Hero Motocorp had displayed the face-lifted Karizma R and Karizma ZMR at the 2014 Indian Auto Expo held in Delhi earlier this year. The launch of this motorcycle was very important for Hero, as the Karizma was the flagship Hero motorcycle and also, this was their first major face-lift job after their split with long time partner Honda. The design work was entirely done by the design team at hero, and this would also show the direction in which the company would be going in the coming days.
Hero Motocorp has gone ahead and has silently launched the Karizma R and Karizma ZMR without organizing any major launch event, deliveries have already commenced and a few motorcycles can already be seen on the road. Hero Motocorp has officially launched the Karizma R with a price tag of Rs. 83,158 and the Karizma ZMR at Rs. 1,04,986, both ex-showroom, Pune.
Both the motorcycles will be based on the same platform as the outgoing model, and the mechanical bits too remain the same, the only major change is in the bodywork. The Facelifted Karizma gets completely redesigned body panels, and the design language received a mixed reaction from the consumers. While some loved it, the others absolutely hated it. At the front, It features a vertically arranged twin-headlamp setup with the indicator and daytime running lights integrated into one unit right next to the main headlamp.
The Karizma R features a semi-fairing up front, and the engine is visible, but the Karizma ZMR features a full fairing. The Insrument cluster is the same digital-analogue one on the Karizma R and the same fully digital one on the Karizma ZMR. The suspension, brakes etc. too are the same as on the outgoing Karizma. The other changes include split grab-rails, clip-on handlebars and a split seat design.
As said before, the mechanical bits of the motorcycle remain the same, and it will be powered by the same 223cc, single cylinder unit found in the outgoing Karizma, but it has been re-tuned for more power as well as efficiency. The newly tuned engine churns out 19.2bhp of maximum power along with a peak torque of 19.35Nm in the Karizma R, while in the oil-cooled and fuel-injected engine of the Karizma ZMR, it stands at 20bhp and 19.7Nm.
Right now, direct competition to the Karizma R comes from the Bajaj Pulsar 220, and direct competition to the Karizma ZMR comes from the Yamaha YZF-R15, the Karizma created history when it was first initially launched in 2003 and now, it remains to be seen if it can be recreated.
