^^^ I'm not sure if R15 had a big role to play in these numbers.. Yamaha launched other models in commuter segment which are doing decent numbers.

Its CBR vs R15, not Duke or PulsarNS..

Cbr150 is a headon competition to R15v2.0..

Duke is noway concerned.. Besides,it has issues with FE and it isnt even tourer friendly..not even on the spec sheet.. Ofcourse,there's a big melodrama on the Duke thread about it being "a performance bike", "1800+bookings within the 1st 10 days" and "we dont care about FE,we want fun".. But I'd really like to see the faces of these guys when they're refuelling and the price bar shows "Rs78/litre"..

Some guys are buying the Duke to commute to office.. Really now?! :O Hope they have a white collar job to keep that smile running..

Back to Cbr150, its got great looks, enough power, better pillion seat, better sitting posture and ofcourse a great FE. Why wouldnt it sell?
As for its price-tag, its 1.2lac OTR not ex-show. And even that is a speculation. I'm sure HMSI will play smart and price it just 1 notch below the R15.

+100 I hope HMSI prices it properly

Include Service and heavy spares cost...

Agree. The two Japanese mini rockets will open out the market even more. Nice to see some variety and added options to the consumer.


I do not agree with you on this part. The fuel economy of the Duke is a part that has been thrown around by the media and some hearsay. Why not wait for a proper road test or some genuine user feedback?

The average fuel consumption of an R15 is around 30-35 KM/Lit..some get higher too but then do you really ride it at 60 KM/Hr just to get more FE? For that you can buy a Discover/Splendor/Boxer etc.

The ones buying a Duke to commute to office have a point where the natural abilities of the Duke will make it easier for them to reach the office than the cab they hire or the car that they drive.


How do you know about the FE of the CBR150? Media/hearsay...there has not been a single ride for the media in India too!!
How do you know about the sitting posture? power? better pillion seat?

Nothing against you, but try to be unbiased. Let the CBR come...all will be decided here after that.

Do you think Honda is going to price it cheap? Haven't you seen it/experienced it with the existing models?

No..price will be on higher side..i was referring to the service and spares cost...take a example of N250...bike cost is cheaper but the spares and service is a bomb on a pocket...same (i assume) will go for KTM....

A small difference here..the N250 is assembled in Pune whereas the Duke is manufactured here. One of the reasons why the Duke is available at this lip smacking price.

@ABikerAtHeart - Dude, there's a basic respect that all motorcycles made on this planet command (and not demand) no matter what make, what condition, what FE. So, no offence, but if I was at your place I wouldn't have used terms like melodrama et al. If FE is such a big issue, then we shouldn't be considering motorcycles other than the 100-110cc, when we are riding motorcycles like R15s, RTRs and Ninjas aren't we?

For your point between the CBR 150 and R15, totally a valid point because it's a direct competition in the same segment. Again, your point about the Duke 200 and the Pulsar NS not being a direct competition for the CBR 150 is also valid but not because some white collar dude can affort it's fuel or it has "issues with FE", but because these bikes belong to completely different genre. You won't be comparing a R1 with a FZ1.... would you or even a R15 with the Ninja 250 (minus the handling bit)

What @niranjanvaidya is saying has got weight if you think of it in the right mood

For reasons you like the r15 your gonna love the duke (HANDLING)
hope it will be better than hondas product anyday again IMO ;look the acceleration figures of the duke you ll definitely be tempted

Ok.. you booked R15, fine. But did it occur to you that perhaps some of them were refuelling cars at that very price, now that they will be doing that to a bike. Besides FE is not really a concern for a person who is spending about 1.5 lakh. Nobody buys a bike with FE as main concern when they are spending above 1 lakh. If that's the case, then perhaps he will be better off with Splendor/Twister/Discover. May be you can rethink about your booking and shift to YBR110/SS125 if you are really concerned with mileage.

If I'm not wrong, the peak Power and Torque figures are at a higher RPM in the CBR 150 R..

What difference does this make when compared to Baby R?

So many replies??? Ayiaah!!!

Lots of posts to reply but wish I had the laptop right now. Using phone,bare with me.


1stly, I love the Duke. Maybe for its alien headlamp that many call ugly, i call it perfected art. Maybe for the fat race-friendly tyres. That naked exo-skeleton like frame. Or maybe because some who took a test drive said 'its a Splendor with 10 times more power'. I fell in love on that very line.
I learnt motorcycling on a Splendor. I still ride a Splendor to office. Its the most crowded city in the world, i'd claim. And you just dont know the fun i have on a Splendor. It takes me to places my R15 cannot. That nimbleness,that flickability, simply superb.
Now I'm seated here, imagining the same drivability on more power,better suspension,better brake and alot more fun. I'm ought to be 'tempted', i'm ought to fall in love.

But again, juz cuz i can afford a 1.325lac bike,doesnt mean i wont be worried about its FE.
People the petrol prices are on cloud9 and if,God forbid, Congress wins the U.P. election there's an inevitable hike of 3-5rupees.

Someone in the neighbourhood got a superhot black Audi (was oogling at the looks,forgot to see the name) and its a diesel version. Whatever maybe the reasons to buy the Audi,he bought the diesel version only for its lower Rs/km. Even the petrol bunk guy was laughing.

As for the cbr150 and its features, well its a global product, the reviews about its handling and comfort have been up for ages on the world wide web. Beside,the cbr250 imparts much of its shape and a lil of its size to the younger brother,its easy to correlate.

So many called Duke ugly, please find your reading glasses and go through all the Duke related threads again. I'm sure "many" is minority in this case.

After reading your post, I can tell you one thing for sure, you don't understand what does "worrying for FE" mean. Let me ask you something that might make sense to you "When you started looking for bike, what was the most important criteria for you?" If you answer this question with "mileage" then I agree that you are worried for mileage and same goes for Audi owner in your example. If not and you just wanted some thing in 1.2 lakhs and then looked for x,y, z factors along with mileage, then you are least bothered about mileage. Please don't give this logic and tell me a guy buying Ninja 250 is also worried about mileage, that's the reason he didn't buy Ninja 650, makes sense?? You wanted to own something suitable to your stature, you can afford a 150cc bike costing over 1 lakh, you know it gives less mileage when compared to other 150cc bikes such as Unicorn/SZ, but still you went ahead and booked it and then you are saying FE worries me. Perhaps, with a clear mind if you read your own post you will go in splits laughing. Audi owner worried about mileage, never read anything funnier than that. He just had an option of lower running costs, he took it. I'm sure you would've done the same thing if you had an option of Diesel R15, it's common sense.

Sorry for the OT:
Dude refrain from directly abusing somthing based on some baseless reasons.You sound totaly rude.... and please dont used the FE part to target a brand. You hate Duke,you dont buy.... but dont take potshots on people buying it.
And saying about the Audi owner,do you know the price difference between a petrol and diesel model?You buy diesel for more torque.
And even if the petrol prices exceeds rs.100,that cant take a true enthusiast away from his passions.
My advise,if you hate somthing,please keep it within yourself. dont force on others.


BTW,no showroom here is ready to tell the expected price of the CBR. Hope it is kept under R15.

I will skip the FE part since it holds no significance at the moment (since we dont know the exact figures).

As to the above quoted text, the same global community labelled the CBR250R as a winner; maybe India is not included in the "Global Community".

If it was a winner, it would have trounced everything else plus, I'm not even considering the part where majority of CBR 250R owners are not extremely satisfied with their bike.

Just FYI...I have a CBR in my parking too...