Prelude:
FRIENDS! ROMANS! COUNTRYMEN! LEND ME YOUR EARS! I COME HERE TO BURY CEASAR, NOT TO PRIASE HIM………So goes the speech of Mark Anthony at the funeral of Julius Ceasar on 15th March, 44 B.C. The speech continues, “My heart lies in the grave with Ceasar. The evil that men do gets buried with them, but the good that they do lives on. And Ceasar did much good for Rome. He brought much glory and benefit to Rome. Whatever he did, it was for the good of Rome. Yet, Brutus says he was AMBITIOUS, and Brutus is an honorable man!“

Mark Anthony’s speech notwithstanding, was Ceasar really Ambitious? It is over 2000 years since Ceasar was murdered. Yet if you look closely at what Ceasar did in his life, you will find that Mark Anthony was wrong and Brutus was right. Ceasar was indeed Ambitious. So is Hero Honda. And they are proclaiming it on the roads, with the launch of their AMBITION!!

Why Ambition? Why now? Two reasons. First, in this high-competition motorcycle business, you have to keep running ahead full speed just to stay where you are or you’ll be left behind. Secondly, you have to keep re-inventing yourself, or else you petrify and die. Ambition is the spur for all activity. Activity is what you DO, because you are what you DO. If you DON’T, you AREN'T!

So Hero Honda has proclaimed its Ambition. It is going to DO, apparently many things. Everyone is looking forward to Hero Honda’s proclaimed intention (Ambition?) to launch a 200+ cc bike next year. But what meanwhile? Something must keep happening. Something new. Or else….!

Thus came the Ambition. With the launch of the Pulsar twins at unbelievable prices, the CBZ was being looked at less and less. Fiero biting at its flank wasn’t helping either. The Dawn wasn’t really bright for HH. The Passion did ignite passions for some time, but with the arrival of Victor and Freedom in the premium economy segment, market sentiment seemed to be shifting toward Freedom and Victory. Thus there was no alternative left for HH except become Ambitious. So they proclaimed their Ambition.

What is their Ambition?
The prime objective of being in business is to make money. The prime objective of a bike buyer is to get Value for Money (VFM). So let us analyze HH’s Ambition on this VFM yardstick. Splendor & Passion do not come with disc brake or self start. CBZ does not come without disc brake. Retro-fitting a disc brake on Passion would cost, say an additional Rs.3000/- (the difference between price of Ambition with disc and without disc). If we add Rs.3000/- to the on-road Pune price of HH Passion, it comes to Rs.45830+3000=Rs.48830/-
Thus pro-rated, equalized, prices of Passion, Ambition and CBZ with disc brake but without self start, on-road Pune are as follows:
Passion=48830/-
Ambition=50871/-
CBZ===56658/-

Thus price difference between Passion and Ambition with equal features is Rs.2041/-.
And price difference between CBZ and Ambition with equal features is Rs.5787/-, which is almost three times the difference between Passion and Ambition. Thus the Ambition is much closer in price to Passion than to CBZ. It is clearly positioned as an upgrade to current Passion (and Splendor) owners, rather than as a downgrade from CBZ. Hence, it is being touted as the Powerfuel bike!!

Eh? Powerfuel? You mean Power + fuel efficiency? While I shall write about its fuel efficiency later on, in the Road Test, let us see how the power specifications of these three bikes compare.

Passion is rated 7.5 bhp, Ambition is 11 bhp and CBZ is 12.8 bhp. All three ratings are at 8000 rpm.Thus Ambition is 3.5 bhp away from Passion and only 1.8 bhp away from CBZ. Since Ambition is closer to Passion in price and closer to CBZ in power, can we say that Ambition has almost the power of CBZ at almost the price of Passion?