Hero Honda has lately upped the ante of the two wheeler industry at both ends, upper end as well as lower end. At the lower (100cc) end it set the cat among the pigeons by launching the no-frills CD Dawn at a price of Rs.31,000/- ex-showroom (Rs.33,800/- on road) Pune, which made it the cheapest bike in this largest selling class in the country. At the upper end it launched the Karizma, at an on-road Pune price of Rs.86,367/-. While the CD Dawn retains the same engine, mechanicals and cycle parts of its higher priced siblings in the 100cc class, the KARIZMA breaks new ground and for the first time, breaks the 200cc barrier in the four-stroke, single-pot, Indo-Jap genre. While the Specifications and Performance of the HH 100cc class is too well known to bear further mention here, the Karizma is an altogether different cup of tea, which is a stunning 223cc single, spewing out 17 bhp at 7000 rpm, which pushes the bike at a torque of 18.35 Nm at 6000 rpm. This is the Hero Honda with a difference. What is this difference? The difference is that unlike all other HH bikes, which have short-stroke engines, this one has a Long-Stroke engine. All the earlier HH bikes have the same stroke of 49.5 mm, with only the bore varying (increasing), being 50.0 mm for Splendor, 58.5 mm for Ambition and 63.5 mm for CBZ. The Karizma on the other hand has a stroke of 66.2 mm, which is more than its bore of 65.5 mm. This not only gives it excellent Low End Torque (LET), but also allows it to produce its max. 17 bhp at 7000 rpm, while all the other HH bikes named above produce their max. bhp at 8000 rpm. Thus the Karizma’s Engine Life Factor (ELF) is almost 1.6 which is better than excellent, and more than most other bikes in the country today. With the long-stroke giving it excellent LET, and a low rated rpm giving it longevity, one is assured of relaxed riding pleasure for many years. It is a medically proven fact that relaxed riding increases the longevity of rider as well.

In addition to the fact of the Karizma being the most powerful current Indo-Jap bike, is another important fact, especially for the enthu brigade and the modification maniacs, which is, MAG WHEELS. As bikeguru@cybersteering.com I everyday get Emails from people wanting to change from spoked-wheels to mag-wheels. Now here is a bike that comes with mag-wheels, FACTORY FITTED. End of quest. The mag wheels on my test bike are black with five straight webs each. Tyre sizes are 2.75 x 18 front and 100/90 x 18 rear.

Apart from breaking the 200cc pot size barrier, the Karizma breaks another barrier. It breaks the four-second barrier for zero to sixty kph, claiming to do it in less than FOUR seconds, 3.8 seconds to be precise. This is one claim I had to check out immediately and in spite of the rains having begun, I got a chance on Sunday 15th June 03, on an excellent dry tarmac surface with no slope and no traffic. The Karizma was ridden by Amol Phansalkar (age 27 ; weight 67 kg ; height 174cm). We did ten runs and recorded a minimum timing of 4.3 seconds four times, with the other six timings being between 4.3 and 4.7 seconds. So I take 4.3 seconds as our best and most consistent timing. Yet I say the Karizma easily does zero to sixty, in 3.8 seconds (as claimed by HH), or maybe even less. How come?