The recently launched 125 cc Honda Stunner is an upgrade of the age old 124.7 cc Honda Shine pot which made its debut almost three years ago. This old pot suited the Low-End-Torque requirement of our city traffic almost as good as the old 100 cc TVS StaR CiTY (which is now StaR Sport100) but at a much higher price. In top end performance, it was way ahead of StaR City and also way ahead in price.

Now get stunned! The Stunner is here at a stunning price! They’ve upped the price to a stunning Rs.59,000/- on-road Pune, while the StaR Sport100 is cheaper by 15K! Hoo-Ha! Inflation!  But so what? Aren’t my bright Pune Balaji Society MBA students earning stunning salaries? So they can pay stunning price! No problem!

On the engine side, get stunned by the Xtra RPMs! The same 124.7 cc Shine pot having 52.4 mm bore and 57.8 mm stroke, which kicked out 10.3 bhp at 7500 rpm, now kicks out 11 bhp at 8000 rpm. That’s a stunning bloody 500 rpm’s Xtra! On the torque front, the Shine pushes 10.9 Nm at 5500 rpm while the Stunner pushes 11 Nm at 6500 rpm, which is a stunning THOUSAND bloody Xtra rpm’s! While the Shine Owners Manual does not give any torque and bhp figures, the above quoted torque and bhp figures of Shine are from the catalog available at local dealer, which also mentions power as 7.68 kw. Since the torque figure mentioned on www.honda2wheelersindia.com are in Nm, the bhp mentioned everywhere is not actually bhp, but PS, which is the DIN standard norm (MKS system) used worldwide including India. Indeed it is today illegal in India to mention units in any other system than MKS. Hence either HMSi is breaking the law or they are writing bhp instead of PS, when actually it is quantitatively PS, which is 0.98632 bhp. So PS is LESS POWERFUL than bhp. Thus the power of Stunner written as BHP in the above website at 13:27 pm on Wed.6.Aug.08 is actually PS. And hence the power 11 BHP is actually 11 x 0.98632==10.85 BHP in reality. Another anomaly is the power figure arrived at if calculated using the max torque figure of 11 Nm (=1.1 Mkg) given in the website, in the formula: PS=2 x pye x rpm x max torque divided by 4500, which is 2 x 3.1416 x 8000 rpm x 1.1 Mkg==12.29 PS. So either I am wrong or HMSi is wrong.

While the same CV carb of the Shine breathing thru the same paper type air filter seems to do duty on the Stunner, which might be using lager jets and / or venturi to get the enhanced power and torque, which in Stunner is distributed to the rear wheel thru a five-speed, one-down-four-up gearbox as opposed to the four-speed, all-up gearbox of Shine. While the battery and headlight of both are same, the multi-mapping digital CDi of the Stunner might be using a different map. The Stunner also sports a trip-meter which Shine does not. The 1266 mm wheelbase of the old Shine has a round section swing-arm, while the 1271 mm wheelbase of the Stunner sports rectangular cross section swing-arm, partly contributing to the increased 129 kg kerb weight of Stunner as compared to 122 kg of Shine. Ground clearance of the Stunner is claimed at 173 mm.

While the diamond –frame chasis rests on twin telescopic forks front, the rear is supported on twin, three-step shockers. The biggest difference is in TYREs. While the old Shine sported thin 2.75 X 18 tyre + tube both front and rear, the Stunner rides on 17-inch TUBELESS tyres both front and rear, the front thickness being 80/100 and rear thickness being 100/90. Stopping is by 130 mm drum brake at rear, while a 240 mm disc in front is optional if you are willing to pay for it. Self start option at extra cost is also available for those who can pay.

All in all I would say that even though Stunner uses the same pot as the Shine, it is a totally different bike. The very different type and size of tires coupled with a very different swing-arm would give very different handling & ride qualities, the very different number of gears & gear ratios would give very different traffick-ability in terms of pick-up, top speed and gear changing requirement to cope with traffic. I only hope the Stunner has not lost out on the excellent low-end characteristics of the Shine, and I also hope that the slightly enhanced power justifies the highly enhanced price-tag.