Guys i am posting a buying and ownership review of my extreme after 3 years. Posting in another thread and mods if feel right then can merge in the existing thread after some time with the link in existing thread to directly take it to this post. However i will post it in three parts so i have started a new thread for it.

First Part:-

Preface and a child attraction to brand CBZ.
After almost owning the CBZ extreme for 3 years now i am penning down my ownership experience.


This will consist of three parts:-
1. Selection process- Why i went for this bike
2. Buying experience and initial ride
3. After 3 years my experience.


So first i will explain why i went for this bike?


Actually i was fan of CBZ from its hey days like in 2001.
A photo of the blue cbz(from internet):-



In 2001 we bought our Joy and when i went to get the delivery in the showroom, i first saw the CBZ. I was only 12-13 years old but the fire of biking had started burning. While our Joy was fitted with accessories, there was a new CBZ getting delivered. It was in blue color with those DUNLOP GEOCRUISER tyre. Man CBZ in
blue colors and shiny black tyres is a site to behold. I just sat on the bench and kept admiring. I was looking at the disc brake, huge size of the bike and its big engine and big tyres. I still remember that scene like it is yesterday.

The ad that had become an anthem then:-


I was like the small child in the ad who is looking at the bike in showroom and also at the end.

Since i was a child then, i didn't know about technicals of bike, just i was enamoured by the beauty, i immediately looked
at the specs on the walls of showroom and saw the power and all to be much higher. I decided then and there that my next bike was
to be a CBZ.

The ads of the cbz which influenced me much was the ad in which dino morea and his younger brother with splendor. I was like the younger brother in the ad:-


Also the other ad as was the trend then all hot girls were on cbz.

Those ads are still etched on mind as they had the bike as the main partner. Not like todays ad where there is no sight of bike or car except you will see some hot models showing different body parts.

Also at those time you see any hindi films and there will be the CBZ. I have never seen so much craze and fan following for a bike. Not even today with so much bikes available.


AT that time i was not so much attached to my JOY. Since at that time i was a child of 13 years, i would look curiously at those CBZ on highways overtaking others like lightining. Also the repeated ads in TV were eating into my mind. As i grew up my attachment towards my JOY increased, and i started to forget about CBZ. I was residing in small town, so no auto magazines and at time there was no pocket money as it is a trend now. Then in year 2004, i completed my matriculation and my father got transferred to raipur.
My mom, sis and i shifted to bhubaneswar and The Joy was mine. But the bike was in bad shape because of the horrendous torture that my bike was met with by my cousin brothers. Then at college i would save money to fund meeting my bike expenses and bringing into tip-top shape. Then in 2006 i got into mechanical engineering. Taking the Joy had gone regular and also by that time CBZ went out of production and i have never felt comfortable buying a used bike. So by that time CBZ was thrown out of mind. But in engineering colleges
you see that all kind of bikes. Especially pulsars. But the strange fact is that i have never been attracted to pulsars. Tvs launched the
APACHE 150 which looked good but bike was very small.Also Apache vibrated a lot. Also Karizma was a hot property but at that time it cost a
lot and horror of mileage as low as 25 kpl was common. Moreover sister and mine education was a great burden as a lot of money was going out in that
way.




I took so much care of my Joy that it became a new bike. Mileage hovered around 85 kpl and also bike looked like new. My bike was the talking point
in the whole department as i took care of it like a baby. Sometimes my friend and me would bunk classes and will fill petrol in partnership, he contributing
Rs.20 and me the same. Petrol used to cost Rs.40 then. So we could easily move around 80 km in that petrol. This continued and i was happy with my bike.


But in november 2006, i read a news of upcoming 150 cc bike from Hero Honda. Nothing much detail was given. In the same month i bought an autocar which had the
pictures of new CBZ extreme and some news.



I was not much influenced by the looks of the bike but read that it used the unicorn engine with retuned specs. SO was eager to get more news. Next month got the overdrive magazine. I pateintly waited for more news of the new CBZ from Hero. Then it happened that one of my friends got the bike January 2007 and the bike looked much better in place.The bike looked bigger than all other 150 cc and even some higher cc bikes.

More about the bike:-
While most here used to get automobile magazine which fueled there passion for bikes. I didn't have enough pocket money to buy magazines. So i used to buy 1-2 month old magazine from old book store. Yes my passion had to got through lots of hardship. Even after buying the magazines i would hide it in my Joy pannier box for days before taking it to home to not get scoldings from mom. And now i have all the magazines in a part of my house library. Each magazine that i have bought is with me. And now no one scolds me as they have come to understand my point.


Then i got the Overdrive magazine which was the 100 th issue and in those days magazines had much better content than today. I remember straight away turning the page
to extreme test. The test was done by Mr. Vikrant Singh and the title was "THE EXORCIST".
The exorcist:-


Image courtesy :- Overdrive magazine 100th issue scanned.
The magazine has the extreme with Vikrant singh astride scrapping the knees
on a wide sweeping turn. Thats it i am sold on it.

The test had the tester singing praises on the engine which had power all through the rev range and also the chassis
and brakes complimenting the bike. I thought that did Hero did so much of difference in the engine tuning as i had ridden a unicorn which was very good but was not
punchy.

But the real difference i felt was in the same magazine 24 hour road test of the extreme:-




Then in that same magazine there was a 24 hour test ride on the extreme with the pulsar 150 and apache 150. the test was conducted on the pune mumbai expressway starting
from the A1 plaza from katraj tunnel till panchghani market before making a U-turn. The test was conducted with day and night encompassing 24 hours.




Some of the comments on the bikes are:-



The first page of the 24 hour ride.


The second page of the test.


"Throttle action is textbook crisp, immediate power delivery punctuating the free revving nature of the Xtreme engine".




" The apache is a sure footed mountain pony compared to the Arabian stallion that the CBZ!"



" Insanely fast! The xtreme gorges on speed like beast unleashed after long captivity. Especially after crossing 100, it feels fiercer as the needle takes no time
to climb to 120 kph. The fun never ceases and the bike looks promising even after reaching 130 on speedo".

" While the engine does feel harsh at top end, responses at higher end of rev band are accompanied by full bodied punches. Tyson would be proud of the intensity with
which this 150 cc 4-stroker delivers bushels of power:.



And the winner is:-







These are some of the comments that the tester used during the 24 hour road test. The winner of the test was Extreme and with a great margin.



Ok so those that have not read the test can read here and rejoice. I have scanned all the pages and posted.

Also another photo which is a wallpaper material:-


BAT OUT OF HELL:-



IMAGE COURTESY:- INTERNET AND SCANNED PAGES OF OVERDRIVE MAGAZINE 100 TH ISSUE.

Will post rest next time as soon as mods approve it.