My Honda bike ownership experiences riddled with severe quality issues

I am not a very seasoned rider but I haven't heard such complaints from friends or co-workers who own Pulsars and Apaches.

BHPian Bismaya recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

My extended family has owned the first gen Activa and the first model i-Activa. Those were great two-wheelers and we never had issues with them and ultimately sold them cause of the age of the vehicles or the ODO reaching huge numbers.

In late 2016 and early 2017, we bought the re-launched Honda Unicorn 150 and the Activa 4G BS4. While these were wonderful machines to ride and commute on, we never saw the end of QC issues. It went to a point where my brother and uncle who were regular users of the Unicorn and it is the first bike I ever rode, ended up replacing it with a much more reliable scoot, the 2019 Access 125 which has been many ODO numbers strongly without any hiccups.

Here's a list of exhaustive QC spares that were replaced on the Unicorn in 3 years and 49K KMS:

1. Chain Sprocket at 38K on ODO
2. Handlebar Coneset/racer twice
3. CDI and Magnet coil assembly once
4. Headlight bulb from Honda (halonix 35W) would blow twice. The last replacement was Osram Silverstar 35W which didn't blow.
5. Switchgear would get easily jammed, and stop working and we ended up replacing the RHS switchgear.
6. Clutch cover gasket issues.

Similarly, the Activa 4G consumables would get damaged very often and hence it was only driven for 12K KMS before being replaced earlier this year with an H-Smart Activa 125 BS6 (my family still has some faith in HMSI; even though I don't).

To top this, I was also a frequent user of a 2015 CB Hornet 160R in college days and never faced much hassle with the bike apart from the early chain wear issue (avg 18K KMS life; later replaced with the 2017 Model o-ring chain) and the early wear of the rear drum brake shoes (avg like of 5-6K KMS).

In late 2019, I bought a Honda XBlade (Non-ABS) owing to the nice experience I had with the CB Hornet, but it's not a different story either. Here's a list of stuff I've replaced within the first 20K KMS of ownership itself:

1. 3x Coneset/Racer Ball Bearings. Yes, these would go out every 5-6K KMS. I mean, really? I ended up plonking Hero Xtreme's consent as a suitable replacement and have been riding with it peacefully.
2. MC Repair Kit going kaput almost every monsoon; replaced 4 of these in addition to the original. Yes, it was a non-plastic piston and would have issues every now & then, resulting in the brake lines taking into moisture, hence the need to bleed it every now and then.
3. Quality of brake pads has gone down a notch as well. The quality isn't great either and the lasting of replacement spares is below 9k KMS.
4. Caliper repair kit was changed thrice.

Also have had several minor issues pertaining to gear shaft oil seal leakage, rust spots on several areas of the frame and leg guard mounting parts and a few misc things.

Now, I am not a very seasoned rider but I haven't heard such complaints from friends or co-workers who own Pulsars and Apache's. Bikes are often claimed notoriously to be a notch down in quality than Honda.

HMSI is all but interested in selling decent VFM offerings to compete in the Indian market. They think selling Activa's keeping them afloat. Sure thing but is that what they are going to live up to? A "one hit scooter selling wonder"? If that's the case, they should just stop having anything else in their inventory, just for the purpose of showing variety. It's in itself deceitful, pretentious and half-hearted.

And I don't blame the dealers or ASCs for this. They are just playing with the cards they are being dealt, going above and beyond to help people out, even without having an "ace up their sleeve".

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