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I was at a recent Honda launch event and at first it seemed that it would turn out to be the usual affair, with the Honda bigwigs talking about sales figures and speculations on how many motorcycles they will sell in the forthcoming years. And then, when I least expected, it happened. The lights suddenly dimmed and smoke billowed onto the stage. From behind the haze emerged a stunning motorcycle, complete with leggy lasses and dudes with gelled air and helmets clasped in their hands standing around it.
Ladies and gentlemen, lo and behold, the CBF Stunner PGM-FI, Honda's first small-capacity fuel-injected motorcycle in the country.
On stage, the CBF was flanked by the big Honda daddies themselves - the CBR1000RR Fireblade and the CB1000R that were launched in Mumbai at the same shindig. Now, if you were thinking that the Stunner must have looked like a misfit with the other two, think again. The 125cc Honda managed to hold its own and that was inevitable, with the CBF sharing the same kind of colours and stage presence as the behemoths standing beside it.
The PGM-FI is virtually the same old Stunner looks-wise, and yet it looks nothing like it. Although the lines and the sharp edges are the same, the brilliant use of colour makes it seem like something different altogether. The deep hues of the CBR red and metallic silver look resplendent on the Stunner, with the matte gold finish on the engine covers making the bike seem more like a smaller sibling of the 'Blade than just another hotted up commuter.
But the new Stunner isn't just about colour or the look. It's the engine that is this Stunner's claim to fame. The motor is fed with a fuel injection unit and although the displacement of 124.7cc has remained the same, the power and torque have improved a wee bit - an increase of 0.6 bhp and 0.02 kgm over the carbed Stunner add up to 11.6 bhp and 11.2 kgm respectively. This might seem too meagre to actually notice, but the new PGM-FI rolls to 60 kph from standstill in 6.2 seconds (0.2 seconds quicker) and top whack comes at 102 kph, with 101 kph for the carbed Honda. The throttle response has improved as well, with the engine building revs smoother on the whole.
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