Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India has been busy giving a tough time to even long-established players such as Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Auto Ltd. Perched atop the second place in the list of most popular bike manufacturers in India, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India’s product portfolio contains a wide range of models that include everything from an entry-level motorcycle to a middleweight sportsbike. While the aforementioned sportsbike (read: Honda CBR650F) has many bike aficionados excited with dreams of stress-less ‘sports touring’, it is the commuter-end line-up that has been responsible for bringing unprecedented volumes to HMSI. The entry-level range from HMSI comprises of a handful of bikes in the ‘Dream’ series and a new entrant that looks poised to leave the competition worried, really worried. Dubbed as the ‘CB-Twister replacement’, the new Honda Livo 110 carries sharper styling than its ‘Dream’ cousins. Also, the Livo benefits from traditional Honda strengths – reliability, refinement, and frugality. We recently took this motorcycle for a spin and you can learn all about this highly efficient two-wheeler in our Honda Livo 110 review here –
[box type=”shadow” ]Also See – Honda Livo 110 Prices and Other Details[/box]
Design and Ergonomics
The Honda Livo 110 borrows many design cues from other products in the Honda stable. At its front-end, the Livo features a sharply styled bikini fairing that features a black-tinted visor. From the looks of it, the Honda Livo has borrowed quite a few design cues from the 2015 Honda CB Unicorn 160. The bike features a bikini fairing, tank shrouds, a sharply-styled headlamp, six-spoke alloy rims, a Dream Yuga-like taillamp, and a CB Unicorn-like exhaust end-can. The new bike also borrows its front mudguard, trafficators and rear shocks from the Dream series of Honda motorcycles. While the Livo even borrows its switchgear and handlebar from other bikes in the Honda line-up, it gets an all-new twin-pod instrument cluster that features a speedometer, a fuel gauge and some tell-tale indicators. The Livo looks nowhere as radical as the now-defunct CB-Twister, but bits like body-coloured RVMs and black-painted grab rail do infuse some premium-ness in this bike’s styling. Overall, though, the new Honda Livo, in spite of feeling fairly upmarket, looks much like the current crop of Honda commuter motorcycles and doesn’t break any new grounds in terms of design and styling.
Get astride the Honda Livo 110 and you’ll be quick to notice the plain-jane switchgear that this bike comes with. The Livo’s instrument-binnacle is devoid of any digital display and rather makes do with a fairly simple analogue speedometer. True, the Livo’s speedo-console misses out on any fancy display or backlighting, but we simply marvel at the legible fonts and the highly functional bits like the pass-light switch. The Livo 110, like many other bikes in its segment. gets a non-aircraft-type fuel-filler cap and misses out on an engine-kill switch which is something, we reckon, that should filter down from the pricier models to their entry-level cousins. The Livo gets a flat but a fairly well-bolstered seat that should be comfy enough during the traffic-stricken commute on the poorly-maintained roads.
Engine and Gearbox
Powering the Honda Livo 110 is the same 109cc, single-pot, air-cooled motor that powers the Dream series. For the Livo 110, this carb’ed engine pumps out a max. power-torque figure of 8.25 bhp-8.63 Nm. The engine boasts of HET and is mated to a smooth-shifting 4-speed manual ‘box. The Livo’s motor, akin to almost every other motor from Honda, scores highly on refinement and frugality. While there’s no Honda Shine-like urgency here, the Livo has strong initial pick-up and acceleration is strong till about 50 km/h. The torque spread is pretty linear throughout the low and mid rev-range and the bike pulls pretty cleanly from a standstill even in the second cog. It is only during the highway jaunts that you’ll be left wanting for more. But the Livo never intended to impress the proverbial ‘sports-tourers’ and we suggest you to look at the very capable CBR250R for a stellar top-end performance.
Overall, the stress-free engine and the reassuring gearshift quality of the Honda Livo 110 leave little to be desired.
Ride, Handling and Braking
The Honda Livo 110 is built around a single-downtube tubular chassis and features twin telescopic forks at front and twin ‘non-gas-charged’ shock absorbers at rear. The suspension offers a pretty decent ride quality on most surfaces and the softly-sprung setup should even impress the missus during runs to the grocery store. The Livo handles well for an entry-level bike targeted at the commuter-end of the market and the sufficiently wide (and tubeless) footwear offers ample grip. Also, a low kerb weight of just 111 kgs (disc brake variant) ensures that the Livo is immensely flick-able and further helping you cut trough the slow-moving traffic is a short wheelbase of 1285 mm. The target audience should appreciate this bike’s easy maneuverability and neutral handling characteristics.
The Livo is being offered with an optional 240 mm disc-brake for the front wheel and a 130 mm drum unit for the rear. This setup has a sufficiently strong bite on offer and the brakes are effective to haul down the Livo from speeds of 60 km/h, without as much as breaking a sweat. However, the front disc-brake has a slightly drum-ish feel to it and a slightly sharper setup with a bit more feedback would have been appreciated.
Verdict
From the looks of it, the Honda Livo 110 seems to have just the right ingredients to become the ‘next big thing’ in the world of commuter-class motorcycles. With a starting price of around INR 53,000 (ex-showroom, New Delhi for the drum-brake variant), the Livo comes across as a value-for-money entry-level motorcycle that has a fairly long list of features, good ride and handling manners, high refinement and a punch motor. The Honda Livo 110 should appeal to all those looking for a reliable, frugal and a sufficiently comfortable entry-level motorcycle that feels almost as upmarket as some of the pricier models out there.
Specification
Honda Livo Pics
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