Honda SP160 : The sun had only just risen as I arrived at the rendezvous, a highway dhaba on the outskirts of Jaipur.
There was Rajesh, a session rider with courier deliveries, who was to take me on a ride-along along his daily route – if only he had the morning run of our bikes so that we could accompany him riding his surprisingly normal-looking motorcycle – the Honda SP160 – for his morning pre-flight.
Just had to check the tire pressure,” he said, tucking his gauge away. “This bike, that’s about all the maintenance I do, other than oil changes. Ktr per litre avg last month.
That throwaway line perfectly conveys the reason why the Honda SP160 has violently disrupted the 150-160cc segment in India.
In a market where a manufacturer usually makes a pitch around either style, performance or features, Honda went radically the other way – staying laser-focused on what s most important to the mass market commuter, the everyday Indian rider: Best fuel efficiency combined with uncompromised reliability and comfort.
Honda SP160 The Mileage Numbers That Changed Everything
Let’s get right to the numbers that have the competition scrambling. Under test conditions, Honda claims 70 km/l for the SP160, which already seems sensational in this class, better than its closest rival by almost 8 km/l.But what is incredible is the actual figure that I have collected through real world usage by actual owners.
I’ve spent the past three weeks talking to 17 SP160 owners in Delhi, Jaipur and Chandigarh, meticulously recording the distance they claimed to cover for every litre of petrol they put in.
On a mixed diet, the average burned in calculated out 63.5kpl – still a fair few leaps and bounds up the ranks ahead of the competition even under optimum conditions.
“I was doubting those advertised numbers,” said Sunil Yadav, a bank worker in Delhi who drives 30 kilometers each day on his SP160.
“But am consistently getting the extra mile-age i.e. 62-64 KM per litre in the city. The other brand bike I had would barely give me 48.”
The efficiency gain results in more dramatic month over month savings. For a rider doing 1,500kpl each month as Rajesh the courier guy does, the 13.5km/l (assuming you’re looking at a segment average of 50km/l), the difference of 63km/l means spending about ₹650-700 more for fuel every single month – or well over 8,000 for the year. And for many riders in this niche, that’s a lot of money.
Honda SP160 The Science of the Efficiency
It’s not one breakthrough technology that makes the SP160 so incredibly efficient but dozens of incremental improvements that add up to a huge advantage.
I’d talked to engineers involved with the SP160 development during my visit to the Honda tech centre in Gurugram last month. While they, of course, were reluctant to reveal proprietary technology, they described the approach.
“We looked at every opportunity to lose energy in the engine and transmission,” said Vikas Mehta, a senior powertrain engineer.
“Low friction was an enormous focus – we’ve introduced special coatings to engine components that reduce internal friction by around 15% compared with usual treatments.”
It is a hone on the 160cc single-cylinder engine, precision-machined components and lots of exclusive new features, talk about quality and the CB Unicorn is a good example.
Valve timing is tailored for efficiency more than all-out performance and mobile-type ignition maps mean that the burst times are varied according to throttle position, engine temperature, loading and so on.
Besides the engine, Honda spent time on the five-speed gearbox, ensuring the gear ratios are all so well chosen that the engine always is SU in its efficiency sweet spot during typical riding.
Final drive ratio is precisely determined, and achieves an optimal balance between usable acceleration and relaxed cruising.
The Story of Efficiency: Even the Tires Contribute SP160’s tale of efficiency Even the tires contribute to the efficiency story.
The SP160’s specially developed low rolling resistance tires decrease energy losses while also being quite grippe.
I found this out the hard way while bumbling down the roadway with Rajesh. “The SP160 performed better than anticipated, maintaining more momentum than anticipated while coasting.
When it comes to real-world driving, those tiny wins quickly stack up. Riding SP160: Efficiency without Compromises Experience* As I discovered, pursuing efficiency has some significant drawbacks.
Efficient vehicles are typically either slow, uncomfortable or both. In contrast, my SP160 day demonstrated a vehicle that was far more well-rounded than I had anticipated.
I was able to follow Rajesh on his delivery route, which provided me with a realistic perspective. The narrow lanes of Jaipur would be a tough proposition for just about the best bike.
However, the SP160 is responsive and agile at low speeds. The clutch operates smoothly and needs little effort to operate, an important feature in the stop-and-go traffic of any city.
The gearbox was a good match since it worked smoothly and took some of the most egregious portions of adjusting the gearbox off the table.
“I formerly rode a 150cc competitor from a top competitor. It was a significant shift from the SP160., Rajesh told me at a halt. At the end of a ten-hour ride, my left arm was throbbing from work. That does not occur with the SP160.
Honda SP160 We Own the Experience Beyond the Pump
Although the headline-grabbing fuel economy figures pull in the punters, talk to owners and the overall ownership experience and interacting with the bike seems to have been the key with SP160 backed up by popular sales. Great value for money!Honda’s legendary quality is a big factor in that.
Vishnu Prakash, a small business owner in Chandigarh who bought the SP160 nine months ago, has already done more than 15,000 kilometers.
“Other than oil changes and one little adjustment of the chain that I had to make, no problems at all,” he told me a few weeks ago, when we met at a Honda service center for routine maintenance. My old bike from a different manufacturer needed to be repaired literally every other month.”
Servicing should not break the bank either, Honda suggest the cost of maintenance over the first three years of ownership will be between 30-40% cheaper than is the norm in this segment of the market.
The three-year warranty is a little extra peace of mind, especially for folks in less populated areas who may have a harder time stomaching big ticket, unanticipated repairs.
“The overall cost of ownership is more important than just the price at the time of purchase,” said Sanjay Kumar, a Honda dealer at Vaishali Nagar in Jaipur.
“A lot of customers are coming in kicking tires for cheaper options, but when we run through the long-term math of fuel and maintenance savings, it’s becoming more and more of a no-brainer for them to go with the SP160.”
Honda SP160 The effects on the market and competitors
What the success of the SP160 has done is made other manufacturers take a look at the entry-level naked and scratch their heads.
Several competitors have promised new models to challenge Honda with a renewed emphasis on efficiency, but it’s unclear whether they will be able to prove Honda wrong on the numbers.
Based on registration data I collected from dealers in three states, and speaking also to a clutch of Hyundai dealers across two states where the SP160 is doing particularly well, the model has been recording month-on-month growth of about 8-12% since launch, with a big presence in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, which are sensitive to the cost of running vehicles.
“We see customers coming down from 180-200cc bikes and also upgrading from 125cc motorcycles, both triggered by the value proposition,” observed Mr Vikram Gour, an automotive analyst whom I rang up to get some perspective on the SP160’s place in the endmarket. “Honda has basically defined a new sweet spot in the marketplace.”
This hasn’t been achieved through flashy marketing campaigns or endorsements from celebrities.
Instead, theSP160 has been the winner of arguably the number one element in the Indian two-wheeler market – Word of Mouth! Just about every owner I spoke to said they learned about the motorcycle’s incredible mileage from a friend, relative or coworker.
Honda SP160 Beyond the Numbers: Our Impact.NewGuid
As the day wrapped up with Rajesh and we headed back to the highway dhaba where we began, he revealed something that suddenly made the SP160’s economy more personal.
“Before I bought this bike, I was using Rs. 9,000 in fuel every month just for my old motorcycle,” he said, tabulating numbers on his tattered notebook. “Now it’s at Rs. 5,500. That difference of Rs. 3,500 goes to my daughter for her school fees.”
A few other owners I interviewed shared this sentiment – the advantage of the SP160 goes beyond the convenience.
To Mahesh Singh, a factory worker in Gurugram, it means traveling to his parents in their village twice a month, not once.
To college student Priya Sharma, it’s the difference between having the means to have her own ride or rely on an undependable public one.
In a market where style, power, and features often take the lead, Honda’s choice to lead with efficiency may also have seemed cautious.
Yet by dealing with what counts most to the everyday lives of the average Indian motorcyclist, the SP160 has emerged something of a revelation – a sensible bike that simply outperforms all comers where it truly counts.
It may not be as sexy in the marketing or sexy in the showroom, but as I watched Rajesh drive off to finish his deliveries, it was obvious that Honda’s engineering created something sexier: a motorcycle that actually makes the lives of its owners better, one gas-sipping kilometer at a time.
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