Honda’s latest launch, the Hornet 160R, is their third venture into the premium 150cc motorcycle segment. In a new urban street fighter outfit, the Hornet 160R looks to steal the crowns from the “King of the Road” Yamaha FZ16 V2.0 and the more recent Suzuki Gixxer 150, which are both dominating this segment in Sri Lanka.
The company’s CB Dazzle and CB Trigger 150,their previous vent– ures in this segment, both failed to woo buyers away from the FZ16 (Yammie) or Gixxer. We wanted to know whether Honda had rolled out a yammie killer from their Indian operations.
Looks can be subjective,that being said the Hornet 160R undoubtedly is the best looking bike to have come out of Honda India in recent years. The comp– any’s intent was a bike to capture the imagination of the youth and still be a viable commuter. This motorcycle says exactly that, with a futuristic design we are used to seeing only in bigger 600cc and up segments.
Styling definitely was on the top of the list priorities for the designers at Honda, and it shows.
The first to catch my attention was the tank’s creases and curves which start where the rider’s knee comes in contact with the tank on both sides.
I am guilty of owning a Yammie back in 2010, the year Yamaha installed a kicker (kick starter) as standard option. On bad days the kicker has saved me a lot of time trying to fix things to get a spark. Yes. The Hornet has a kicker as stan– dard on both variants of the bike along with the ignition button.
My yammie came with plastic body panels over the actual tank to look beefier. In the Hornet’s case, this is an actual metal tank with the classic metal Honda emblems and looks that much better when compared to plastic panels. The headlamps look similar to the unit that comes with the big bad and no nonsense CB1000R, accompanied by two pilot lights and a black bikini fairing which stays out of sight until you actually look closer. The X Tail Lamps are refreshing on a naked street bike of this category.
The exhaust on the yammie was the first time we saw an upward slanted heat resisting system fitted to a 150cc segment motor– bike. No surprises, the Hornet has checked this off their list, including an upward slanted exhaust styled with a bit of their own unique flair.
Over the years I have learnt that looks and size don’t necessarily mean performance,comfort or safety. To figure out whether the Hornet 160R delivered where it matters, I got on, turned the ignition ON and pressed “START”. The engine came to life quietly and instantly. Now, I am not a big fan of quiet motors, I prefer the growl and rumble of the older street racers, it does tell me that they’ve refined the motor on the Hornet compared to that of the
2016
Displacement
Max. Power
Max. Torque
Gears
Cylinders
Curb Weight
Ground Clearance
Fuel Tank Capacity
Top Speed
162.71 cc
15.66 Bhp @ 8500 rpm
14.76 NM @ 6500 rpm
5
Single
142 Kg
164 mm
12 Litres
110 Kms
Honda CB
Hornet 160R
REVIEW
Source: Honda Motors