Suresh hit the nail on the head last month when he urged Honda to give the Shine an upgrade (in his wrap-up story). Upgrade both in style and drivetrain. Honda, we must say has been prompt to respond. It has now reintroduced the bike with better graphics, an upmarket alloy grab rail and a set of black alloy wheels. The rest of the body panels, besides the instrumentation and switchgear remain unchanged, however. So here she is, back in our long-term fleet, modernised and wearing a striking blue paint job, the renewed Shine. But we aren’t completely happy, ’cause the much needed drivetrain upgrade still hasn’t come through. The bike retains the short and closely spaced four-speed gearbox, which does have its merits; after all it helps Shine post as good 0-60kmph figures as the Unicorn. So, she continues to be a great tool for traffic light MotoGps, and for pulling wheelies from stand-still. But on the downside, it also means the rider has to live with irritating vibes past the 60kmph mark and a top end that struggles to propel the bike to even 90kmph. We would have liked Honda to space out the first, second and third ratios a bit better. The first two are really close, and the third comparatively taller, so while banging down the gearbox to shed speed, the rear invariably locks up while downshifting to second, letting you revel in a bit of straight line slide. But there we are happy certain aspects haven’t been altered - the upright seating position still makes the Shine a brilliant instrument to cut through traffic. And of course, her lovely set of brakes that returns good feedback and great bite. All of which makes city commuting on the Shine one entertaining affair.
