The Splendor turned in the best figure (70kmpl) when it came to squeezing out the max from fossil fuel. The Caliber came in second at 68kmpl and the Fiero a close third at 64kmpl. Performance king CBZ turned up a surprising 57kmpl figure as its best and the YD125 could manage only a face saving 58kmpl. These fuel consumption figures are however the best we could achieve in Pune traffic conditions using minimum revs and maximum control. They reveal as much about Fuel Efficiency as they do about in-house racer Aspi Bhathena's deft skill with his throttle hand. Expect to come closer to these figures if you have the patience, and skill to match.

Get careless with the throttle and excited about the bike, then refer to the overall fuel consumption figures for all the bikes. The order remains the same but the figures change. The Hero Hondas figure at both top and bottom ends of the list with the Splendor (57kmpl) being the most fuel efficient and the CBZ (38kmpl) coming out the worst for its Performance. The Caliber runs close at 55kmpl and the Fiero came in a respectable third at 50kmpl. The YD 125 didn't fare too well at 42kmpl.

It is interesting to note that the Fiero and the CBZ which rate so close in terms of Performance drift so wide apart in Fuel Efficiency stakes. The prime reason is that the Fiero is a much lighter machine and also runs on smaller tyres. The bikes also adopt different approaches to carburation. The CBZ features an accelerator pump, TPFC (Transient Power Fuel Control), as it is heralded on the dummy air scoop. The system is linked to the throttle and comes into play particularly when the throttle is snapped open. The accelerator pump bridges the tiny gap that exists between when the pilot circuit hands over the charge to the slide and the main jet. The accelerator pump works from low throttle to about halfway up the range. Thus every time you blip the throttle on the CBZ you are actually activating the accelerator pump and wasting fuel.

In stark contrast, the Fiero uses a constant vacuum carburettor which in one sense isolates the throttle cable from the butterfly. This carburettor basically works on engine vacuum and takes in only as much fuel as the engine demands. Coupled to digital ignition, the wide gulf between the fuel consumption figures of the two bikes begins to make sense. The Fiero's digital ignition is the most advanced ignition system in this shootout and is akin to mapped ignition in cars.

The YD125 Splendor and Caliber employ conventional carburettors and the only reason why the Caliber-Splendor duo deliver better average as we call it is due to low engine capacity and anaemic power.