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When it comes to riding the bike itself, not much has changed and that is a good thing, really. The Stunner always has been a very neutral handler and it's hard to push it out of its envelope for the want of more grunt. Filtering through traffic - a situation that will be faced by most of the Stunners that ultimately will be sold - is an easy affair. But on the twisties, the Stunner might disappoint. That niggle can be zeroed on the TVS tyres but that's nothing a better set of rubber can't fix.
The carbed Stunner gets quite buzzy above 70 kph but with the PGM-FI, that vibey feeling on the grips is sorted out to a large extent by the handlebar weights. In the unfortunate event of a spill (yes, everybody kisses tarmac sometime in their lives) the bank angle sensor steps in to shut off fuel supply and ignition to the engine. This is done so the petrol-burner doesn't continue running when the bike is on its side, safeguarding from severe internal mechanical damage.
Great ride quality is one of the older Honda's merits and that has been carried over to the PGM-FI Stunner as well. The suspension is pliant and yet doesn't come across as wallowy, something which is best appreciated when you attack a series of undulations at speed - like the expansion joints on flyovers, for example. The forks and shocks soak up bumps without any sign of protest and it makes for a great motorcycle to ride on city roads.
Switchgear is largely the same but the odd-looking choke knob has been done away with. Honda has chosen to leave out an engine kill switch as well(the carbed Stunner didn't have one either), although I wonder why. It's not like it would cost much to get one fitted anyway. The Stunner's instrumentation is pretty straightforward and easy to read, and the new CBF gets a malfunction indicator light that's nestled right beside the neutral gear lamp. Sadly, there's no tacho on this Stunner as well. Sigh.
On the whole, the PGM-FI isn't light years ahead of the older Stunner but at Rs 69,000 ex-showroom in Mumbai, it's more expensive than the carbie CBF by just Rs XXXX. The performance gains aren't high enough to sing odes about and with that in mind, all in all, I think the PGM-FI is a good variant of the Stunner but not necessarily a substantial step ahead. A Unicorn-engined Stunner would certainly be it, though. Now when would that motorcycle creep out of the smoke, I wonder.
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