Hero Honda: What's up?

If you haven't already, visit www.cbzxtreme.com tjhe website for the new Hero Honda CBZ due to be launched very soon. I hear two strong rumours. The first says it will be 150cc, but heck of a lot more sporty than the Achiever and packed with the missing goodies - styling, alloys et al. The other says the bike is to be a kill'em all 180-odd cc machine with the goodies and fuel injection. I favour the sporty 150. It makes more commercial sense. Even if the 150 CBZ flopped, they'd sell more bikes than the 180 if it was a hit. I'd be happy with a well-tuned cheater (156cc) 150. We know from the Achiever that despite all our allegations and perconceptions, Hero Honda can turn out bikes that are actually fun to ride. Seriously, the Ach may have had packaging and value for money issues, but dudes, it's a seriously fun bike. This would also mean that the brilliant Unicorn engine (it's the rest of it that I have a problem with) will make another appearance, hopefully accompanied by the tackle it deserves. Can't wait.

The other rumour I chanced upon yesterday regarded the Karizma. The poor Kari has been running on its own without any attention from the maker. Now with the DTS-Fi imminent (late-November/early-December seems to be the date window), it makes sense for HH to upgrade/reload the Karizma. Honda should find it easy to put in a PGM-FI system, extract more power from the soft motor et voila.

For a year that's basically gone by without any action at all, this could just be the sting in the tail