I have gotten to know Hero Honda well in the past month or so. Earlier in the month, I visited the company’s Gurgaon facility to both witness the manufacturing operations and pick up the CBZ X-treme for Rally Desert Storm. Followed by of course a week-long ride on the X-treme in the Thar Desert. And now I have been handed the keys of our long-term Achiever. I find the Achiever’s upright riding position much to my liking, but over a long ride it does get taxing for your lower back as I found out during our ride to Sinhagad fort. It’s not the best bike to tackle tight and real steep road sections either, with the Achiever requiring constant gear changes to make decently quick progress on the ghat section leading up to the fort. It’s also not in its element altogether when you push it to the limit. Braking too leaves something to be desired as the front disc lacks adequate amount of bite.
The bike does however, feel great while ferrying me from home to office. Ride it with caution and it returns good fuel efficiency too. The butter-smooth Unicorn borrowed 150cc motor has gotten a bit rough while the other cause for concern is persistent rattle from the head lamp cluster and rear body panels that has been plaguing the bike for some time now. Build quality too, surprisingly isn’t as good on our Achiever, as we have come to expect of Hero Honda bikes.
Karanbir Bedi
