Honda NX200 Ownership Review

The Buyer

I am someone in my early forties and I live in a small town. My father passed away recently, my aging mother lives with me, my wife and two kids. Kids are getting into their early teens and if you are a teenager’s parent, you know how tough this phase is. After 18 years in the information technology industry, I have acquired a few skills that pay me well and helped me achieve my financial independence. I am working remotely for an organization from the comfort of my home. While it seems, I’ve been doing well than most of my peers, sometimes I feel a void. I discovered there is a term for this phase of my life, ‘Midlife crisis’. As someone who has been absolutely in love with motorcycles ever since my childhood, I thought getting myself one would be my saving grace. The last motorcycle I had was a 2013 Royal Enfield Thunderbird which drowned along with my other scooter and car in the notorious 2015 Chennai flood. Ever since that, our garage has hosted two bicycles, two scooters and one car. We are relying a lot on our electric scooter, an Ampere Reo for running most of the errands. There was also a Suzuki Access, a very reliable workhorse which we gave away recently. Scooters are more practical than motorcycles and that’s the very reason I have been postponing my decision to buy a motorcycle. But I have been following the Indian motorcycle scene, especially new launches very closely. I spend hours watching motorcycle review videos on YouTube. I don’t know why but one fine day, I went for the buy. Maybe it was the midlife crisis effect.

The Buying Decision

I am a high net worth individual. I can afford to buy and run the most expensive motorcycle available in India. I can even import any motorcycle of my choice. But my buys are not emotional but rational. I just wanted to buy a commuter motorcycle. But I wanted one that’s reliable, refined and comfortable. After years of window shopping, YouTube watching and test drives, I decided it’s going to be the Honda NX200. I will primarily be using the motorcycle for touring and short rides in my small town. I found the riding position comfortable, with a good seat for the rider, raised and wide handlebars. Hondas are well known for their reliability and refinement. The last thing I want to do is to seek attention, but the adventure tourer skin this motorcycle wears turns some heads and grabs some eyeballs, especially in a small town like mine. That doesn’t bother me though.

The Buy

I was the first one to register a Honda NX200 in Virudhunagar. But unfortunately, the local dealer here didn’t have this motorcycle in their inventory. All they had was one Honda CB200X, with no idea of getting a Honda NX200 anytime soon. So, I reached out to Pravin Honda in Kovilpatti. This dealer serves a couple of other towns as well. The person who owns this dealership hails from Virudhunagar and a family friend of ours. They readily had two Honda NX200s in the color I asked for. I checked them out both and chose one. I made a token advance of ₹5,000 and they tagged my name to the motorcycle. I noted down the engine and chassis numbers. I did my PDI, the dealer did their PDI too and I was invited to take delivery the very next day after paying the balance amount. I took a bus to Kovilpatti along with my wife and we came back home in our brand-new Honda NX200. The buying experience was smooth. If I had to be picky, the motorcycle could have been cleaned better.

For those who wonder what this bundle of joy cost us.

The buzzer was not compatible with this motorcycle and the dealer was kind enough to swap it for a saree guard.

Initial Impressions

The drive from the dealer’s place to my home was approximately 60 kilometers. We used to ride in our Suzuki Access earlier which had a long and wide seat which is very comfortable for both the driver and pillion. I had set some expectations with my wife that this motorcycle is not going to be anywhere close to Suzuki Access when it comes to pillion comfort. But surprisingly, my wife said this motorcycle is comfortable in its own way. She liked the higher sitting position too. Both my kids individually were comfortable as the pillion. I had thought my mother, who is in her seventies, would never ever be able to be my pillion. But she proved me wrong. I didn’t have a proper footrest where she could rest both her feet, but she could still manage. Her only complaint was that the split grab rails were not comfortable to hold. The motorcycle is made for the highways but also comfortable in the streets and gullies of my town. But taking U turns and reversing in narrow spaces might be a pain. Need to watch out for the knuckle guards in narrow streets where there is incoming traffic from the opposite direction. It took me quite some time to register the vehicle because I was waiting for the next registration series to open. I didn’t take the motorcycle out much before the registration. All the trips till this time were relatively short and made me feel good about the motorcycle. While the user manual suggested not to redline till 500 kilometers, I have kept it below 60 kmph. I started keeping it under 80 kmph after the odometer read 500 kilometers. I went on a trip to Kodaikanal with my wife as the pillion. The entire trip was around 350 kilometers spanning across national highways, bad roads and the ghats. We were used to driving in cars and had to take frequent breaks, but the trip was great. There is a feature in the motorcycle which displays the average fuel consumption, and it was 47.6 kmpl during the Kodaikanal trip which is way too good. The Honda RoadSync app is a gem, and navigation becomes a piece of cake.

1000 km – First Service

The motorcycle was about 1000 km to clock when I gave it for the first free service. I don’t have an AMC, and it cost me 639, which was primarily an oil change. I have faced a couple of issues in this time. There is a vertical shake in the clutch lever which is felt every time the front wheel hits a bump. The service advisor mentioned it is normal, so I left it there. I also feel a resonating vibration beneath the instrument console at a particular speed and it stops after the speed increases beyond that level. While I hear only the engine hum till 60 kmph, some additional noises creep in after that point. The service advisor suggested the engine will be much smoother after the first oil change and asked me to come back if the issue persists. In all this 1000 kilometers, there were hardly 4-5 times when the gear didn’t slot properly but maybe it was just me. I have also faced issues when trying to downshift during a sudden stop. I find the headlights adequate, but a pair of fog lamps will go a long way. The horn could have been louder and it feels feeble in the highways. I am planning on getting some touring accessories, but it will take some time to decide on that.

If you have any questions about this motorcycle, please post them in the comments section. I will be happy to answer, but it might take a while if I am either working or touring. Please keep watching this space, as I will continue to update my experiences with the motorcycle. Thanks for reading.