Honda Unicorn 160

The Unicorn built its reputation on engines that cross 100,000 km without opening up. As a used buy it is the least glamorous recommendation on this site and probably the safest one, especially for a long daily commute.

Let's start with money, because that's what everyone asks me first. It's a commuter bike, ₹1,16,000 ex-showroom, and about ₹1,34,000 (roughly ₹1.34 lakh) by the time it's on the road in a metro. That gap is road tax, insurance and dealer charges, and it moves a fair bit between states — Delhi is around 6%, Karnataka nearly 14%. I've seen two friends pay ₹9,000 apart for the same bike in different cities. Ask for the breakup in writing.

Used, a tidy 2017-2023 example usually goes for ₹52,000 to ₹82,000. What decides where you land in that band isn't the odometer as much as the service book. A single-owner bike with every stamp in place will cost you 10-15% more, and honestly, pay it. The cheap one always turns out to be the expensive one.

Deliberately plain: round headlamp, simple graphics, an analogue-heavy console on earlier units. The upside is that nothing looks dated because nothing was ever fashionable.

When you're standing next to it in the showroom, do the boring checks. Run a finger along the panel gaps near the tank, click the switches a few times, and sit on it with the side stand up and both feet down. The 798 mm seat sounds fine on paper and then surprises people at a signal. At 140 kg, it felt easy enough to shove around, even if you're fairly new to bikes.

The numbers: 162.7cc air-cooled single, PGM-FI, 12.91 PS @ 7,500 rpm, 14.58 Nm @ 5,500 rpm, through a 5-speed, and it'll see about 108 kmph if you find the road for it. You won't. What actually matters here is what the bike does between 40 and 90 kmph, because that's where your entire riding life happens in this country.

Refinement is the story. The 162.7cc single is almost vibration-free to 80 kmph, the monoshock rear soaks up broken roads two-up, and the seat is wide enough for a 60 km round trip without complaint.

Mileage worked out to 48-53 kmpl in mixed riding for me, with a 12 litres tank — so you can do the range maths yourself and plan fuel stops without drama. Fair warning: your right wrist decides this number far more than the brochure does. Ride it hard and 15-20% of that mileage quietly disappears.

Everything mechanical is in the table below. Short version: telescopic front, monoshock rear holding it up, and 240 mm front disc, 130 mm rear drum, single-channel abs slowing it down. One opinion I won't budge on — if you ride in rain or unpredictable traffic, dual-channel ABS is worth whatever it costs. Single-channel only looks after the front wheel, and it's rarely the front that catches you out.

Almost nobody pays cash for a bike, so let's do the loan maths. Put down 20% — ₹26,800 — borrow ₹1,07,200 at 9.5%, and you get the EMIs in the table and calculator below for 12, 24, 36 and 48 months.

Two things I tell everyone who asks. A longer tenure makes the EMI look friendly and quietly costs you thousands more in interest, so take the shortest one you can actually live with. And don't sign the dealer's finance form just because it's on the desk — a pre-approved offer from your own bank usually comes in 1-2 percentage points cheaper, and if you're salaried, the PSU banks are normally the best of the lot.

Keep ₹1,500-3,000 aside for processing fees, plus documentation charges and the five-year third-party insurance that's baked into the on-road price. Then read the quotation properly. Accessories you never asked for and an "extended warranty" you didn't agree to are the two lines I find padded most often.

This is the cheapest 160cc class bike to keep on the road. Fuel efficiency near 50 kmpl, cheap Honda consumables and 6,000 km service intervals keep annual costs under ₹6,000 for most riders.

Servicing is ₹600-1,000 per service, every 6,000 km, comprehensive insurance ₹2,000-3,000 a year for a used unit. On top of that, tyres every 20,000-25,000 km, a chain and sprocket set around the same time if it's chain-driven, and brake pads once or twice a year if you're in city traffic all day.

The one number I'd actually compare bikes on is cost per kilometre. Take your fuel spend at 48-53 kmpl and today's petrol price, add a year of servicing and insurance, divide by however much you really ride. Do that for two or three bikes and the decision usually makes itself — no showroom pitch required.

A used Pulsar 150 is cheaper to buy and rougher; a used FZ-S V3 looks better and returns similar mileage. For pure mechanical peace of mind, the Unicorn is the pick.

If you can, ride your shortlist on the same day, on the same road, wearing the same gear. Demo bikes are set up differently and your memory of yesterday's test ride is unreliable. Watch three things while you're at it: how heavy the clutch feels in traffic, whether the mirrors blur at 60 kmph, and how comfortably you can put both feet down at a signal. Those are the things that decide whether you still like the bike two years in.

This one makes most sense used, so go in with a checklist and don't get sentimental. Match the RC to the chassis and engine numbers, make sure there's no hypothecation still showing, check insurance and PUC dates, and put the registration number through Parivahan before you hand over anything. And insist on starting it cold yourself — a bike that's already warm when you arrive is hiding something more often than not.

Physically: check the date codes on the tyres, chain slack, fork seals for any oil weep, how much disc is left, and get your phone torch under the engine looking for leaks. Cycle all the electricals too — the ABS light should come on with the ignition and go off once you're rolling. Then take it for at least 5 km, and brake hard once from 50 kmph so you know what you're buying.

Paperwork, briefly: ₹500-1,500 for the RC transfer, insurance moved into your name within 14 days, and never pay the full amount before the transfer forms are signed and submitted. I've seen that go wrong more than once.

Ideal first bike or high-mileage commuter. Check for accident repairs around the frame downtubes, confirm the ABS light behaves at startup, and pay a premium for full service records.

If you're under about 5'6", go sit on it before you book anything — that 798 mm seat height is the single most common regret I hear. And if someone rides behind you every day, take them along on the test ride. Pillion comfort varies wildly between these bikes and no spec sheet will tell you that.

So why is the Honda Unicorn 160 on this list? Mainly near-bulletproof engine and very low running cost. Its problems — bland styling, rear drum brake, slow above 90 kmph — are real, but you can see all of them from the showroom floor. Nothing here ambushes you six months later, which is more than I can say for some of its rivals.

₹1,34,000 on-road new, ₹52,000-₹82,000 used. Right bike for the rider I described above, wrong bike for most other people, and that's fine. Before you go anywhere, put your own down payment and tenure into the calculator above and hold that EMI against what's actually left in your account at month-end — not your salary. — Arjun Menon, Kochi, Kerala