I never meant or even said that I dont like the engine roar.. but what I dislike is the undue vibes that many bikes have at higer revs.. I m not saying Duke is not a good bike.. If u like naked bikes and can do without a
pillion seat.. Duke is ur answer to the need for a good performance bike..
But you have to accept it feels a bit harsh..

Just to add to this.. CBR 150R's exhaust note is quite sporty esp. at higher revs.. but there is no hint of harshness or undue stress on the engine..
now to me thats refinement

PS. I may have gone for the Duke if it had a better pillion seat.

My take was just on perception, the way you mentioned no stress on engine, these things are relative and in your view engine noise/roughness is the criteria to measure them. Others may not go by the same yard stick!

What works for me, might not work for you thats all..

CBR meet my requirement so I bought it and am very satisfied..

I'm damn sure that's the case & that's the point I tried explaining even in the first post, perhaps you realized it a bit late.

nope my first post was directed towards who said Honda CBR 150 is only for honda fanboys.. Thats what i meant to contradict and refute..

I have always had this realization coz. I was very clear about my needs
so, I made my choice accordingly because INMO r15 and duke are great bikes but they fail to fulfill my criteria thats all...

Right, feels exactly like my own GS150R which is however an epitome of refinement at highest speeds, there are some vibes from footpegs and handles within 7500-8500 rpms(also on my GS) and then there is none beyond that.The engine sounds busy but the handlebars and footpegs wont give you a massage for free on the Duke.

Next,what good would a large pillion seat serve on a sports bike ?

One pillion is good enough for Duke, overweight pillions and triple carrying is not what sportbikes are meant for.
Duke makes a point that real sportsbikes are not ridden by people who are riding pillion.

I have ridden the CBR150R and it felt nowhere to what the 250R is-torque laden...............And in comparison to the Duke, the duke is even more fun and exciting.

I have agreed with the refinement even before you have mentioned it, coz I know what is refinement when I am the owner of a Suzuki GS150R.

The Duke feels tough,planted,flawless and the CBR is all about refinement........................as much the way I felt for the GS150R and CB Unicorn respectively.

CBR does have some difficulty in justifying its price tag. But its a one time payment. And its not outrageously high either. Though going by current competition, from R15, Duke, 250R I feel it should be priced around 1 lac mark. After all its a do it all machine rather than completely focused R15, or duke or cbr250r(touring).

There is always a trade off between torque and power..

So, sports bikes will go for higher power and tourers will go for more torque.. So no point expecting more torque from a sports bike..

CBR has a track oriented frame, pretty good brakes and rubber
Not to forget the superb top end.. All the fun is at the top end
6k rpm+ and the bike is a gem beyond 7.5-8K rpm all the way
upto the redline..

So, below that i.e 6k rpm its pretty much unicorn or GS150R if you like..

But thats not the point its a sports bike and it has all it needs

excellently rigid chassis
Grippy Rubber and Solid Brakes
Good Top End

Holy mother of God, how did i ever miss this post
Brilliantly put there sir. Atleast somebody here got their basics right
The first bold part nailed it. CBRs have always had the upper hand as far as ride comfort goes which dates all the way back to the old Fireblade and the 600RRs.
The last bold part, unfortunately not many people have an engineering background and not many people have had to build custom motorbikes to know how it all works. What was hilarious before the launch was people saying commuters have more torque than the 150R. Ofcourse they will have more torque. Commuters are meant to carry people/load all the time and you need loads of torque to compensate that weight unlike a track bike where ur only bothered about getting off the line and keeping the bike up in higher rpms. Not saying Torque isnt required on a track bike here though.
This is one of the reasons why the 250R has midrange pull. The 250R was not built as a track bike. It was built for people to carry heavy luggages while touring comfortably without the need for frequent gear shifts at higher speeds. That is why they are called "Sports Tourers". If i were to be cruising at 80kmph all day, i would get myself a basic "Tourer" something on the likes of a Bullet.


TADA! You Sir nailed it to the point and this is specifically why the 150R is not a focussed tourer or even billed as one. Even Honda advertises it as a track bike and rightly so.

Yes, I agree that Duke and CBR150R generically belong to their own segments.
But in our Indian market Duke is more cc, more power , more rideability in comparison to the CBR150R when it comes at a price where both would be judged..............to the average Indian buyer pricing is the only segment which matters.

Moreover Duke 200 being a streetfighter with that straight handlebars even appeal to some enthusiasts more than a supersports.This trend is from the international markets, and not only in India.

So we got Aprillia's Tuono V4R a streetfighter with the Aprillia RSV superbike engine.

In Switzerland, they sell a naked variant of Suzuki GSXR1000 which is called Suzuki Virus- they too have the same engine in same state of tune.

Honda themselves have the CB1000R with the Fireblade engine, though in a different state of tune.

Streetfighter segment is there because, people cannot ride a Supersports everywhere and on a daily basis.

So buyers of the bikes at that price range is aware of this too.



Its highly billed even for what it is in comparison to the competition, and when it comes to daily rides- since we are unfortunate that there is a scarcity of tracks in India - others have something better to offer than a fully focused track bike.

CBR150R is a good bike but for me it is an average buy at that price.

Yes thats the point people seem to miss time and again.. crying over low torque..

I would always want a bike to be easy to live with.. esp. If I own a single one.

Phew.. long post dude.

Yeah thats the point Duke and CBR 150R are different bikes altogether..
I know about streetfighters and Supersports Bikes and how they are different.. But then it would be futile to say One is better than the other.

And please leave the average indian buyer aside..because he would rather buy a Nano than a 150cc supersports machine..
We are talking about enthusiasts here and lets think along those lines...

Did you say "others have something better to offer than a fully focused track bike."

Like I said its a matter of personal taste and I m beginning to get tired of people comparing bikes across segments

And i think its naive to compare bikes based on specs sheets alone. If to you a good bike is one that has bigger numbers on the specs sheet then, God help you.

CBR 150R maybe be an average buy in your books but then try to remember its your opinion not necessarily a fact.

PS. Different strokes for Different Folks

Theory aside, let me share my real life experience; however, the motorcycle in my case is Yamaha R15 version 1 (V1). It was one of my friends’ motorcycle. Version 1 R15s had lower torque compared to the current version and more often it was considered to be the motorcycle’s negative point. I have had number of opportunities to ride my friend’s V1 in Delhi traffic. I really don’t know how but I never found it lower torque figure to be a bother in traffic. I just found the power/torque to be very usable and I just discovered that more than relying on torque alone, I have to be in the correct gear to use the available power. In my experience, I found V1’s third gear very handy in city traffic. The third gear feels perfect in many situations and most times I just had to play with my right wrist, no clutch! And I must mention that I believe that most motorcycles (if not all) have one gear in particular that suits number of situations.

These high revving motorcycles that make more power higher up in the rev range are indeed not that bad for traffic. The thing to understand here is the minimal use of gears to enjoy riding in traffic. However, continually down shifting while riding in traffic is something that seems to be, by-default, associated with anyone riding a sport/track oriented motorcycle, this seems to be the nature of many of us! Why should it be always assumed that a person riding such a motorcycle would always be in a higher gear and will always end up downshifting if he ever needs the power instantly? These are high revving motorcycles and CBR150R, I believe, is the highest and quickest revving 150cc motorcycles available in India today. It revs higher and quicker than R15 (which was previously the highest and quickest revving 150cc in India). I think CBR150R can be great fun in traffic. Since it’s a high revving motorcycle, it actually gives us more room/time to play in one gear than to either up-shift or down-shift quickly. Good gearing is also very important here. One example is KTM Duke 200. It has a very good torque and high revving engine as well. Actually termed as the best street fighter upto 200cc in India by many, the gearing is just too short that it actually stressed at speeds around 120kmph. That is sad for a motorcycle that revels in its specs of 25bhp, some 19nm of torque and 126kgs weight!! CBR150R seems to have better gear ratios and I am sure it doesn’t feel equally stressed at higher speeds. Why people ignore these points about CBR and KTM?!

Now just like in the example given above in the first paragraph, we need to be in the right gear. And I don’t think finding the right gear for different situations is a very difficult task. We just need to spend some time with the motorcycle. High revving nature can actually be a very thing many times. Regarding torque, I don’t think it is non-existent in CBR150R!! CBR’s engine is more robust than R15’s, it’s higher revving nature coupled with dohc setup gives it an edge in top end performance.

Motorcycles designed more for city riding are always considered a better choice for city riding. And I do not believe that their more torque friendly engines are the primary reasons for them to be the top choice for city riding. More comforting rider ergonomics, better pillion comfort, more fuel efficiency are equally big reasons. Now make a sportbike comfortable enough that won’t make the rider and pillion curse the ergonomics and it would be a very good choice for city riding as well. And that’s one of the strong points of CBR150R. Some posts in the past are actually funny to read where some members have tried to convey that being a sportbike CBR150R doesn’t have to be comfortable for either the rider or pillion. True, it doesn’t have to. But when it is, appreciate it please. There’s nothing wrong in making a comfortable sportbike. For most part, it is not ridden on track. Some members have even gone to the lengths to actually declare that the DOHC setup in a 150cc single is useless! Wow!! Talk about examples of being a smart ass!

I believe CBR150R is the best choice for anyone who wants a 150cc sportbike but a comfortable one and with a fantastic engine. The cribbing on torque of CBR150R is unnecessarily being pulled like a chewing gum when there are more positive things to discuss about it! This post is as per my experience on different motorcycles. I am not really sure to how many it is going to make sense!

In my dio, 8.6 Nm is really enough in city traffic conditions. So in CBR150,the torque(12.66Nm) is really suffice for city if we get the bike in the right gear.

ITs not good to compare a CVT to Bike, but still the torque figures are fine for the city traffic.

Its not the torque figure but the RPM at which it's peak torque is reached counts. For example Latest Yamaha Gladiator has a peak torque of 10.xxNM (which happens to be a sport(y)s Bike) And the humble Suzuki Zeus/Heat/SS+ which has also similar torque figures.Yamaha hits its peak torque at 6500RPM so in city rides you'll find yourself in smaller gears and slipping clutch but the benefit is that you can stay in the same gear and take the bike in to a better speed and don't have to up-shift soon(IMO This is one reason which causes Gladies to give low mileage while it is capable of providing 60+).
On the other hand Suzuki achieves peak torque at Rpm as low as 3000 enabling you to stay on higher gears and keeps your hand off the clutch but the downside is that revving hard in any gear other than the top is useless only sound will increase bike won't move any faster therefore the thrill to ride factor is less.

The point is that Sport bikes focus on joy of riding while commuters focus on getting there with less hassles.

Definitely,not only for me but everyone......a better bike is the one with bigger numbers on specs sheet - Fireblade is definitely better than the CBR150R, and they are in the same segment of Supersports bikes.

Not all average Indian buyer loves or need a box on four wheels.

For example in my locality, the owner of a grocery shop has got himself a Duke200 and also a Medical representative has got himself a CBR150R.

The grocery shop owner used to ride a Rajdoot 175 earlier and the MR used XCD125.Both loves the machines they upgraded into and Nano was never an option- they prefer Beat or Figo when it comes to a car where the family can ride together.

And talking of enthusiasts, versatility always counts- on some day they would burn the track and on other days they would rather go off-road or into hill climbs.