On first sight, what comes to one's attention is that three of the bikes have fairings, and two come with round headlamps without fairings. Starting with the latter, there isn't much to choose from when comparing the Crux and the Challenger, the Challenger probably having an edge with its chrome-heavy retro theme. Others, however, may prefer the lean purposeful lines of the Yam, which has an uncanny resemblance to the eternal RX100. Not quite sure whether the faired Crux-R looks more fashionable than the Crux, though. While the Challenger comes with a slightly stepped seat, the Crux does with a plain-jane flat pad. Tail-lights of either aren't exactly pretty but do the job adequately.

Coming to the faired trio, there are no two opinions about the 'design inspiration' behind the new Freedom. Put it next to the Passion, and you have a case of brothers separated at the 'Kumbh Mela'! Jesting apart, there is very little to separate the two, except the positioning of the engine - vertical in the Freedom as opposed to the traditional Hero Honda horizontal set-up. Cosmetically, however, it just goes to show the freshness of the Passion design even a year-and-a-half after its launch. Even the Victor looks rather similar to these two with its oversized front fairing and teardrop fuel tank. The rear grab-rail of the Victor reminds one of the 150cc gang, as does the perforated exhaust pipe.

On the engineering front, there is nothing spectacular on any particular bike that stands out from the rest, except in the engine department. The difference in engineering quality, however, comes through when you compare the specs, and actually ride the bikes (see later). Fit and finish of most modern bikes is good, but switchgear texture on the Freedom, the Crux and the Challenger could be better. Ironic, since the Challenger comes with an exclusive array of features like digital gear indicator and side-stand warning light among others. While the Passion doesn't have useful toys like pass-to-flash or side-stand gear lock like the Victor and the Freedom, the feel of its switchgear is as good as the Victor. Thankfully, the switchgear on all the bikes work flawlessly.

Looks are subjective, but the faired bikes look a step better than the unfaired ones. But that's incidental, since the Crux arguably looks better than the Crux-R. Engineering-wise, all follow convention, the difference being apparent only in Performance. Fit and finish on all is tolerable.