure you that the bike would respond with full aplomb. In cityhandling is boosted by a relatively smaller wheelbase of 1262mm and the bike feels at home

while zipping through congested traffics. The saddle height of 800 mm is on the higher side andwill make it slightly difficult for people below 5 feet 8 inch to land their feet on the ground but a

high ground clearance of 180mm acts as a boon on Indian roads keeping the deadly potholesdevoid of kissing the bikes lower. Overall, the whole geometry is fantastically crafted and the

bike feels like a quality product from all the technical aspects related to the chassis and handling.

Chassis, Handling & Dynamics: 8/10

ELECTRICALS & INSTRUMENTATION: On the instrumentation front the bike has a neatlooking all analogue console which sports basic functionality. On a blue colored background the

Speedo meter has been calibrated until an optimistic 140 kmph. Apart from this, the console hasan odometer, fuel meter, neutral gear indicator, upper beam and side blinkers indicator.

Sadly, this bike does without a trip meter as well. Honda has never been a gizmo geek andalways follows other manufacturers on this front. Also an all DC setup would have added to the

bikes, but Honda wanted to keep price under control and did not want to go overboard withfeatures probably! But the design of the console is fresh and complements the sporty nature of

the bike. The headlamp is illuminated by a 35 watt halogen. We did not ride the bike in the darkbut considering the good throw of Unicorn, we expect this one also to be a decent night bike as

well. Switchgear is also very basic and lacks quality as well. We have a light switch, side blinkertab, upper-dipper switch and the horn, all funnily housed on the left hand side. The electric start


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versions have the thumb starter towards the right side. The switchgear assembly does without anengine kill switch. Absence of pass switch even on the top of the line version is also one

disappointing cost cutting measure. Honda has always been accused of using sub standardplastics and this bike is no exception. Lack of quality is clearly visible on this bike and we hope

to see a product from Hondas stables which will sport good quality plastic, one day! The rear

view mirrors also get curvy and angular which display a fair vision of the rear traffic.

Electricals & instrumentation: 7/10

MILEAGE & BRAKING: No matter how sporty can a bike look, a 100cc (or a 109cc) bike

will have extreme expectations on fuel efficiency from all probable prospects. And here is onemore area where Twister steals the show despite all odds. Twister is the most powerful bike in

this segment and this might have given it leverage had it not returned expected fuel efficiencyfigures.

But expect the bike to be as frugal as other 100ccs. Twister will return anything in the region of

67-70 kmpl under city driving conditions with this figure moving northwards as you hit widerlong ways where you need lesser gear shifts. These figures, by any standards, for a 9PS bike are

commendable. With a tank capacity of 8 liters, this bike would run for around 550-600kilometers before gasping for breath. Braking is pretty ordinary on the base versions which sport

110mm diameter drum brakes and comparable to any other drum brake laden 100cc in town. But


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versions. The base version Sport comes in two colors; Carbon black and jet red, and alloywheels. The deluxe version comes with fuel gauge and double-toned sporty chrome graphics in

about 3 colors; black, blue and silver.

If you want me to review the performance of TVS Star, let me tell you that the Sport bike comes

with 99.7cc engine and it gives a peak power of 7.5bhp. Similar to its older brother Star City the

Sport comes with one down-tubed chassis and a four-speed gearbox. The suspension has thesame looks as that of the Star City, but the rear one comes with 5 steps adjustable stroke that isjust a little longer than the Start City. Sport comes with alloy wheels and what makes it different

from City is that a new face-lifted silencer (a matte silencer and a chrome heat shield with dualpod cluster). I did review the other indicators of Star Sport and they come as usual with domeheadlamp as well as 5 pilot lamps. (TVS reviews this feature to be one of the first in this

segment).


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Body panels and tail lamps received some tweaking to give sleeker and elegant appearance

overall from rear. The fuel tank is sleek and the dual toned side panel makes it attractive. Thevibration is still an issue that TVS may have to deal with seriously in the coming days to give

any serious competition to the big names in the market.


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So said, Star Sport basically is an economy bike targeted at the middle class masses. The pricefor either of the versions fall below the 40k mark. Additionally, TVS is offering a 5-year

warranty on some parts of the bike. If you ask me a two-word verdict on my review, I would saythat the TVS Star Sport is a style and sensible bike worth all money for the first-time bike

buyers.

Specifications:

Engine: 99.7 cc

Maximum Power: 7.6ps@7500rpm

Maximum Torque: 7.5nm@5000rpmGears: 4 Speed

Weight: 112.00 kgGround Clearance: 165.00 mm

Fuel Tank: 12.00 ltrsWheelbase: 1250.00 mm

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