Stiffening it up gets the job done.

I do not know whether to mention it or not but it was amusing to see the chassis being described in the spec sheets as a single cradle diamond type. We would humbly beg to differ because the single downtube configuration doesn't make a cradle on its own for it uses the engine as a fully stressed member of the frame in which case the diamond configuration is arrived at. But we are not in it to score points but just to state our piece on a chassis which has been in the business on the CBZ and the Ambition as well but it is in the Karizma that its best virtues have emerged for all to experience.

Hero Honda has beefed up the swingarm pivot on the chassis and given the bike a rectangular section swing-arm which apart from being very stiff greatly aids not just the stability but also the overall handling characteristics of the bike. Where the CBZ had a tendency to wallow and wobble at certain crucial junctures in its Performance band, let me inform you that there are no such aberrations with the Karizma which has an even larger Performance envelope to delight. Hero Honda has laid down the rear shocks a wee bit while revising the internal damping and external spring rates on them. Much the same process has also been duplicated on the front forks and for a bike which has a 150kg kerb weight and power to perform, the suspenders have been optimised brilliantly. Compared to the CBZ, Hero Honda has changed the Karizma's trail length to 92mm from the previous 83mm while the caster angle remains constant at 27 degrees. This alongwith the new extended swing-arm has meant an increase in the wheelbase to 1355mm (up from the CBZ's 1335mm), a factor which contributes greatly to the bike's handling flair, being easy for novice and expert to use which is very different from the all-focused kind of razor-sharp handling of the Pulsars.

To aid the handling and stability, the bike comes with 2.75 x 18 rubber on the front with a 100/90 x 18 tyre at the rear, both of them mounted on imported five-spoke cast alloy wheel rims. These are complemented by a super effective 276mm dia disc brake up front and a 130mm dia drum at the rear.