The quickest and the fastest, doesn't need for more elaboration!

The Karizma comes across as the quickest and the fastest Indian-built production motorcycle we have ever tested (the Yamaha Drag Star which goes on sale in India later in the year is a CBU and doesn't therefore count here). What is praiseworthy is that this is a bike which has been built singlehandedly to perform but with good manners and pleasing power delivery rather than being a firebreather of a motor. The higher cubic capacity always helps and this it has done but the engine's new found willingness to rev clean and sharply whenever the rider twists the throttle reveals a whole new direction for a Hero Honda engine.

The engine has a great new zeal to spin away in a strong linear manner with torque making it haul away from rest - a very important factor considering its 150kg kerb weight. With our man Aspi in the hot seat during the Performance tests (this is one constant for all our bike tests even if you have yours truly, Sirish Chandran or Bertrand D'Souza penning the test reports) and data acquisition, the Karizma just sizzled away to the top of the Performance hill, edging out the present incumbent - the Pusar 180 - from its perch.

In the acceleration tests, the 180 Pulsar with its lower kerb weight (137 kg) gets off the line quicker and is ahead uptill the 50kmph mark but from there on the Karizma ups the pace, gets into its thurst mode and opens up a gap which keeps on getting larger and larger. The Karizma took 4.7 seconds to go from standstill to 60kmph and in the crucial 0-100kmph run she took 14.5 seconds. Comparative times for the Pulsar 180 (recorded by us on our Datron Correvit system) were 5.2 seconds and 20.7 seconds respectively. In the standing quarter mile acceleration run, the Karizma once again showed who is the new king of the hill, recording an 18.83 second time with a 109.95kmph terminal speed (fret not you guys who thought we wouldn't mention the comparative times for the Pulsar 180 in this test which are 20.16seconds and 97.2kmph respectively).

In all these runs, what was manifest about the Hero Honda was its strong consistent thrust, not seeming to run out of steam even with our repeated acceleration cycles and also not losing its edge in tune. This, for me was, more than the obviously high Performance the bike delivers, a stand-out detail especially since I was so hooked up on the CBZ but which disappointed with its lack of consistent Performance. Even in the roll-ons the Karizma continues it rule-all sweep and in the top speed department we have to give credit to Hero Honda for sticking its neck out and claiming a 125kmph because the Karizma in our dual direction top speed run recorded 125.6kmph! It doesn't get closer than this and the only area in which we couldn't match up to the manufacturer's claims was in the zero to 60kmph time of 3.8seconds. Till the time we develop a 60kg tester (or see anyone from our lot resorting to an impossible weight loss programme) to be as good and effective as our 90kg genius Aspi we do not see anyone from our end coming close to Hero Honda's claim in this Performance test. But then the Karizma has performacne all across its spectrum and in every respect it comes out on top, stops all discussion doesn't it?