Why CBZ Xtreme is the best buy in 150-160cc segment.
1. CBZX v/s Unicorn
Without any doubt Unicorn is considered the best in the 150cc segment. According to me, CBZ-X is better bike b’cos of following reasons,
A. The CBZX/Hunk engine is better than Unicorn, b’cos HH did an improvement over Unicorn Engine with the help of Honda, Japan Engineers. HH paid lots of money for the tech transfer and Xtreme’s engine is superior and better than Unicorn’s. It delivers more power and also gives better fuel economy. Overall handling is superior to Unicorn.
B. HH has large number of service stations, parts are guaranteed in future, not much compalints about HH service.
C. Mid range grunt and High end grunt is simply awesome, you stay ahead in traffic and also on highways.
Unicorn mill belts out 13.3 bhp@8000 rpm whereas Xtreme/hunk belts out 14.4 bhp@8500 rpm
2. CBZX v/s FZ16 v/s R15: Well FZ16 is surely a very good product like CBZX. R15 is a track bike and better I stop comparing with CBZX, R15 comes in altogether different league. FZ16.
A. It’s new and entire bike is done in India, there could be some initial glitches.
B. Service/Dealer network of Yamaha is very poor, dealers are hungry without profits for long time expect lower customer satisfaction from them.
C. On road price of FZ16 is 10K more than CBZX, if you do some quick economics, you can travel 10, 000kms free on CBZX with that xtra money.
D. Though 153cc belts less power than CBZ/Hunk, FZ has superior torque of 13.3N-m as against 12.8 N-m of Xtreme/Hunk.
3. CBZX v/s Lanza: Lanza is the cheapest 150cc from suzuki and is complete with all features. Present Suzuki bike quality suggests that it would take some more time for Suzuki to settle down and take stds to Hondas level. I still have to ride this bike. Lanza pumps out 13.8 bhp @8500rpm against 14.4bhp @8500rpm of Xtreme/Hunk
4. CBZX v/s TVS/Bajaj: As a bike enthusiast I would not compare First grade bike to III grade bikes, Bajaj and TVS sell bikes only by spectacular ads and internet hypes. Please avoid these bikes and you are sure to have some peace of mind.
Apache: Over-responsive brakes, quite dangerous, trust me. Reliability, isn’t good nowadays on all TVS bikes, two test bikes feel and behave differently including power delivery and exhaust note!
Pulsar: Ergonomics is not body friendly, Gearbox/clutch system is very poor. Disc brakes on both Pulsar and TVS are nowhere compared to Unicorn /Hunk/ Xtreme /FZ16/R15. Reliability of present day pulsars have worsened further.
5. In 150+cc, there is hardly any notable difference between Hunk / Xtreme/ FZ16/ R16/ Lanza/ Unicorn in terms of proven technology and reliability(all are Japanese), just choose according to your style, budget and features. etc etc. Both Lanza and FZ16 are launched after CBZX/Hunk but they could not get the max. power like Hero Honda was able to get(14.4 bhp). Fuel efficiency of Lanza and FZ16 are yet to be ascertained correctly, but Xtreme and Hunk are giving a consistent mileage of 45 to 55 kmpl which is proven which is a decent fuel efficiency.
Conclusion: It would be difficult to choose a winner among Hunk/ R15/ FZ16/ Xtreme/ Unicorn/ Lanza, each bike has it’s own strong ponits and caters to different peple. But for the budget, pointa to pointb usage, fuel efficiency, cost of maintainence, easy service access, proven reliability, a hint of pride n style etc etc CBZX is very good and clear choice, that’s my verdict.
Some facts about TVS & Bajaj bikes,
Value of bajaj/TVS in second hand market is very low.
They dominate in large numbers in IInd hand market.
Majority of 2W loan defaulters also belong to TVS next Bajaj.
Highest number of bikes siezed by police for variety of reason is Bajaj Pulsar.
Maximum number of bikes going to unauthorised service station are TVS and Bajaj bikes.
P200/P220 are the most hated bike in recent times more than~50% of the people want to sell it off within 6 months of ownership due to plethora of issues.
About 75% people goto TVS/Bajaj solely b’cos of attractive finance schemes, whereas w.r.t Hero Honda/Honda/Yamaha/Suzuki it’s about 75% people who pay cash. Theat’s the reason Bajaj and TVS are loosing market share in times of interest rate hike.
thanks, srini