Naveen, it is a strange thing that happened to you. I will call to my mechanic and will try to find out the reason for this.

If you disconnect the battery, I do not think the bike will be able to run. Karizma cannot run without battery, AFAIK.


Brake pads can worn out at 10k with heavy use. In general, the brake pads worn out around 15k.

Unicorn's brake pads are a direct fit too!

I suggest you to try ASK CBZ disc pads. I am using them and I am happy for them at just 100 bucks. Ask your friend to first try them and see the result, he can look for other options if he does not get satisfaction with them.

Give some three days for run-in for the pads and then estimate the braking effectiveness.

No. They are not direct fit.

Ravi, thanks. I'm surprised you're saying a Karizma wont run without a battery. I ran it for a day while the battery was being charged and it ran fine. I didn't run it much without the battery though - maybe some 15km total, mostly short hops.

At night, the bike ran fine but the lights were expectedly poor and I avoided revving the engine to prevent the bulbs from fusing.

Kick-starting wasn't an easy job though, it took 3 kicks on average to start each time. Each failed kick would result in that annoying clacking sound that the bike sometimes emits when turned off.

All in all, I'm kind of certain there's something wrong. Either the bike is not meant to be run without a battery or there's something wrong with my electricals.

Naveen, I just spoke with the HH mechanic and he told me most probably it would be earthing issue. Please check the earthing for the battery and also entire electrical system.

Karizma would not run without a battery. It needs at least a dead battery to run. Without battery it can run for around 15-20 km, but after that it would not run. Confirmed with the mechanic just now. I ran my Zma with a dead battery for a week when I gave my original battery for replacement under warranty.

^^Hope you aren't trying to kick the Zma to life like one would do with a Splendor, Uni etc. I struggled to use the kick starter for a couple of days, where i would try three times and then either succeed or fail

On harping about this 'problem', my dad offered to try starting her one morning. He did the regular, 5 kicks with the ignition off routine and on the first kick, the motor caught !
Turns out that, one must adopt a different approach to start the Zma. Depress the kick lever till you find that certain resistance and then instead of 'kicking' just depress the lever without using much force.
Kinda difficult to word the process im afraid
But i hope Ive made my point sufficiently clear. No electrical issues on your Zma IMO !

The Zma not being able to run without a battery is news. Why the 15kms grace or whatever ?
Nothing special changes/happens at the 15km mark

OF needs to come down and clear all our doubts out NOW !!

Maverick, I have heard about the method used by your father. Fount it to be effective. Only very few times I used kick start for my karizma in the last two years. I found that to be very easy and never faced any difficulty. It would start at least by third kick.

I take it that's an attempt at humour? Thanks for your valuable opinion!

sheesh! I didn't need to run the bike more than 15km. Is that so difficult to comprehend?

No, the bike suffers a meltdown and will become a twisted lump of metal and plastic at exactly 15.73km. Happy now?

The ZMA and for that matter almost all HH bikes need the battery in circuit, even if it is 'dead', at least as a ballast, for its generation/charging circuit. The bike can be run with it removed but the chances of damaging the charging coils and the ignition componentry is pretty high.

The bike taking three kicks to start is usually the result of a combo of a slightly dirty spark plug and a lean idling mixture setting. Why this should be an issue is what I fail to understand. Whether it starts in 1 kick (which it might when the engine is hot) or 2 or 3 need not be such a big cause for concern.

^^Same Ravi. And you're probably right about the earthing....remember it was the same with your bike during the g2g when we were there.

All right Mav...its your lucky day. I am actually in Himachal on a post GIR holiday with my family. But when you call...well how can I not be there

When you use a couple of free kicks (i.e. with the ignition switched off), you accumulate a bit of fuel/air mix inside the cylinder and this effectively richens the mixture for the third or fourth kick thats with the ignition on. Starting cold engines needs a richer mix than needed for idling. So...

And yes....you just let the weight of your leg take the kick lever down. The CDI ignition systems give a good fat spark at quite low rpm's and so the engine catches on.

^ same again Ravi...by the 3rd kick enough enrichening inside the combustion chamber for the engine to start easily.

I've used this method for years with the Chetak, CD100, RX100 and a few others... even now, I do this to the Victor during winter.

O-F & Ravi, thanks much. It certainly pays to know the bike is not meant to be run without a battery. It makes sense that circuitry could be damaged if this is done.

O-F, no biggie about the bike needing three kicks. Except that she starts in half a crank otherwise. Perhaps, as has been pointed out, there's a technique to it that I've not mastered (I almost never use the kick), but on every failed attempt, the bike would make that clacking-backfire kinda sound that seems to be a ZMA trademark, signaling that something is amiss. When that sound is made, you know that she's not gonna come to life. I do have considerable experience kick starting my RX though. Not that starting her was ever an issue.

I use an Iridium plug, so I'm assuming there's no issue with it being fouled. Also, all the bad behavior is a thing of the past, now that the battery has been reinstalled. I checked to make sure the cables weren't touching each other as well. (The positive lead was secure in that sheath thingie)

How do I check the earthing for the 'entire' electrical system? The main battery-to-ground cable is secure.

Whatever might have been my connotation brother, i certainly didn't quote you on the 15km aspect
It was Ravi's mechanic who said that the bike would run fine for about 15kms and then show signs of trouble. And THAT was the basis of my question.

Thanks for the extremely level-headed response btw...

Chill Maverick, Naveen might have missed your point there. I know he would make things right.

...KP...the oldies know this from the gut...the 'new' ones need the 'logic'.

you're welcome nirvan...

The 'clanking' is the starter motor 'clutch' disengaging. Normal sound. The 'backfire' sound is indicative of not enough fuel vapor to burn and as you rightly say...says loud n clear the engine won't start

True...the iridium's rule out fouling except when the engine is ingesting oil which is not in your bike's case.

The 'entire' earthing is the earthing of the battery lead with the frame. If the battery-ground connection is nice, clean and tight, then all is well there.

^^You've got PM !!
Your answer and my question could be put up here itself though, if you reckon it would be helpful to others too, sir