even i have noticed it
acceleration in 1st 3rd 4th and 5th gears is a bit more juicy den in 2nd gear
when revving high in second gear the bike behaves as if m pressing its neck
but in rest of the four gears it never shows that behaviour
it must be considered as a defect in a uni?
or our clutch plates are gone?
any remedies or comments ?

what!!

Unicorn Valve Problems?

I have purchased Silver Unicorn in April 2008 from Kothari Wheels in
Wakdewadi, Pune. Some of you might remember my detailed posts about how I selected Honda Unicorn over RTR and Avenger. xBHP server crash has lost all those posts though!

I have been enjoying my Unicorn so far, but suddenly yesterday evening the vehicle stopped working while I was driving it on road. I pulled it on the side and tried starting it with button start but it didn't start. So I tried to start it with kick, but to my surprise the kick is moving freely without any pressure. The spark plug or ignition doesn't seem to have any problem. Given the kick lever's free moving without any resistance, I am afraid that the problem is with valves of the engine. Fortunately, it took place quite close to my house and I can push the bike manually till my house.

This bike is just 14 months old, and given Honda's reputation; I certainly
didn't expect this type of problem from my Unicorn. I have been driving bikes for more than 16 years now and used RX100 and Shaolin for more than a decade without any major problems. I was contemplating RTR and Pulsar, but decided to go ahead with Honda due to its perceived quality and reputation. I am afraid, the bike has let me down completely. I am an active member of xbhp.com and team-bhp.com; the largest automobile forums in India and I have always advised people to purchase Honda for its sheer quality, despite missing contemporary features like digital speedometer etc. I am sad to say that Honda quality has let me down.

I am extremely busy right now for next couple of months with various things happening on personal as well as professional front. I absolutely have no time to follow up on this issue. Moreover, my house is 14 kms away from Kothari Wheels from where I purchased my bike and get it serviced. I am wondering how do I take my bike there now since it is not starting. I cannot take it pushing to the service station since the bike is not starting.

Needless to add, I am hoping that Honda will get it fixed under warranty; but this incident has shaken my faith in Honda's reliability.

I have already sent a mail about it to Honda, but now wondering how do I deal with this issue now. I use bike more than I use my car because it's very convenient, and I am feeling crippled due to this bike failure! Any inputs as to how do I get Honda to fix it asap? Do they send someone to pick it up from my place since bike is not starting? If Honda refuses warranty claim (I will fight hard, if needed will go to consumer court as well), then how much will it cost me? I am really frustrated with this break down and wondering if it's deteriorating quality of Honda bikes or if it's one-of case with my Unicorn.

Any inputs/pointers will be highly appreciated.

please take it to the service centre a.s.a.p before your warranty runs of.

It is certainly sad to see Honda quality going downhill. The exhaust valve may be stuck as you have said. I think you have to go to the service center and tell them about your problem. If you have done all the sevicings in time, they are bound to correct the problem under warranty.

How was the bike running before this happened? Are you running very lean or running using an engine oil other than the recommended grade or using adulterated fuel? Did you get the tappets adjusted periodically as per the manual?

No compression = Valves not sealing properly due to a gasket/they're gummed up. Can be a cause of adulterated fuel gumming up the valves too.
Its too early to point fingers at Honda for a manufacturing defect etc.

Take it to a local mechanic and ask him to check for how much compression the engine is able to sustain. It seems to be shot according to the way the kick-start is behaving.

Do this and we'll go from there.

Cheers !

Well, I have already visited dealer personally today in lunch time and he has promised me that someone would be sent to my place to havea look at the bike.

I have not done anything extra yet. All is stock and servicing done only with the dealer, so oil is whatever they have put in. No other settings etc. I did have minor problems with bike and reported it in every service - sometimes when bike is in gear and I press clutch on turns etc, the engine would stop and I'd have to restart it with button. They'd often set idling at the time of service and problem would be fixed for few days, and might occur once in a while. Not very frequently, other than that bike has been running smoothly, like a typical Honda.

Im guessing that the mechanic who'd be coming to your place will be coming with a compression gauge.
Post up the value here so that we can get one of the gurus to advise you.
Fret not, im sure things'll get sorted out pretty quickly and amiably

Cheers !

i mean 2nd gear doesn't blend as well as rest of d gears.

The Manager told me at 5.10 pm that the guy would come in another 30 mins or so. It's 8.05 pm now and that guy hasn't yet turned up.

The picked up my bike at 9.30 PM yesterday night. The guy managed to somehow start my bike after fiddling with it for 30 mins. or so.

I called up today morning at 10 am and asked him to give me some idea about the problem by Lunch time and when I just called him up at 2.30 pm today; he informs me that they haven't yet opened the engine and can't give any idea about the same. It's annoying as I cannot plan any other work now.

He has told me to inquire again at 4.30 PM or so! Once Honda gets back to me, I am sure going to blast them for most unprofessional attitude they have shown.

may be we should keep the honds'a quality etc out of the topic cause it happened only to u and not many of us here(unlike other bikes with vibes etc)...
i have put my bike through deep s&%t and severe abuse..but still no probs..
rammed my bike at insane speeds and crashed it more than 20 times since the last 4 yers,and even after the crashes it starts wonderfully and i was alsways to drive it to the showroom... and i never keep the rpm's low,always above 6k and never got any slight prob with the baby till now...
i use it every day and did 51k and even the clutch plates are perfect,even when i push it to the limits every time i take it out...
now i'm afraid to change it cause i'm sure no other indian bike can take so much abuse and give such relayability...i mean with my kind of driving taking the bike to 9.5k rpm's and not even the clutch plates got worn even after 51k...
the only thing i got to change is the disc,which my mech says has got worn out and that i have to change it...it has got depleted and is much thinner than the new discs...and i'm still able to pull some gtr top speeds,and the other day did a 130 drafting behind a chevy on the outer ring road in hyd...

@Manish. Honda's after sales service has not been very good for quite sometime now. I am not surprised to see the event so far.

If you are staying close to aundh, I recommend Rahul service station near Punjab National bank. My experience with this place was much better than Kothari wheel (untill I moved to mum last year)

REading through this i remembered an episode on discovery
they had dropped a HONDA CUPP(cup is d name of d bike) from the 3rd floor of a building , and the bike was still running well
started in one kick only
yeah dats what is d tough body of a HONDA
i wonder if unicorn could survive dat impact

^That particular vehicle you're talking about is the Honda CUB (For chrissakes, no one names a vehicle a 'CUP' or 'CUPP' however suggestive and evocative the word may be ).
And that happens to be a 50cc moped that made Honda the big name in motorcycles it is today.

A Unicorn may probably fail the drop test IMO. Any takers (Who wanna offload some cash) for the experiment to prove me wrong?

Cheers !