Hero Honda CBZ

The Hero Honda CBZ was a motorcycle launched in early 1999 by Hero Honda, with an original Honda 156.8 cc engine. The styling of the bike was a scaled version of the Honda CB series.

The CBZ has an over-square engine with a Keihin slide type carburetor with accelerator pump. It has a larger spring operated nozzle to provide a richer fuel air mixture into the engine for better acceleration. An air injection to new emission standards, including Euro1.

CBZ
The bike was launched as Hero Honda CBZ in India. It was the first 156.6 cc engine bike of India and it also had TPFC (the first and last bike to get it in India) which gives a reasonable amount of boost by sending additional fuel into the engine when the throttle is opened. The model went unchanged more or less for five years. In 2004, a new variant called CBZ* (star) that replaced the sliding carburetor with a conventional CV carburetor, which increased the fuel-efficiency at the expense of power. The bike was discontinued after September 2005. The CBZ was followed after a gap of two years by the CBZ-Xtreme, which shared no parts with the CBZ, and had a 149 cc engine and five-speed gearbox.

CBZ Xtreme
CBZ Xtreme was the 150 cc successor of the Hero Honda CBZ. The bike was introduced in 2006. Except for a mild resemblance to the older CBZ's headlamp, the new model had little else in common.

The turn indicators have been integrated into the headlamp housing and the tail lamp cluster features a segmented stop and brake light section with the turn indicators built into a single unit that wraps around the brake light's bottom side. Also LEDs have been used replacing the conventional bulbs. The split hand grips for the pillion rider serves in providing a different look.

The CBZ Xtreme has an asymmetric instrument panel with carbon matte finish. There are analogue gauges, including a tachometer, speedometer and fuel gauge, in addition to high beam, turn and neutral indicators.

It was priced higher than the company's Achiever model. Nevertheless, this bike did not have a mono-shock suspension.

The bike had a major visual makeover in late 2008 and is the more expensive 150 cc offering from Hero Honda compared to the Hunk, which has the same power train.