IT was only natural that Aspi would hop onto the Fiero after sampling the CBZ, enabling him to evaluate them back to back in his preferred back yard. The first thing I noticed as Aspi zipped by on the straight was the rear end bouncing away merrily. And boy did he look funny all crouched up on the bike.

My observations were confirmed by Aspi as I rode shot-gun with him from my vantage point on the track back to the pits. "The suspension is too soft, too underdamped, like a marshmallow. I was chopping and wallowing all through that first right hander after the MRF arch (C1). Not an enjoyable experience, I tell you. The gearbox is very nice and I didn't find the all-down gear shift pattern a bother too. And this riding position is hopeless for the track". Yes Aspi you did make an interesting sight crouched up on the tank. And just for the record the rear shocks on all the bikes were set to the max preload setting.

The soft suspension made riding flat out (and bouncing like a ball) on the main straight pretty uncomfortable, not unrideable though. And flat out through C1 was not my cup of tea, breaking bones is for the racer-types amongst us. And sure that commuter friendly riding position is not the way to go for the track.The soft suspension spolit the party for the chassis which I thought was very good. And the TVS-Srichakra tyres did an admirable job for all its worth, soggy suspension and all. The gearbox I would rate as the best in this test though Aspi would put it on par with the CBZ's. Just that revised all-down pattern wasn't to my liking.

The brakes were well up to the task, we had the disc-brake equipped variant on test with us. For that matter all the bikes had discs and all performed equally well, so no winners here.
The motor came in for all-round praise from all around. Clean crisp carburetion and refinement even at the top end were singled out for praise. And she did have a stronger top end than the CBZ, clocking 107kmph on the back straight. And if my unreliable command on Tamil is to be believed, this was faster than any TVS rider had clocked on the track. Says something about that old bloke Aspi, doesn't it?