Bike tested: 2011 Hero Honda Hunk
Price OTR Mumbai: 75,313/-
Hero Honda, a company that went on to become the largest motorcycle maker in the country and a household name. They continued to remain a monopoly till Bajaj totally changed the game of Indian motorcycling with the “Pulsar 150”. Since then, the 150cc segment has grown to become hotter and more exciting. Obviously, Hero Honda had to do something about this. And they introduced the Hunk (of course they had CBZ before that). The 150 cc segment has grown manifold since the Pulsars came but the Hero Honda engineers didn’t seem to pay much attention to this. Of late, maybe they have finally done it and thus they have introduced the new Hero Hunk. Let’s check out if it has the potential to be a game changer!
Styling – The first thing that you see is of course the styling and looking at one shot, it’s not bad. It has got front fairings at the front of the fuel tank near the thigh rest areas. It also has miniscule additional fairings near the front shocks at the wheel arch location. This looks quite cool! The front lights look almost the same with no significant changes to it. One look at them and you will say that is the typical Hero Honda. The tail lights look nice with LED lights in it. All back finish has been provided to the engine, and exhaust tail pipe. The rear view mirrors have some solid amount of support material. All in all not much changes.
Instrument Cluster – The new edition gets a digital speedo but the RPM meter still remains analog. The RPM meter sits at the centre and is dominant. The speedometer is kind of tucked away at one corner. It also includes the fuel meter, high beam and turn indicators. Overall, it is quite functional in the appearance with some chrome linings.
Performance – The Hero Hunk offers a 149.2 cc engine which makes a impressive 14.4 PS of power at 8500 RPM and 12.8 Nm of torque at 6500 RPM. Definitely the power offered is one of the highest in this segment and also you get good thrust at low RPM. The power delivery is not smooth though. You encounter a long straight, minimal traffic, you twist the throttle but the bike doesn’t start to instantly zoom past everything. We found this lag quite pronounced.
There is an upside to it though. You get a good mileage figure (but that is altogether a different thing). The biggest downside to the Hero Hunk is the gearbox. Though, you get a standard 5-speed gearbox, but the gear shifting is not at all smooth. You are bound to miss a gear or two whether you shift up or down. Also, the bike has some pronounced vibration when you go beyond 3500 to 4000 RPM. Mileage is claimed by the company to be 55 kmpl. On road, you can expect a decent figure of 50!!!
Handling – When it comes to handling, the Hero Hunk does the job but doesn’t impress much. The seating is upright so you won’t get much of back pain and fatigue. This makes it a perfectly suitable candidate for long journeys. The pillion seat is also quite comfortable. The Hunk gets twin GRS (Gas ReServoir) adjustable shocks at the rear and telescopic ones at the front. The road undulations are handled well by them. On the downside, it has got a kerb weight of 146 kg. You always tend to feel so much of this weight and this makes it less agile when manoeuvring. So, don’t expect great cornering capability. The tires featured also are of thin spec. The braking performance is good though. You get standard 240 mm disc at the front and a 220 mm disc at the rear for quick stops. You can also opt for 130 mm rear drums (if you are the soft braking type).
Conclusion – FinallyRs. 71,893/- for a single one, is this raging bull worth the price? Well, we would say NO. This segment has seen a slew of products off late and some among them are really good, in fact better than what Hero Honda has to offer. Hero Honda has done their job but not quite up to the level what a consumer expects from such a product. There is a scope for lot more improvement.
– Joy Chatterjee
