I was riding a C-ABS model and frankly I was not impressed with the braking. It was just good.
The Ninja 250R braking is amazingly sharp!

haha. nothing brakes as brilliantly as the N250R. NOTHING!


wow. serial number 001. and u canned your booking.

just curious... does everyone who cancels their booking get their money back?

or does that go to the Honda kitty?

haha. nothing brakes as brilliantly as the N250R. NOTHING!

wow. serial number 001. and u canned your booking.

just curious... does everyone who cancels their booking get their money back?

or does that go to the Honda kitty?

Hi Guys,

Just got back from a test drive on the Honda CBR-ABS at Kun Honda, Adyar, Chennai. These guys have been postponing the display bike date for a very long time, and I finally got the good news on saturday from the dealer that the display bike is available and I can come take a test drive on Monday.

Needless to say, i spent very restless two days ( I know it's sad, but what can I say, I am addicted to it.) I informed my boss in the morning itself that I will be leaving from work 1 hour early. Was eagerly waiting for the clock to hit 5 p.m, cudn't wait a minute longer than 4:45. So i left office and started for the dealership.

Reached the dealership, and there stood the beauty in all its splendor, a red std-cbr for display. Just stood there spell bound, admiring the beauty for a couple of minutes. Then politely walked upto the reception and in all humbleness asked her, "Can i please get a test ride?". And she goes "Sorry sir! It's only from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. It's closed now" . This was where I was getting a little bit pissed, but I could still be pushed. So again in all due respect I told her that the timing was not informed to me when I called to check at 3 in the afternoon. At this point I was redirected to the sales guy, and by now I was infuriated. It was almost like you walked into the bedroom for your first night and they tell you it cannot happen . He asked me to come back tomorrow, I shouted at him, if that was the case then why the hell did they call me up and ask me to come take a test drive. And when I called up the showroom, the receptionist didn't inform me about the time and I live around 40 kms away. He got the nerve to ask me "Who told you that on the phone sir?(Regarding the timing)" Red in the face, I answered, "Am i supposed note down the name of each and every receptionist that attends the calls to your showroom? Can i talk to your manager?" . They both backed down now, and asked me to wait for a couple of minutes and finally I was getting the respect I deserved. They made me sit down, while they brought the bike from the godown.

First things I noticed, the beat is very feeble, calm and quiet. Almost makes it very hard to listen unless revved, which I guess is expected from any bike, but we all know, how often we have such little comforts :P.

The bike was a bit heavy, (I own a pulsar 200, so any comparison is made in reference to that), bit heavy easy but only until I shifted the gear and revved it though. I didn't want to take any risks , so I started off slowly, as slowly as I could. The gear shifts seamlessly , the console looks so attractive , that at times it goes to the extent of distracting you. The rear view mirrors protrude a tad bit longer to my liking, and they seem to be around a mile away from the *cockpit(replace this word with whatever u feel appropriate). The mirrors itself were small, I didn't try to adjust the rear views, but they were giving me a decent view of the rear side, (not great, but yeah decent...definitely not as bad as a P220's atleast). Now we entered a road with rubble but with a clear stretch for 50 metres and I wanted to see how this bike accelerated. I forgot to mention this to the pillion rider. Result, he almost flew off the bike,(I was in second gear btw and was accelerating in the third). He held on dearly by holding the grab rail, which seem to have done a good job. Inference:- The bike accelerates pretty well even from 2nd to 3rd and not just the initial jerk and slow pickup which is the trademark of most bikes.

One more point to be noted here, I was very skeptical of the bikes quality when reading through the entirety of this thread, where many a opinions have been given on the poor quality of the plastics and how ill-fitted they came. Just to test this, I put my full weight on the grab-rail and exerted as much pressure as I could ( I am not kidding, I weigh 68 kilos) They didnt as much as waver or try to give into tensile stress, IMO they were quite sturdy and unless you are planning to make somebody sit on the grabs itself, they should perform just fine. The plastic fairing fit perfectly and when checked with the naked eye and thumb, nothing seemed to be moving. The maximum speed I reached was around 80 kmph, and there were absolutely no vibrations until that speed, cannot comment on what happens afterwards.

After the initial mishap, I thought I should warn the guy this time, and told him I am going to test the breaks now, So hold on. And I hit the breaks as hard as I could at 80, with absolutely no consideration for the road,(the reviews about the ABS have instilled that confidence, what can i say) and I must say friends, they live upto the reviews. The road I was driving on was tarmac, and even though the front tyre was a bit angled, it still stopped dead without showing any sign of giving in.

Another thing to watch out for , is the reaction of other people on the road, when they come head to head with this bike. I was driving in a single lane road where traffic is allowed from both the sides, and whenever I would enter the road, people would stop , stare and let me pass.

In my opinion, Honda has got a winner here... and I am more than happy about the investment I am making. Sorry if this is a bit too long for your liking, but then again, if you really love the bike and wanted to know another bikers honest opinion, I don't think you will hate me for it . Anything else that I have left uncovered and would want my opinion on, kindly post...

Ride safe

Dear proud CBR owners, might I request you if possible, to post pictures of CBR and R15 shot side by side...just curious to compare their proportions

Are you still going for the CBR250????

No Idea

Get an IDEA ..

Congrats jitu. Do you mind sharing your waiting list number ? Would like to know when i get the call.

So am I after these 'banned' comparisons