Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India’s latest offering is the CB Trigger naked streetbike, a sequel to the CB Unicorn Dazzler. The 150cc CB Trigger looks purposeful and modern, taking some of its styling cues from the full size CB1000R. The CB Trigger will sell alongside Honda's popular 150cc Unicorn in the competitive 150cc segment, targeting younger buyers.
The Trigger bears some resemblance to the Yamaha FZ series bikes. The Trigger’s headlamp is encased within a sharp bikini-fairing. It comes with a chunky, well sculpted fuel tank, with twin pseudo intakes just below. There’s amber backlit digital instruments that include a speedometer, odometer, trip meter and cascading bar tachometer, all being easy to read. The Trigger’s LCD display also gives you fuel-level, and the convenience of a digital clock. We found the latest Honda has good quality palm grips, feeling soft to touch, and Honda typical switchgear that incorporate a pass light. Only minimal body panels and decals adorn the zesty looking new motorcycle.
The Trigger is a muscular motorcycle, with 6-spoke alloy wheels. Much of the bike including its engine and frame are finished in black. Overall quality and fit-and-finish are up to the mark.
The Trigger shares its four-stroke, 149.1cc, single-cylinder and air-cooled engine with the Unicorn, allied to a smooth shifting 5-speed gearbox that shifts in a 1-down and 4-up pattern, via a heel-and-toe shift lever. It’s a carburetted bike that makes 14bhp at 8500rpm. We found the Honda typical clutch feels light and makes city commuting a breeze. Power delivery is linear and available relatively low in the power band, helping to make the Trigger a practical 150 for daily use.
The 137kg CB Trigger uses a single downtube, tubular steel frame and rectangular section swingarm. Suspension is telescopic forks in front and a monoshock at rear. The Trigger has an upright riding position with wide, tall set handlebars that give the bike a commuter friendly stance. Ride quality is likewise decent, and the bike proved itself a light handler in city. The CB Trigger rides on tubeless tyres front and rear, these working to provide sufficient grip throughout our test session, which included riding on wet roads. A 240mm front disc brake is provided while a 220mm disc brake does duty at the rear, Honda having given the Trigger a combined braking (CBS) system that works to link both brakes when using the rear brake pedal. The front brake works independently at all times.
Honda’s CB Trigger is available in three variants, standard sans a rear disc brake and combined braking system priced at Rs 67,384, the DLX (Rs 70,384) and a fully loaded with CBS Trigger that sets you back Rs 76,884 (all prices ex-showroom, Delhi).
The CB Trigger has a lot going for it, including proven Honda reliability, but it isn’t the most attractively priced bike for this segment, and does have to contend with able rivals including segment leader Bajaj’s Pulsar 150 DTS-i, Yamaha’s FZ bikes and TVS’s sporty Apache RTR 160, which could prove no mean task.
Dinshaw Magol
Rishaad Mody
Gavin Rodrigues
Azaman Chothia
