Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) announced its first ever entry level commuter motorcycle for Indian market in March 2023 christened as Honda Shine 100. The name Shine is already familiar among the Indians because of the company’s best selling model of all times – the Shine 125 – a 125cc motorcycle launched first in the year 2006. So, what’s the new offering from 100cc Shine whose design is mostly borrowed from Shine 125? Can the Shine 100 make a dent in the mass segment motorcycle market and take on its big rivals like Hero and Bajaj against their products like Hero Splendor Plus, Hero HF Deluxe and Bajaj Platina 100? In this detailed review we will try to find that out.
The test ground was at the beautiful Amby Valley, near Lonavala which is in between Pune and Mumbai. Honda exclusively offered its brand new product Shine 100 to us (GaadiKey) for testing it here – the one in Red. The track was fully asphalted, had speed limits and contained flat as well as inclined surfaces. Before we get into the details of ride and handling of Shine 100, let us begin with how the motorcycle looks and feels and our first impressions.
Looks, Design and First Impressions
From the first looks, you may mistake it for Shine 125, because of the similar graphics and design – However the new Shine 100 motorcycle is a lot thinner, weighs less and looks pretty sleek. From the side view, you can see fully blacked out alloy wheels and just the “Shine” badging – there is no mention of “100”. The motorcycle gets a stylish and good looking front cowl with halogen headlamps and indicators. You will notice a very long seat and aluminium grab rails which in deed enhances the looks. The Shine gets a simple tail lamp design with halogen indicators at the rear as well.
Analog Instrument Cluster/ Speedometer
Being an entry level motorcycle, the Shine 100 is content enough to feature an analog instrument cluster featuring two simple dials and a Honda logo in between. The left dial displays an analog Speedometer with a red needle and Km/h reading which also contains the odometer (No of kms clocked). The right dial is a fuel gauge indicating the fuel level. Both these dials are very basic, yet looks very readable because of the minimalistic design. Of course you will get a Neutral indicator, side indicators and service indicator in the front instrument cluster, This is fair enough for a commuter motorcycle.
Dimensions
Talking about the dimensions, the all new Honda Shine 100 measures 1955 mm in length, 754mm in width and 1050 mm in height. The wheelbase of Shine 100 is 1245 mm and the ground clearance is 168mm. The seat is flat, longer and can carry multiple passengers and measures 677 mm in length. The seat height of Honda Shine 100 is 786mm. The fuel tank capacity of new Honda Shine 100 commuter motorcycle is 9 litres. The bike has a very smaller turning radius of 1.9mm which is extremely good for making U-Turns in narrow roads. The kerb weight of Honda Shine 100 is 99 Kgs.
Engine and Performance
The Shine 100 is powered by a 4-stroke SI Engine with a capacity of 98.98cc. The fuel system used is PGMFI (Fuel injected). The engine is E20 fuel compliant and can deliver a maximum power of 5.43 kW @ 7500 rpm and a peak torque of 8.05 Nm at 5000 rpm, The Shine 100’s engine is mated to a 4-speed manual transmission gearbox – The clutch type is multiplate Wet Clutch.
Ride and Handling
What I really liked about this motorcycle is how thin and sleek the body of the motorcycle is. It is very easy to hop in and get started, perfect for quick rides. The bike features both electric start and a kick start. Shine 100 also features side stand engine cut-off functionality, which ensures that you don’t forget disengaging your side stand before starting.
It is a very small engine of capacity 98.98cc which powers this motorcycle and being a commuter motorcycle it has got only 4 gears. I was only able to ride upto a top speed of 80 Kmph – I felt like it reached its peak in the range of 70-80 kmph. The engine was smooth enough and sounded nice – it uses an advanced fuel system called PGMFi. Ergonomics wise, the motorcycle offered a very comfortable upright riding position. The seat height is 786mm, so even a very short person can easily ride this motorcycle without much effort.
The motorcycle offers a very good steering and is very agile when you are riding – manoeuvring at the corners, bends or in traffic was not a problem. The bike performs really well on flat surfaces and in narrow stretches. Thanks to a very small turning radius of 1.9 mm, which helps in taking quick U-turns. Honda team claimed that Shine offers better hill climbing ability in 1st gear upto 16.7 degree gradient road and in 2nd gear upto 9 degree gradient road – However, in real world testing I felt a little bit lag when climbing hills in 2nd gear – the engine struggled a bit.
Overall it is a decent motorcycle which is good for long distance commutes offering a great riding comfort and fuel economy. We could not test the real world mileage of Shine 100, I am sure it can give atleast 65 kmpl to 70 kmpl of mileage on good roads. We were not able to test the motorcycle with pillion. Pillion can benefit from aluminium grab rails, smart designed foot pegs, flat and long seat for better comfort.
Brakes and Suspension
The all new Honda Shine 100 as of now only gets drum brakes for both front and rear wheels. In the front it gets 130mm drum brake and at the rear it is 110mm. Both front and rear of motorcycles gets 17 inch tubed tyres made by MRF. In the braking department, Honda Shine 100 features CBS ( Combined Braking System) to improve the stopping distance (When front and leg brakes are applied together). The braking response was average, it worked well on flat surface – but the motorcycle’s brakes were not so responsive during hill descent during our testing.
Talking about the suspension system, the all new Honda Shine 100 features twin fork telescopic suspension in the front and at the rear, it gets twin spring loaded suspension. The surface where we tested this motorcycle did not have any humps or potholes, for normal riding, the suspension system was responsive and provided a good comfort to the rider. We encountered few rumble strips and the bike provided a good amount of shield from shocks.
Colors and Variants
Shine 100 is launched in 5 colors namely: Black with Grey stripes, Black with Red stripes, Black with Blue stripes, Black with Green stripes and Black with Gold stripes. You may check all Honda Shine 100 colors with photos here. As of writing this article, the all new Honda Shine 100 is only available in drum brake variant.
Price
The all new 2023 Honda Shine is attractively priced starting at Rs. 64,900 (ex-showroom, Maharashtra). In Delhi it should be 2,000 less 62,900/-. In Bangalore it is expected to be priced at Rs 63,900/-.
Video Credits: Mr Farooq Khan
Verdict
Honda is known for trust and quality – the company has now forayed into 100cc category and with a product like Honda Shine 100, the company is fully ready to tap the untapped market which otherwise belonged to only Hero and Bajaj. It is a clever move by Honda to leverage the goodness of Shine brand by introducing a stylish looking, fuel efficient motorcycle like Shine 100 in the 100cc category which already contributes 33% to total two wheeler sales in India. The Shine 100 is a well researched, wholesome product and runs on Japanese technology. A very reachable price of Rs 64,900 makes this product a very natural choice for lakhs of Indians where initial ownership cost is a challenge. Not only the initial acquisition cost, you will be owning a product from brand Honda that is highly fuel efficient, comfortable to ride and runs on latest advanced technology like PGMFi engine, OBD2, BS6 Engine with e20 fuel compliance. This product shall no doubt give sleepless nights to the makers of Splendor and Platina 100.
Check full photo gallery of Honda Shine 100.
Video Credits: Mr Farooq Khan
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