Suggest best bike - 125 cc self start

[ravradha]

I am using HH CD Dawn for last 4 years. Before that was driving HH splendor for 4 years. I want to move away from hard kick start bike to self start plus half kick start bikes.

I am considering the following bikes (Bangalore):

1. TVS Star City ~ 42K on road
2. Suzuki Zeus ~ 45K on road
3. Honda Shine
4. HH Super splendor

Parameter for selection:

1. Reliability of self start (Dont want kick start due to hip problem)
2. Ride quality
3. Price (total cost of ownership)
4. Maintenance
5. Weight and ease to put the vehicle on stand

I'll be using the bike for city ride, and will be riding around 5 - 10 Kms a day.

I am not concerned with looks and milege. Have ruled out bajaj products due to personal experience with Bajaj.

Please share your experience and give your valuable suggestions.

[extreme_torque]

You need a change of mind... Discover fullfills each one of your requirement. Also Star City isnt 125cc.

[abhilashvk]

Heard that Discover 135 is too good...

[normally_crazy]

The Zeus or the Shine. Both will do great. GO and take a TD of both bikes - whatever you feel more comfortable with, go for it.

[ravi@64bhp]

My choice would be honda shine.
The new graphics and mag wheels are welcome to the smooth engine it has. Mileage is great. The smoothness of the engine is excellent and the reliability of honda is there. My friend owns one and I must say it is a very good city bike with reasonable power.

It fulfils all your requirements ravradha. Go and grab one.

[zoom2_ash]

Discover or Shine....dont look beyond these two.

[ravradha]

Have narrowed the search down to Start City Vs. Zeus. Shine at 49.5 K is too much; plus the showroom experience (Haiku Honda) wasn't good. HH Super splendor at 46K offers no great value. Discover is out. Yamaha is out.

Star City is 100 cc (Thanks extreme_torque), but its ok as long as it meets my parameters. Couple of my friends having Zeus (with no self start) say that engine is great but cautioned about the poor ride quality.

None of my friends have Star City.

Will rely on your advice. Leaning towards Zeus. But at 114 Kgs, its heavier than Star City. But wondering why I'm not finding many Zeus on road!

[extreme_torque]

I dont understand why the Yam and Bajaj are out?

[finneyp]

Go for Star City if you liked it!

TVS is known for making refined and hassle-free bikes!
Can vouch for that since I have a 98 model Suz Samurai.

Just test drive Star City and Victor too before you take the final call.

[ravradha]

After the inputs from T-bhp, friends, and test driving Zeus, Star City and Shine here is what is going on in my mind:

Star City is out. (Can't match Zeus/Shine drive quality, kick start [as back up] is too hard, and long term ownership report [5K+ Kms in Start City] is not encouraging)

Shine is in. After test driving, Shine is a serious contender.

The only factor which will make me choose Shine over Zeus is the ride quality. Could not find a difference in ride quality during TD. Need to ride for atleast half ahour to sense the difference. Hence the dilema remains.

Zeus is costing 44+ and Shine 49+. Will mostly go for Zeus.

I'm wary of Yamaha's after sales service for next 3 to 5 years. Disco - Will never buy Bajaj bikes (Poor performance after just 3K Kms - personal experience and collective experience of my friends ...).

Looking for more clarity before I make up my mind.

[johnjojo08]

You can consider victor glx(125cc) also. which offer gas shocks. Star sport is also a good option. Otherwise go for star city. star series has got 5 year warranty. Great package for money. All TVS products are reliable. So no confusion.

[Ajaybiz]

Close your eyes and go for new Honda Shine if not bothered about 0-60, 0-100 and all other jazzy things, too good engine very refined, good handeling and top of the all its Honda as usual bullet proof engine.

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

The Zeus or the Shine. Both will do great. GO and take a TD of both bikes - whatever you feel more comfortable with, go for it.

on the zeus let me comment:

I bought suzuki zeus kick-start, disc break, limited edition(oh!, just the color). On road price is 45,600/-.

I drive around 1,000 km a month 70% on the highway, so i wanted a bike which has 5 gears, good FE and ability to cruise around 70-80 kmph with ease and the budget was 45,000/-.

But, after driving the bike, i feel this isnt the bike suitable for highways.
Reasons:

1. under-powered.

2. it isnt stable with a pillion.

3. it isnt stable when its breezy.

4. FE falls drastically to 50 kmpl if driven hard.

5. the engine isnt much refined, generates lot of vibrations when you cross 6000 rpm.

6. the seat isnt good enough for long drives.

7. false neutrals initially but now slowly reduced.

8. I doubt the availablity of spares, my bike's rear light got burned in first couple of days, went for a change but they didnt have any stock.

apart from this the vehicle has a problem starting cold, lighting isnt adequate for highway so is the horn.(i myself cant hear the horn sound when i am over taking a truck!!!)

suspension is a decent one but not a great thing.

On the contrary, there are some good points to it:

1. need not change gears very often and the engine stays ON. It can be driven at 20kmph in 5th gear without using clutch.

2. the above feature also helps in heavy traffic, when in first gear and going aorund 3 - 5 kmph, need not apply the clutch lever.

3. when driven sensibly it returns good FE figures: 65 - 70 kmpl even in the combined cycle.

4. the handle is more like a cruiser style, no back or neck pain.

5. gear shifting is a very easy task, the gears slot in very easily.

6. even though the bike is underpowered, the top speed i achived is 105kmph. thats a shocking thing.

7. the air-filter is different than most of the bikes. looks like a performance air filter except it is white in color, will post the pic on a later day. I think this one helps in reaching higher speeds considering the lower power of zeus.

all in all i feel this bike is more of a city types.

You should check out honda shine, the engine is very refined, suspension is also good. Since you drive 5 - 10 km a day, 4-speed tranny should do good for you. If you can spend an additional 3 or 4 k for the honda build quality dont look any further, go buy a honda shine.

[ravradha]

Missed to see kkr2k2's comment.

Just coming back after booking Zeus - self start, drum and spokes, black

Why I chose Zeus:

1. Easy kick start as a fall back option if self start fails
2. Supposedly, High torque at low speed
3. Price (44650. + 50% discount on accessories)

Will post report after driving.

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by ravradha

Missed to see kkr2k2's comment.

Just coming back after booking Zeus - self start, drum and spokes, black

Why I chose Zeus:

1. Easy kick start as a fall back option if self start fails
2. Supposedly, High torque at low speed
3. Price (44650. + 50% discount on accessories)

Will post report after driving.

congrats buddy.
dont worry, as your requirement is for city, this will serve your purpose.

i guess you are refering to the XTP (xtra torque performance), well buddy i dont think so it has high torque, I can say the torque is felt from lower rpms. I think its because of the air-filter i was mentioning about earlier.

Originally Posted by kkr2k2

......
7. the air-filter is different than most of the bikes. looks like a performance air filter except it is white in color, will post the pic on a later day. I think this one helps in reaching higher speeds considering the lower power of zeus.
......

check this pic: