THE SILVER LINING

If you’re familiar with a certain knight, dressed in an all-black attire, you must have heard the saying “You either die a Hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain.” Back in 2003, the Karizma certainly became a Hero with its big bike looks and an engine which was the most powerful in its class for its time. Over the horizon, there was quite nothing like it.

- ANANT PANDEY

But it lived long enough to become a villain, as dust gathered over its golden plaque. The ZMR and its follow up version were considered absolute abominations. The glorious Karizma moniker hid behind a thick layer of dark clouds but come 2023, and a silver lining has appeared in the form of the new Karizma XMR. Does it manage to capture the essence that made us fall madly in love with the OG Karizma?

To answer the same, we brought along the updated Karizma R and traced the evolution.

NOT AS REVOLUTIONARY?

Groundbreaking. That’s what the OG Karizma was, when it comes to looks because as far as our eyes could see, nothing came close to its big bike looks. It looked bulky, but felt narrow between legs. The smooth, unoffensive and elegant styling were the reasons why it became a poster motorcycle for every testosterone charged teenager back in the day. The XMR, it is trying hard, we will give it that and it has succeeded to some extent. As an individual motorcycle, the XMR is a good looking one, just not as revolutionary as the OG because now, there are many goodlooking motorcycles ploughing our streets. Compared to the OG, it comes off as a more athletic, younger version of it which has followed a strict gym regime. That being said, build and paint quality of the XMR could have been slightly better.