Normal Tube, Tuff up or Tubeless. You go for any option. But you cannot avoid puncture on any one them.
These options will not help you from getting punctures but Tuff up will give you few km's to reach a place where you can get it repaired and the Tubeless will give you another few km's.

And in my openion, i don't see much reason to change to Alloys after spending 10-12K. Considering it's the first gen Unicorn, the resale value will not be high enough to compensate for this expense.

Go for better tyres instead. I have FZ upront and Q series in Rear and they work great.

Hi Sherry

Thanks for the reply. I know its a bit wastage of money but I am not planning to part away with my Uni for atleast 2-3 years(until I upgrade to TSTB).
First of all, as noted by some one in some other thread, there are few castrol bike zones and more number of castrol bike points. I mentioned castrol bike zone in my post above but it is actually a Castrol bike point(As per website of castrol bike zone, there are no CBZs in Pune).

The denting painting is costing me around 3800/-. It seems to be on higher side. I am getting my tank's denting/painting done along with painting of some part of silencer(It looks rusted) and chain guard.

As per alloys, there are no alloys available in Pune Service centers. They said that it will be available after 2 weeks. I also hunted for tubeless tyres on this weekend. I had heard a lot about the road grip of Michelin, hence went to their dealers. There was only one place where I could find a TL one(Was a pilot sporty@2200/-). All other places donot stock TL or were out of stock. Also, there are no tubeless tyres for front from Michelin(There are some dual purpose tyres though). I hear that Duro makes tyres for front as well. Will need to check or else, I will go as per Sherry's advice.
Pune guys, please suggest where can I get genuine alloys/Michelin tyres.

This is the first time in 5 years that I am getting my Uni serviced from outside. Till date it was from ASS only. Well, I was in for a rude awakening. I was with the mechanic when he was working on my bike. He couldn't take the air filter out as the screws had worn out. He cleaned it from outside only with air pressure. That means the ASS guys too 'never' took it out and cleaned thoroughly( I thought they are supposed to do it). Another part was carburettor. The mechanic showed me that it was brownish in color now as it was not cleaned in proper way from long time. He had a hard time opening it which also made him claim that ASS guys have not opened it for atleast 2-3 years. He took a long time cleaning it.
Guys, I couldn't believe what these ASS guys have done till date. Seems that they only wash the vehicle, change oil and collect money .

About oil, the mechanic(being a castrol point person) was suggesting castrol active 4t(20w40) but I am in no mood to change the oil from Honda oil.

Will get the bike by Friday. Fingers crossed...

In spite of numerous posts about bad ASS service reports on this forum, I am quite surprised that you trusted the ASS so much for 5 years and did not heed to warning from other fellow unicorn owners. I stopped giving to the ASS after the 4th mandatory service itself knowing fully well about their quality of service. I have identified (after a lot of search) a good mechanic who services the bike better than the ASS and had good knowledge of motorcycles.

It also means that some amount of self-service goes a long way in understanding your bike better. I do the Air-filter cleaning/replacing myself. I learnt how to tighten/loosen the chain to the specified the tension and also grease the chain regularly.

I hope your "rude" awakening keeps you awake for longer this time!

About tubeless tyres, I am also in search of tubeless tyres and I was curious to know if the Karizma ZMR tyres will fit coz that's the same spec as the Unicorns. The ZMR tyres come in tubeless but are MRF make.

Prajwal

I am feeling very happy to say that today I received a call from Honda Service center(My bike is under servicing now) to inform me that my bike's spark plug is not in good condition also the oil drain plug to be replaced ,they were asking me that "shall we change it sir"... so this time I have to pay extra 200 rupees for these parts..

Hope that Honda SVC changed their way of working prior to the launch of CBR250

My bad, I discovered this excellent biker community quite late .

I received the bike on last Friday. Still no alloys and no tubeless tyres. Got the service and other work done.
positives:
> Braking is much better now.
> Pickup is good.
> Polishing job was excellent. They even managed to save the wings stickers. The tank, chain cover are as good as new now

Negatives:
> Bike doesnot 'feel' good now. The famous 'Unicorn smoothness' is all but gone. I had avoided oil change to castrol. I thought that old oil(~3500 kms) could be the reason for this 'feel bad' factor. Got it changed from Honda ASS yesterday. Still not much improvement.
> There was oil leakage problem in engine. Though they have sealed it well now, I can again see the problem re-occurring, not sure about the source though.
> I had around 4 litres of petrol while giving the bike for servicing. I informed the guys about that but he returned me the bike in reserve.
When I reminded him, he filled 2.5 litres.
> I donot recognize the engine part as my own now. It has paint gone away from many places. Is there a possibility that he might have changed it? Is there any codes or something(This is one of the main reason I preffered ASS earlier as they have the lowest probability of 'stealing' away genuine honda parts)

Further Update:
The oil spill issue worsened. After spoiling my shoes, it was threatening my trousers. I took it back to the castrol point guy. He got 'wedging' done. I was afraid that this will require engine opening but he said that engine was not opened. Anyways, the bike feels good now. No oil spill as of now. I see that the milege is decreased. Earlier it was 50+, now it came around 48. Will test it again.

Honda dealer here in(or is it supposed to be at) Amritsar told me that the Unicorn and the Stunner have been phased out.

Is it true?

^^^
Thats not a good news, if true. The spare parts for Unicorn are always in shortage now this problem will increase.

I am searching for Unicorn alloys in Pune from last 1 month. Today I went to Kothari wheels. The guy there said that they themselves have ordered alloys for 2 bikes from last one week but no response. At one dealer I found the rear alloy but I am in two minds about purchasing it. I am looking for a set. Even if I buy this one now, I won't fit it.

BTW, I saw Ceat vertigo tyre for rear at Atul tyres wakdewadi.
Priced at 2100/-(Only 100/- cheaper than Pilot sporty)... but I will go for it...

Never apply grease on battery terminals , always put Vaseline/ petroleum jelly to avoid battery terminal corrosion.

I also am a Honda Unicorn owner since 2006 and as in your case I havent given my bike to any other SC than Sterling Honda, Pimpri. They are a bunch of headless idiots who cannot service the bikes they sell. The amount of bikes waiting to be serviced is always >200. I also wanted to change the rims to alloys and I asked the SC about it, they said I would have to shell out a whopping 15k for it. I dropped the idea. Apart from that engine wise the bike is OK and no issue so far but my bike has done 40K kms and my parents are after me to sell it off and get another bike. Looking at Honda's service I am thinking of buying a Karizma or a CBZ Xtreme.

Can I put the new panels where Unicorn is written of current model on 04 model with or without modification? If modication have to be made then what has to be done?
I have to change engine oil around every 1600 Kms in Mumbai wheather is it fine as I used to change around every 2800 kms in Pune, 1 mechanic advised me to change piston, oil seal valve and boring cost around Rs2000.
Please suggest, thank you

Hi djmykey

15k is too high.
As per my research, original alloys cost 3800 apiece from sterling. It will cost you 3500/- a piece from Pashankar. Total damage should not exceed 8k. I think CBZ Extreme alloys are direct fit and they are much cheaper. A pair should cost 5.5-6k.
My bike has crossed 43k on odo but I haven't thought of parting with it. For upgrade, you can also look to TSTB. Costwise it would be similar to Karizma R. But feeling wise, its the king!!!(My opinion strictly).

Worst day!
Unicorn Nov, 2006 model (spoke wheel/electric start)
I'm planning to do long trip shortly, so paid a visit to my known mechanic who has some decades of experience dealing with variety of bikes.

The bike has done close to 50k on the odo, thought would get the bike checked before the long ride. To my surprise found that the valves worn out and had to be replaced. I was suggested to go mechanic way to deal with the problem. I had other plans, checked with dealers if they have head assembly with valves, spring etc intact so that it can be fitted once. To my shock found that no dealer in my city had a stock, did not give up and still continued to search and found at the outskirt of the city to say 'Yes, we have'. However, he mentioned that head will not come with valves intact and had to be purchased separately. Another issue found with my bike is that magnet drum has come wave formation and mechanic told me that it got damaged and it is not even. You'll need that to be replaced too. Again searched and the same old answer, No we do not have a stock, it is expected to arrive soon.

Is the spares of Unicorn are in demand? Any idea if they are going to pull off the production? I'm concerned over the spares scarcity. Would soon think of parting ways, off course it has served me good times and would not want to do scavenger hunt for parts again. I'm already tired with my 2 stroke spares hunt.

Strange...
even i got the work done on my bike but the parts were easily available

Lucky you!

Here down in South it is always a guess when you go to the dealer. I have already started to hear, 'Sir, we do not have stock, placed the order, however, not sure when we would get'.

I've got used to hear this for my RX. That's understandable since 2 strokes are no longer manufactured. For in production Honda Unicorn? This is scaring sh*t out of me.