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CD Dawn with its short wheelbase is easily flickable in city than Karizma which has long wheelbase. There can be other handling issues with the bike that can be sorted at service center.

Karizma has a very comfortable riding position. The riding position is slightly sportier than CD dawn. You need to adjust and sit properly. If you are getting any back pain while riding, check if the handlebar is bent. If necessary, get a new handlebar.

Ping me if you want to sell your bike

dear Warblahblah,

to answer you question, "So the question is - Is it my driving style or is it bike specific or other people have also noticed it."

Everyone would say it has nothing to do with your bike, most of us have ridden bicycles for more than 15 kms nonstop decades back.
Quite a few of us would have had the chance to travel 100 plus kms on rotten roads decades back. ( yeah yeah we all were so much stronger than you cribbing lot!)

If you cant do 15kms on your Kari... something is very wrong.

Lemon from HH err MH? err whatever!!!!

Your back is more important!

Dont just sell the bike for scrap, we all know it has problems! Maybe a lil more!

@ ravi,
thanks for the suggestions.
No i have never felt any backpain. The main issue is it does not inspire much confidence in me.And secondly the seating position is such that i am sitting almost on the tank .
Service centre guys in trivandrum are no good , to top that i dont know the local language.

What is the correct riding position for karizma?

Why

Wondering what stopped you from taking help from any TVM xBhpians

After the bike starts moving slowly, align your knees with the tank lining and move your ass abit back till your knees are in correct alignment, now grip the tank with your knees and continue riding, you wont feel any issues, another thing to notice is that while hard braking sqeeze the tank harder, so you wont slide forward.
And for flickability, always stick to 1~3gears while in traffic and try to stay within the powerband, once the RPM needles close to 4k, rip it till 6k, cause those are the points where the ZMA acclelerates like crazy.

I corner a lot in ZMA. You have to build up the confidence.
Its little different than cornering in the CD DAWN.
But be careful and drive safe.[Go through The Art Of Safe Riding]

Ya inside the traffic its little difficult because of the long and bulky dimension. But I feel like a king when I'm on it.

I did more than 600KM a day on this bike. I feel it good for touring.

And about the power 4-6KRPM is amazing.especially when its 80+Kmph.

Adjust your seating position like 'ashwinprakas' mentioned.

+1 to what others have said so far + few more things to consider,

1. About the riding style/comfort, try what Ashwin suggested. The far away I sit from the tank, the sportier the stance it will be. Sportier the stance, easier it is to make changes in direction/acceleration. On the highway or when I am riding slowly, I sit a bit nearer to the tank, fully upright with relaxed arms.

2. Discomfort - Can you describe exactly what discomfort are you facing? It might be pain/discomfort in wrists, forearms, shoulders, lower back, elbows, fingers/palm(usually after the ride), upper back, knees, calves or ankles. I have faced discomfort in all these regions before after/during riding a two wheeler including my bicycle, which I could correct after working on my riding style, so please share the details which will help.

3. Is the bike maintained properly? Are the sounds/vibes making you uncomfortable? are the fibers intact without vibrations? They vibrate a lot causing some discomfort - if they are cracked. There are some DIY fixes as simple as tightening/replacing the fiber screws with rubber bush or bit more involving like double-taping them, or riveting the fiber parts together (which I have gotten done on my zma). Other major sound-maker is the chain/sprocket area, so make sure they haven't worn out.

4. Gripping the tank: When I had bought my ZMA, I used to slide forward a lot during breaking - this was the biggest annoyance I faced initially. I am a little over 6' with really long legs, so sliding forward and repeatedly adjusting my position frustrated me a lot. So I bought some seat-cover sheets (fz16 seat cover which is pretty rubbery/sticky). Then cut them in the shape of my tank area where my knees touch the tank. Stuck them with rubber based glue which does not affect the paint in any way, and can be removed with diesel/kerosene. Now I am able to grip the tank easily during breaking. They don't look great, but offer excellent functionality. The same kind of assistance is offered in commercially available tankpads like Stompgrip, but they're pretty costly (around $50).

5. Gripping the bike: Get better seat cover like the fz16 covers or something that's rubbery unlike stock seat cover - again, this helps to keep you/pillion on the seat and do not let you slide. I am going to get this done soon, mainly to help my pillion stay where he/she sits on the seat.

6. Gripping the handle bar - how hard do you hold the handlebars? You should hold them only as tight as the situation demands, not too tight not too lose. And on Indian roads while commuting, its usually not too tight. When you're gripping the bars too tight, you're contracting your arms and upper body, which will cause discomfort eventually. So focus on staying as relaxed as possible. You can also try using the handle grips available in autoparts retailers, made of silicone/rubber/foam. They are cheap to try and might be able to dampen some of the vibes, which should help to an extent. Or even better, use a great riding gloves which has good padding on the inside.

7. About Handling in corners: What tires is your ZMA on? Stock? and how old are the tires? Tires and suspension are the two things which affect the handling by a great deal. So make sure your tires are in good condition. During cornering/leaning over curves, tires with rounder profiles offer better stability - examples are Michelin M45/Pirelli Sports demon. The stock tires on ZMA are MRF Zapper, and I had found them average on dry roads, and below average on wet tar roads. I had changed mine to Michelin M45, and have been leaning whenever the road permitted it - even though I am new to motorcycles. So if the tire has run more than 30k-40k kms, or if its older than 3.5-4 years (which is usually the best operating period for a tire and it starts to harden from here, reducing the grip by a big extent), its time to change them.

8. About suspension: You might get them tightened to the maximum possible value with the help of a mech. Usually, hardest suspension setting gives the maximum cornering stability, at the cost of comfort. I haven't gotten this done so far, and most users say there's not much of a difference between the softest and the hardest suspension setting in a ZMA. But anyway, you might give it a try - so get them to the hardest level possible and see if it makes a difference. Though try this at the very end of your experiments.

9. About flickability: I am not sure if you meant that the initial pickup is not good enough or whether the bike feels sluggish through all the gears. ZMA is quite flickable IMO, but you have to handle it in its maximum power band - which is the right way to ride a motorcycle anyway. This is what I do - shift at 2k rpm for 1st-2nd, 3k rpm for 2nd-3rd, 3.5k rpm for 2nd to 3rd, ~3.5k rpm for 3rd to 4th, 4k rpm for 4th to 5th gear. Don't be too shy about accelerating a bit more than the usual in a particular gear, the bike can take it.

10. Again, about flickability: What's your cold idling setting? If its 1k rpm or lower than that, trying changing it to say 1.3-1.5k rpm. The idea is just to increase the amount of fuel in the fuel/air mixture. There is a world of difference between the torque/performance of a ZMA at 1k idling (lean fuel/air mixture - slow, sluggish) and 1.5k idling (rich fuel/air mixture - peppy, addictive acceleration). I don't exactly know the actual number of turns one needs to make on the idling screw, but give a visit to the ZMA discussion thread and look around/search, you'll find it.


Do all these things one at a time, so that you can actually find out what the problem is. Start with the cheapest trick money/effort-wise and take it up from there.

Its quite surprising that you are sitting on tank. Whats your height? The handle bar in karizma is a little away from the rider compared to CD Dawn which has very short wheelbase.

Sit upright and keep the back straight. Also check if the handle bar is adjusted away from the rider. You can adjust the handle bar position. The karizma has long wheelbase and its not like 100cc bikes. You have to get used to its long proportions. Most of the Karizma riders feel the riding position of the bike to be very comfortable.

On a different note, I feel you are still expecting seating to be like your CD Dawn. You have to get adjusted to the long proportions of the bike. It hardly takes an hour or riding to understand it.

My advice is show your bike to a reputed mechanic and check for any handling issues. Alternatively, you can contact any other xbhp member from your city who owns a karizma and let them check your bike for any handling issues.

Thanks for the tip.
Will surely try it

thanks

Can you please direct me to some one.

@prashk,
Thanks a lot for giving your suggestions.

1. I feel discomfort in fingers, palms and thighs.

2. I hear some noise from the back side. The bike was serviced around 1.5 months back and i have driven approx. 1500km after that.Recently i had given my bike for some small repair(front brakes) to a local service guy.

The fibers are OK.
The vibrations come after 70KM/hr . I feel that's to early. I had been using high octane petrol.

3.What is the correct position to hold the handle. The far end or the near end?

4. Tyres are 3.5 years old and have done around 15k.

5. The suspension may be n the softer side i feel, Will try to tighten it.

How to check and adjust the handlebar?

Any xBHPians from TVM reading this plz help.

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