Hi,
In my earlier review on TVS Fiero F2, I forgot to mention that Hero Honda Karizma was also one of the candidates in my consideration for a new bike. Rather, you can say, I purposefully avoided mentioning it in my earlier review. You will understand why, as you read on.
Karizma is very aggressive, very modern, very powerful. These are the only attributes I can think off. If your definition of a good bike revolves only around the above mentioned three attributes - aggressive, modern and powerful then Karizma is for you, provided your pocket is not unhappy. This definition of a good bike will only satisfy a very, very small population. For the majority of us the criteria for selecting a bike are Power\Performance, Style\Looks, Riding Comfort, Durability\Maintenance and Mileage. This is were Karizma fails. It is a powerful bike, no doubt, but is it for Indian traffic conditions? Absolutely NO.
God knows where in India you can use the full potential of this bike. Remember you are spending Rs. 80, 000 plus to get this monster. Does it make any sense to buy a Tiger paying almost twice, when all you need is a cat? On Indian roads, Karizma will look like a 20 year old sitting in standard 6. In short, Karizma is too hot a machine for Indian roads. Besides it looks good only from one or two angles. The top view of the bike puts things in perspective. It looks like Bravo of Cartoon Network fame, with overbuilt almost excessive shoulders and a near non-existent butt. It looks silly (my personal opinion, you may differ). About Mileage - There is nothing to talk about it. In Karizma’s vocabulary the word ’mileage’ does not even exist.
This machine is only built for the highways were you do not need to maneuvre a lot and were agility is not an issue. I wonder how many of us travel, only by the highways? A very important point, this bike is heavy and huge, hence the rider is expected to have a considerable built. Not only because it would look silly but also because of safety reasons.
Finally, the name Karizma sounds....silly. It sounds like, one more from the balaji productions.