There was a lot of craze in the market when the first Hero Honda Karizma set its feet in the Indian markets. People realized the potential at which the Indian motorcycle market could be extended. Automakers looked upon at the Karizma as a new benchmark for the market.
However, the fame was short-lived. With the launch of the Pulsar and the Apache series, soon the spotlight was removed from the Karizma. The company tried to bring back that fame by launching it adding an ‘R’ badging to the motorcycle and adding a few features that were the need of the hour, but the light never shined on the Karizma again. It was decided to bring the bike with a fully-faired body and the badging at the end was again changed, now sporting a ‘ZMR’ tag. But the bike did not sell as well as it did in its glory days.
There were a lot of features that were lacking from the bike, and even though there were a lot of standout advantages of the Karizma ZMR, they were just not enough. The company decided to discontinue the bike but did so silently, never removing the bike from their lineup officially. They brought back the ZMR keeping it up to date with the emission norms. The bike is almost entirely the same as before. Here are some pros and cons that you should consider before considering the Karizma ZMR as your next purchase:
Hero Karizma ZMR Pros & Cons
Pros of Karizma ZMR
1) Refined Engine: The bike draws its power from a 223 cc oil-cooled fuel-injected engine that puts out a maximum power of 20 bhp and a peak torque of 19.7 Nm. This engine has been in the market for a long time and has been known for its long-lasting life and refinement.
2) Excellent Mileage: The Karizma ZMR, with its lightweight body and refined engine, puts out a combined mileage of more than 40 kmpl, which is quite good when combined with its 15 litres of fuel tank capacity.
3) Vast Sales & Service Network: Hero Moto Corp has more than 6,000 service centres across India. This makes it one of the top companies, which provides service options in almost every major city.
4) Informative Instrument Console: The Karizma ZMR has a fully-digital console with the tachometer in the centre, flanked by the speedometer on the left and a digital panel on the right which displays all the other information about the bike. There are several indicators above the digital panels.
Cons of Karizma ZMR
1) Bad Design: The design of the Karizma ZMR is quite queer and asymmetrical. The dual-tone model has different patterns on both the sides. The design was quite loved by the public on the earliest models of the ZMR but ever since Hero partnered up with EBR, the design has been on the downward slope.
2) No ABS: Even with a price tag of more than INR 1 lakh, the Karizma ZMR fails to provide its bikes with ABS technology for safer braking. The company will have to introduce another minor upgrade for the ABS, since the regulations for the bike will kick in from April 2019.
3) Thin Tires: The tires for the ZMR are quite thin, and not at all proportionate to its design. The ZMR employs the use of an 80/100×18 tire on the front and a 120/80×18 tire on the rear. People buying the bike will want to upgrade the stock tires to aftermarket purchases.
4) Transmission: The bike comes equipped with a 5-speed manual transmission. This is quite disappointing since the gearbox is quite outdated; the modern bikes competing in this segment are coming with a 6-speed manual transmission, at the very least.
5) Boring Paint Schemes: The ZMR offers the same age-old colour schemes that were available on the previous generations of the bike. The bike is available in four solid paint schemes, Vibrant Orange, Panther Black, Spotlight White, and Blazing Red. There is a dual tone (black and yellow) colour scheme available, which costs an extra INR 2,500.
