The Hindu Business Line : Honda Aviator: On a new flight path

The trademark Honda characteristics are all there in the Aviator. It is an amalgam of Honda’s existing products’ most appreciated features and a little more.

— S. Muralidhar

Longer, taller and more macho.

Honda’s understanding of the Indian two-wheeler market is the envy of others in the market. Thanks to its joint venture with Hero Honda, this Japanese bike maker has managed to dominate the market for years.

Astuteness and a market-oriented approach have enabled Honda to retain market share. And attempts by competitors to tom-tom the lack of new technology in some of Honda’s earlier two-wheeler models does not seem to have paid off.

Engine matters

Indian buyers don’t seem to be unduly perturbed by the fact that the engines in some of Honda’s bikes have remained unchanged for years. On the contrary, they love it because of the reliability factor and the lower maintenance costs the come with a tried and tested engine.

Honda obviously applies its market intelligence effectively and with its latest launch there is more evidence that customer feedback is taken seriously.

Just like how the Hero Honda Splendor singularly signifies the success of the joint venture, the Honda Activa has been a spectacular hit for the Japanese parent’s wholly-owned subsidiary Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), enabling it to revive the scooter market from the brink of a collapse.

Activa vs Dio

The Activa’s no-nonsense approach in the modern scooterette segment and its mix of traditional and modern elements in its steel body panels and automatic gearbox have been appreciated bybuyers.

The Dio, on the contrary, was a more conventional design scooterette built on the same platform as the Activa. Despite its more practical features such as plastic body panels and more pleasing aerodynamic design, the Dio never really managed to replicate the success of the Activa, possibly because the former could not attract the male scooterette buyer.

In the meanwhile, Hero Honda too joined the scooterette segment with the Pleasure, which was squarely targeted at the ladies and was also built on the same platform and engine as the Activa and Dio.

So, to offer the male buyer more choice and fend off competition from new comers such as Kinetic SYM Flyte, Honda has done what it does best — retain the positives from its existing bikes and use customer feedback to improve its features and focus for an all-new scooter.

Amalgam of positives

The Aviator, Honda’s new scooter is an amalgam of its existing products’ most appreciated features and a little more.

It is built to behave like a full-sized scooter that can offer the feel and ride that buyers in the segment expect.

A taller riding and seating position and the design offers the scooter a stronger front profile. It combines the swept back front style of the Dio and the more straightforward, upright front design of the Activa.

Honda has brought forward a mixture of attributes into the Aviator from its predecessors, which may have been influenced by customer feedback and market research.

Accordingly, the body panels in the Aviator are a mix of steel and impact resistant ABS plastic — with steel panels in places that are more prone to impacts and plastic panels for improved aesthetics and reducing the overall weight of the scooter.

Higher seating

The Aviator has been built on the same high rigidity under-bone-type frame that was used for the Activa and the Dio.

However, its dimensions are a little bigger than its predecessors, with its overall length and wheelbase being about three centimetres and two centimetres longer respectively. Like its predecessors, the ground clearance remains the same 145mm.

But, in keeping with its more male-oriented, full-sized scooter approach to the Aviator, Honda has raised the seating position of this latest offering.

Unlike the Activa and the Dio, the seat height of the Aviator is a full three centimetres taller and though this doesn’t seem to be much, riders who are shorter than 5 feet 7 inches will only just about manage to touch the road with their feet when the scooter is fully upright.

The design and finish quality of the Aviator is typically Honda like. The lustrous paint job is eye-catching and body panel finish quality is top-notch.

At the front of the Aviator, the steeply curved combination of plastic and steel panels house large droplet shaped turn indicators. The multi-focal headlamp, housing halogen bulbs, is located on the handlebar and the V-shaped instrument cluster features a speedo and fuel gauge. Switches and knobs have been carried forward from Honda’s existing scooterettes.

The gradually sloping up seat is comfortable and offers softer under-thigh support. Two pointers that indicate that Honda has incorporated changes based on customer feedback are the chunky, aluminium alloy rear grab rail and the foldable pillion foot pegs.

The Aviator’s predecessors had coated steel pipes for the rear grab rail, which was prone to peeling and rusting and the earlier scooterettes also just had narrow foot rests for the pillion instead of the pop-out type that offers more support.

Trusted mill

The same 102cc engine that is offered in the Honda Activa, Dio and the Hero Honda Pleasure powers the Aviator too.

In terms of engine characteristics, the peak power and maximum torque parameters are the same 7 bhp and 0.8 Kg-M respectively.

This refined, tried and tested mill behaves in pretty much similar fashion in terms of noise, pick-up and fuel efficiency.

The Aviator feels marginally heavier than the other two existing scooterettes, but fuel efficiency wouldn’t be affected, thanks to a more precise clutch.

The variomatic transmission from the other two scooterettes has been carried forward into the new Aviator.

Some new additions

There are a few new additions to the Aviator that Honda hasn’t had in its previous scooterettes. This includes the telescopic front suspension that was first offered by the Kinetic SYM Flyte in this segment. The rear suspension continues to be the swing unit with spring loaded hydraulic damper.

Other firsts for Honda in the Aviator are the optional 190mm disc brakes in the front (instead of the 130mm drum) and the 12-inch, five-spoke alloy wheels.

Honda’s own Tuff-up tube-tyres are standard as are electric self-start and kick-start. The telescopic front suspension and the lightweight alloy wheels together offer the Aviator more high-speed stability and lowers vibration.

What the potential variomatic scooter buyer gets in the Aviator is another quality Honda two-wheeler than can give the feel and ride quality of a full-sized, refined scooter.

The trademark Honda characteristics are all there in the Aviator. The only difference with this new scooter will be its relatively high seating position that may be a put off for female buyers.

The Aviator comes in two variants, standard and deluxe, and is offered with a two-year/24,000 km warranty. Prices range from Rs 40,000 to Rs 44,000 (ex-showroom) depending on variant and city of purchase.

More Stories on : Two/Three Wheelers | Insight

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page