Bike of the Year CBR 250 by Overdrive

[veryhiphop]

Bike Of The Year: Honda CBR250R
This is the 250cc motorcycle the Indian masses need right now, a desirable blend of good looks, forgiving handling, real-world ride quality matched to a torque-laden, powerful engine. The CBR has gathered nothing but superlatives in its Indian innings and it bridges the gap between the small displacement sporty motorcycles and the much larger CBU motorcycles with wonderful performance at a reasonable price, a winning combination.The Ceeber also wins our Compact Bike Of The Year and also the Viewers Choice For Bike of The Year Awards.



2012 CNBC-TV18 OVERDRIVE Awards winners revealed - Overdrive

[Samarth 619]

I wish it was a multicylinder... it would've got some serious respect. This bike has enough controversies to its credit however:

1. the quality/ suspension/ paint issues that some people talk about,

2. the name- when it looks like a VFR 1200R, and its a tourer like its bigger brother, why dilute the brand name "CBR"?
Would it be fair when headlines are made "CBR got beaten in acceleration by 'something' 50cc's lesser"...?

Had they used "VFR" name, I suppose expectations would've been lesser. CBR meant fast racing replicas, atleast till yesterday.

Not to raise questions, its a great bike, but can anyone guarantee Honda's full effort into it? (Full effort in terms of handling, suspension, braking, etc.?)

[kishoremuthu]

Had they used "VFR" name, I suppose expectations would've been lesser. CBR meant fast racing replicas, atleast till yesterday.

CBR doesn't mean Racing Replica. in CBRxxx(x)RR this RR stands for Racing Replica. Hope you know what VFR stands for. And AFAIK CBR prefix is given for fully faired bikes from Honda, CBF for semi-faired and CB for naked bikes. But I do accept that CBR 250R looks more like a VFR than a CBR.

[HH_HUNK]

I wish it was a multicylinder... it would've got some serious respect. This bike has enough controversies to its credit however:

1. the quality/ suspension/ paint issues that some people talk about,

2. the name- when it looks like a VFR 1200R, and its a tourer like its bigger brother, why dilute the brand name "CBR"?
Would it be fair when headlines are made "CBR got beaten in acceleration by 'something' 50cc's lesser"...?

Had they used "VFR" name, I suppose expectations would've been lesser. CBR meant fast racing replicas, atleast till yesterday.

Not to raise questions, its a great bike, but can anyone guarantee Honda's full effort into it? (Full effort in terms of handling, suspension, braking, etc.?)

I would like to answer you brother,

1) I dont have any such issues with my CBR

2) CBR stands for City Biking and Racing (Apt name for the said 250R) while VFR stands for V4 Racing, a concept developed Honda similiar to its discontinued VTEC concept. Its an engine to be precise --> CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Just coz it looks like VFR1200F, you cannot name it a VFR. 250R has fairings similar to the Fireblade. Hence the name CBR250R (In my opinion)

No offence bro, just my 2 cents

CBR doesn't mean Racing Replica. in CBRxxx(x)RR this RR stands for Racing Replica. Hope you know what VFR stands for. And AFAIK CBR prefix is given for fully faired bikes from Honda, CBF for semi-faired and CB for naked bikes. But I do accept that CBR 250R looks more like a VFR than a CBR.

I agree with your first point but I would make amendments to the second point. CBF stands for City Biking and Fun. The original Unicorn is actually named CBF150 and dubbed as Unicorn just like the Fireblade which is actually CBR1000RR. I agree 250R looks similar to the VFR1200F but its doesnt have a V4 engine to be named as the VFR.

[kishoremuthu]

I agree with your first point but I would make amendments to the second point. CBF stands for City Biking and Fun. The original Unicorn is actually named CBF150 and dubbed as Unicorn just like the Fireblade which is actually CBR1000RR. I agree 250R looks similar to the VFR1200F but its doesnt have a V4 engine to be named as the VFR.

From Indian stable all the naked bikes are prefixed CB.
CB (Unicorn, dazzler, twister)
CBF (Stunner)
correct me if I am wrong.

thanks!!

[Nithesh]

I wish it was a multicylinder... it would've got some serious respect. This bike has enough controversies to its credit however:

1. the quality/ suspension/ paint issues that some people talk about,

Not to raise questions, its a great bike, but can anyone guarantee Honda's full effort into it? (Full effort in terms of handling, suspension, braking, etc.?)

1) Let me guess you are basing these ideas from the first lot owners who reported of paint/quality issues?
Because personally i dont see anything wrong with my bike(or any new lot owners) after abusing the heck out of her for more than 2 months on/off road.
Perhaps if you were following the CBR thread lately, Honda has dispatched replacement parts for the "rusting bolts" replaced the grab rails, etc for the first lot bikes free of cost. The spares are now available in most cities.
And what is wrong with the suspension? The front is too soft? the rear is adjustable. I live in a city where potholes are the size of asteroid created crators.. and i dont feel any of them anymore

2) For the full effort part, i am not sure if ur aware of it but Kawasaki took 2 decades of trial and error on the Ninja250R to become what it is today. The only reason why you dont see people complaining on the Ninja these days is because the Ninja has been through it all in the past and what you get in the market now is a "problem sorted" machine.
But the CBR is just barely a year old and has a brand new engine from Honda. Give it a few years of development and then complain.

Its a 250cc and it serves its purpose of being a sports tourer.
In terms of performance, if you dyno the 250cc bikes in our country right now you will see that the RWHP for the CBR is at 22.6hp @ 8500rpm whereas the RWHP for the Ninja250R is 26.4hp @ 11000rpm
a mere 4 hp difference between the two. The Ninja still suffers from heavy transmission loss.
The 0-60mph sprint difference between the two bikes is just 0.7-0.8 second (7.9s vs 8.6s)
The only thing lacking in a CBR is higher topend but for a country that has very little of the good roads i think 94.xx mph is good enough.

And let me be a bit blunt here :
I remember people were excited to see the CBR150R three years ago when it raced side by side with the R15 at Chennai's racetrack for a zigwheels comparo.
The Honda CBR150. Can it beat the Yamaha R15? Page - 3| Zigwheels.com
Everybody back then said "wow i wish the CBR150R would enter our market soon and i dont mind buying it for the same price tag as R15"
Two years later you get a CBR250R that is priced a little higher from the R15 and now people complain about not having "twin cylinders".
Two years down the line if the CBR250R sports a twin(thats a Big IF) people will start saying .. "if only it had an inline 4"
As years pass by so do people's expectations.

[aargee]

I wish it was a multicylinder... it would've got some serious respect

Don't know how Samarth; R15 has enough respect though its a single cylinder. Can you help understand this pls?

1. the quality/ suspension/ paint issues that some people talk about

Those are past; HMSI has addressed all the CBR's in the old batch & I guess going forward they're going to have a good standards to add more VFM.

2. the name- when it looks like a VFR 1200R, and its a tourer like its bigger brother, why dilute the brand name "CBR"?
Would it be fair when headlines are made "CBR got beaten in acceleration by 'something' 50cc's lesser"...?

A marketing gimmick or something

Had they used "VFR" name, I suppose expectations would've been lesser. CBR meant fast racing replicas, atleast till yesterday.

Well not necessary; VFR 250 to me should have dual clutch + 2 way gear shifts & the cost increases proportionately & probably land up even more expensive product than N250R.

Not to raise questions...in terms of handling, suspension, braking, etc.?)

Handling is good, suspension is excellent; just do a offroading & you'll know you can keep up with RE's; braking & tires are just two pathetic things gone wrong with the engineering!!!

Nitesh - Got my replacement kit done yesterday at ASC

[Nithesh]

braking & tires are just two pathetic things gone wrong with the engineering!!!

This i agree.... i am yet to feel the brakes go bad though.
Switch to Pirelli Sport Demons.
Been hearing nice things about those tyres on the web lately

[satyenpoojary]

VFR - V Four Roadster. Still think that the name should have been VFR250?

[Digital_shubhi]

Don't know how Samarth; R15 has enough respect though its a single cylinder. Can you help understand this pls?

Yes, because its a 150cc bike and not a 250cc like CBR.

Although CBR is good enough !

[pulsar_flame]

yes well deserved award ! so its ktm 200 next year ?

[Samarth 619]

I'm not saying it doesn't deserve respect. It does. And I'm aware that Honda is making replacements for defective parts, albeit through a different source. That's very good on their part.

I for one, stay in a small city with enough empty roads. So, its natural for me to love high revvers making use of every cc to raise the revs. I took a Karizma to 140 kmph, my P180 to 131 kmph (gearing modified), and came back in 1 piece. This is within the city, not on a highway.

So, I admit that maybe in the reply I was a bit biased against CBR. Don't like Karizma much too. Can't love tourers, I don't know why! Street's and RR's below 600cc are more my type because nowadays they tour acceptably fine too.

Yes, I admit its a good tourer & off roader and I saw it in action on my Sambhar Lake's trip. Devvrat bro has one.

For the full effort part, i am not sure if ur aware of it but Kawasaki took 2 decades of trial and error on the Ninja250R to become what it is today. The only reason why you dont see people complaining on the Ninja these days is because the Ninja has been through it all in the past and what you get in the market now is a "problem sorted" machine.
But the CBR is just barely a year old and has a brand new engine from Honda. Give it a few years of development and then complain.

Engine is fine, but it doesn't need 20 years to get to a bike with great brakes, excellent handling, etc. Yes, it has a softer setup and that's where things get un-complainable... It is made for street and not race track, and so this braking, handling, etc. is sadly justifiable.

All I'm saying is that it could be a lot better bike, could've been sharper... They could have got the 90's CBR 250RR back and we would have loved it like anything!

[aargee]

Samarth - You don't get the point!!! If every bike was made sharper, then we will not have choices right? Show me two bikes exactly with same features, same specs & same pricing (even the W650 & Triumph Bonneville are different). If there were two alike products, then obviously we wouldn't have choices for riders.

[kaynmantis]

I believe, CBR250 deserves the honor. Should I vote for one today among all bikes under production in India, it will be the CBR250. However I have issue with the 'bike of the year' thing. I wish they have two awards. One for newly launched, and another for all bikes under production. This way we can see how long a bike can stay on top till its dethroned. Besides it'll truly be an honor to stay on top for couple of years.

If I'm not mistaken, bike of the year means only newly launched. In this scenario IF only one bike happens to be launched, it'll be the winner.

[chicmagnet]

I'm not saying it doesn't deserve respect. It does. And I'm aware that Honda is making replacements for defective parts, albeit through a different source. That's very good on their part.

I for one, stay in a small city with enough empty roads. So, its natural for me to love high revvers making use of every cc to raise the revs. I took a Karizma to 140 kmph, my P180 to 131 kmph (gearing modified), and came back in 1 piece. This is within the city, not on a highway.

So, I admit that maybe in the reply I was a bit biased against CBR. Don't like Karizma much too. Can't love tourers, I don't know why! Street's and RR's below 600cc are more my type because nowadays they tour acceptably fine too.

Yes, I admit its a good tourer & off roader and I saw it in action on my Sambhar Lake's trip. Devvrat bro has one.


Engine is fine, but it doesn't need 20 years to get to a bike with great brakes, excellent handling, etc. Yes, it has a softer setup and that's where things get un-complainable... It is made for street and not race track, and so this braking, handling, etc. is sadly justifiable.

All I'm saying is that it could be a lot better bike, could've been sharper... They could have got the 90's CBR 250RR back and we would have loved it like anything!

Someone is gonna get a hurt real bad .

CBR isn't what many imagined it would be but it still does a lot of things right for a majority of the buyers which in essence makes it worthy of being chosen as one of the best bikes currently available India!