The 160cc commuter segment in India is quite competitive, wherein manufacturers fight up with their offerings to establish themselves. If there has been any brand and its product that stood the test of time is the Honda Unicorn. Honda knows how to appeal to the masses with its no-nonsense proposition, and now they have launched the sportier version of its already-established Unicorn as - SP160. Having tested the success with Shine and its sportier derivative SP 125, Honda wishes to carry the same magic with the new SP160, built on the same Unicorn platform.
Honda SP160 design clues resemble its smaller SP125. SP160 looks more muscular and bigger than SP125 and certainly looks sportier and more modern than Unicorn. Front LED headlamps, an H-shaped tail lamp, a bit wider fuel tank shroud, and a black exhaust pipe with a chrome shield make it look distinctive. It comes with six colour options - Matte Dark Blue Metallic, Pearl Spartan Red, Matte Axis Gray Metallic, Pearl Ignite Black, Matte Marvel Blue Metallic, and Pearl Deep Ground Gray. For anyone looking for a smart office commute, the new SP160 would add a flair of element to it.
In terms of features, it gets an LCD instrument display that gives out all the basic information like - speed, distance, rpm, fuel consumption and gear indicator. However, the visibility of the data in real-world conditions needs to be checked. It does not get Bluetooth connectivity.
Honda SP 160 gets the same engine that we get in Unicorn. It is an OBD2-compliant 162cc, single-cylinder, air-cooled engine that produces 13.2hp of peak power @7500 rpm and 14.5 Nm of torque @5500 rpm. The engine comes mated with a 5-speed gearbox. The bike comes with a 12-l of fuel tank capacity.
Honda SP160 comes with a telescopic suspension setup at the front and a monoshock suspension at the rear. The diamond-type frame chassis is derived from the Unicorn. In terms of braking, SP160 gets a 276 mm disc at the front and 220mm disc at the rear, whereas in a lower variant, we get a rear 130mm drum brake setup. Both variants comes with single-channel ABS as standard.
Honda SP 160 comes in two variants - single disc and dual disc. The prices for the dual-disc version start at 1.22 lakhs (ex-showroom ) and 1.18 lakhs (ex-showroom) for the disc-drum setup. It goes up against TVS Apache RTR 160 4V, Pulsar P150 and Yamaha FZ.
