Life was simple, oh yes it was. Way back then, if you wanted Performance you bought a screaming stroker, if you wanted to save money at the pumps you bought a Hero Honda CD100. No more, no less - limited choice and simple needs. It's another tale now. Tree-huggers have connived to choke and throttle the barking mad two-strokes so they don't even feature on shopping lists. And under the ruse of 'Customer is King' ploys we have innumerable iterations of one basic motorcycle vying for your wholly and completely divided attention.

Cutting to the chase, here's what we have. Cruisers giving Performance bikes a hard time on the drag strip, Performance bikes giving econo-misers a run for their money at the pumps, entry-level bikes giving scooters an almighty walloping on the pricing stakes, while wannabe mobikes strain in desperation to get ahead on the above-mentioned drag strip while scooters whirr away merrily. Reckon you, as a buyer, have one too many choices?

Cutting back to the above-mentioned chase in the potpourri of Indian motorcycling we found (by accident, mind you) two bikes that simply are begging to be 'banged' together. Head to head. You ask why? Well, because they serve, essentially, the same market and aim to achieve, essentially, the same goal. The goal being to cater to the niche that their big brothers fail to address, and prevent customers sauntering out of showrooms without parting with their wads of cash (mustn't lose track of the ultimate profit-oriented goal, must we?) How they approach that common goal is quite different though.

So here you have the Bajaj Pulsar 150, its main purpose being to serve the segment which wants the style of the Pulsar 180 but with more kilometres to the litre and reduced financial outlay. The customer is happy with this line of thought because all he has to get the best of both worlds is to buy the graphics of the 180 to paste over the 150 - a case of the reel McCoy over the real McCoy.

Finding herself in the same frying pan is the Hero Honda Ambition. A scaled- down CBZ with a different frock, that's what the Ambition is with a quick refresher course at the finishing school to iron out any flaws, if you must know. Now here's a bike I prefer to think of as the brainchild of a marketing genius. Consider that powerfuel bike line in the ads. Now which biker would not want to have stupendous Performance and at the same time visit the filling station once every blue moon? Aah well, if wishes were horses...