Where have you vanished butter pie !? :-(. Review on Honda Eterno

Now before you guys raise your bushy eyebrows on reading a review on a long gone scooter and trying to figure out the reason before this unseasoned act of mine let me tell you that I am a bit...

'' SENTIMENTAL''

It has been four years and may be more since I sold off my good old butter smooth ''manly'' scooter that and which used to put sub 100 cc bikes to shame to a needy sardar for only 14000/- in the year 2007 after the brutal invasion of the venerable (uni)corn in my home back in Agra in the summer of June.

The day I had the privilege of riding this scooter many years ago when I was a teenager but full grown man of nineteen,this machine from the honda family blew me away with such a butter smooth engine and a great ride and handling that I still cherish those moments when a friend gave it to me for just a ''test ride in Mathura''. Now let me tell u something about the Eterno ; I had two of them ; first in 2004 and second in 2006 ; the first one was from the Mathura and the second was in Agra.I never thought that we can actually have something much better than the legendary Chetak of Bajaj

In the previous decade that has gone by . The Chetak was the ultimate ; I mean what more could you had asked for when the Chetak was the largeat selling scooter in India ; and your Father was a proud owner of one of those . Chetak was something even the terrorists used to use in j&k ; It was that famous !!! , When I used to hear how many years it used to take for a person to get a Chetak ; we used to feel lucky ! ; And this actually used to overshadow the very fact that chetak used to break down once in three months of hard use or its floor was not much of a use or no complain for the kmpl issue neither any complains about the risky handling . Wow that was a great fun !!!

Came the year 2-0-0-4 and so did the very unexpected honda E-T-E-R-N-O, yeah ! very few actually knew life will never be the same again after the advent of this mighty scooter for the better that is actually the defunct model today for the very reason''scooters doesn't sell sir !!!''. Its was a 150 cc , four stroke engine with four gears to play with and a kerb weight of 126 kgs close to the kerb weight of the first generation cbz granting us with uttermost ride and handling of that of a bike.

The eterno was so smooth that you would had felt like a hot knife through a butter,the gears were very easy to slot in there respective places;neutral and then all down configuration promised no gear hassles;big huge seat for a huge two adults even three if that case had to be me ,tons of load carrying ability and the stability of a bullet ; well nearly there ; No one including me wanted to use the Chetak after using such a refined and butter smooth scooter; beleive me !!! It was always the bike of the scooters like the chetak used to be for many , but only better !

Now let me get a bit wiki - wiki here , lets talk about the pros and cons...

The pros of owning the Honda eterno 150 cc according to me

1.The most smoothest two wheeler I had ever ridden , no vibration ! ...unlike the venerable bullet , whose vibrations used to be and is so severe that it could wake up a dead man alive !

2.Unstressed engine assured long stress less long rides with aplomb, I often used to travel 500-600 km a day ; Once I went to Ghaziabad from Agra then the same day I came back...Wow and How !

3.Upright sitting position was good for really having mercy on your backbone.

4.The gears were in a league of there own , smooth and precise without missing a neutral.

5.The average was always 52-55 kmpl in the city and on highways 65-70kmpl despite being on a heavy side

6.lights were good..i mean really good and safe . I could distinguish from far away that its a Honda scooter.

7.Huge manly size to massage your manly ego for riding such a huge scooter.

8.Big enough to carry your whole ''little'' family with your wife for a long ride without a fuss from the eterno's side

8.The exhaust note...oh my !oh my ! thats means music to my ears , just rev up the engine and you feel like riding a bullet...don't have any idea why uni doesn't sounds like that , I often used to see chetaks and activa's looking in a jealous way because of the macho exhaust note from a family scooter like this one...very surprising !

9.The scooter had an storage under the seat that we missed so much on the chetak and could accommodate a cut off head or a full face helmet with ease.

10.The floor board was very good for goods to be tied under ...it was flat you know that made it even more use able...i used to bring gas cylinder on it...surprised ?

11.Reliability...the scooter was so reliable that it could put the most faithful peasant to shame...it was unflinching...i never encoutered any starting problems like cold starts like the way I have with my activa or uni...just one kick with the choke on and you could resuscitate the scooter... alive !!!

12.The speed was more than 100 kmph that I used to clock often whenever on highways...sporty scooter I must say that I put many bikers to shame !!!

PHEW !!! that was long , wasn't it ? I can still strain my memory a bit more for more pros but lets move on to the next topic...

The cons of owning this big bulbous scooter which was a strict no-no for ladies and light feathered guys...sorry to say this !

1.the scooter was so heavy for so many people around me that it was a challenge for them to get it off the stand , thats why I only saw well build men riding this one ; no matter how much people used to like the eterno ; it was the weight that had them resenting the buying decision for many days untill they rode it . as a matter of fact ; ladies riding a chetak was not uncommon but with the eterno...it was a different subject ; only a female bulettier could had the courage to ride this one to job !

2.Though the model was not to every one's liking ; it was bulbous for many specially if one had a unfortunate day of riding as a pillion ; then you had to actually climb the scooter to get seated in back and that was so awful and irritating , not to forget the feet of the pillion barely reaching the floorboard.

3.The vehicle was made with family needs in mind but the Honda guys went wrong somwhere ... I mean terribly wrong when it came to the ladies riding behind ; with the typical style of sitting with both the legs in the left direction with kids or luggage ; it made the pillion more at risk of being hurt or hit many a times because of its inordinately out of the way posture...blame its bulbous design or its companies insensitiveness towards Indian ''janta''.

4.No necessary luxuries like the electric start , I always felt that the kick was somewhat hard to operate , that was a concern for many...like me !

5.There was no side stand to make your life even more easy like on the activa ... and instead the main stand was not easy to operate for many... like me !!

6.I really liked the ride and handling of the scooter but when it comes to the shockers they were horrible ! whenever there was a broken road I used to know that my back is going to suffer because of its suspension being very stiff and bouncy. I have observed that the Activa's shock absorbers are far much better. It could have been an intentional act from the company itself so as to give the scooter the highest load carrying capacity which was in abundance ...may be may be not !

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