Finally...Test Rode the beauty...

After a long wait, finally yesterday i got to get the baby CBR beneath my a**, though for a short while..... the guys from Dream Honda called up to inform bout the test ride... bunked office for a couple of hours n went to the showroom...

About the bike, it was pretty impressive.... well, for a guy who has been riding a Yamaha Gladiator for the past 4 yrs, this bike is a quantum leap... i was more than happy with the acceleration it had... ( naturally i wud compare it wid my current ride).. in second gear i was touching 60 -65, n the bike kept on asking for more revs...

I have evn ridden the ninja, but i feel CBR wud be much easier to ride in the city than the Ninja coz of its better low end torque..
Clutch is light n crisp n gearbox is silk smooth....
The engine was sounding a bit rough when i ws ripping the bike, but that's becoz the bike was not run-in n it had only 80kms on the odo.

Handling is awesome... since i had gone in the afternoon, there wasn't much traffic...n i ws swaying the bike in between the white lane markers on the road & the bike was obeying my orders beautifully. I was able to take turns at pretty steep angles n the tyres stuck to the tarmac like leeches... very good handling n its pretty agile as well...

though its some 168 odd kgs, it feels very light wen riding,n is very much flickable ( just like my gladi )

The cockpit does look a bit small wen compared to the ninja's but the LCD screen carries all the needed info which is pretty easy to read... analogue meters on the ninja look ancient wen compared to the CBR's digital display..

Though it was a short test ride, I was very happy with the bike I chose to be my next.. the baby CBR didn't disappoint me at all... Also, it delivers beautifully what this bike is meant to do... Its not exactly a superbike, n u can't expect a 250cc 4 stroke to deliver a superbike like performance..

Honda has done a great job by giving such a versatile bike at such an affordable price.. Hope they start delivering the bikes soon...

Which dealer?

Hey man when are u getting your bike? Dream hardly seems to be getting deliveries.

Oh wow! So the TD have started in Bangalore!
Even today evening when I called up Sapphire, they said they've not got permission from Honda to start giving TD. And Sapphire is the one who gave the display bikes to Dream Honda.
Gonna call them tomorrow and screw them...

+1 to this... its shocking and overcharging shall not be allowed. If bought from these dealers can the servicing be done at authorised service centres ? Or they will deny that ??

There is no mail id to escalate to honda about these issues just phone numbers of regional offices. They may decide to act or not in that case as there will be no proof of such complaints. I wonder if global honda website has such procedures for logging complaints.

It's strange that bangalore being the first place to get display bikes is not giving test drives where as hyderabad which received the bikes very late started deliveries and test drives on the same day they got the bikes.

HI friends, I see lot of people here showing anger over sub dealers or so called unauthorized seller. But in my experience they have been a better deal always than the authorized showroom.

The price of the bike is always lower perhaps may be because of competition and so is the delivery time.

In 2006 HH showroom quoted me 83500 for karizma with waiting period of 20 days. I bought it for 79500 and bike delivered in 3 days from chauhan motors, Asalfa mumbai (which apparently is closed now)

same back in 2004 with my pulsar.

I guess since CBR is the new chick in society people are trying to ground out a little profit. This wont be the case with other bikes

Its not regarding sub dealers. Its regarding the the transferring of bikes to illegal/unauthorized dealers, who quotes around 50K additional to MSRP; which are suppose to be delivered to legally booked customers.

Centralized booking is much better. Bajaj PBK used this for Ninja booking, where customers were asked to register the booking online from the PBK offices and they will provided the print out of the details with the booking numbers.

+1 to that..

YouTube - Honda CBR 250R video - Honda CBR 250 cc bike for India video review

Called up Saphire Honda just now....

Me: "Hello, have you started the test rides of CBR 250?"
Guy: "No sir, it hasn't started yet".
Me: "Why? other showrooms are giving test rides already"
Guy: "No sir, no showroom in bangalore is giving test rides"
Me: "My friend just took a test ride from Dream Honda Whitefield"
Guy: "Really sir? Well let me check and call you back"

WTF??

Same thing happened. I just called up Sapphire and he said he'll return a call to me in 10 mins.


Oh, any by the way, CBR 250R has even started appearing on the US eBay websites.
And here in Bangalore, not even started deliveries in showrooms.
Honda : CBR | eBay
Honda : CBR | eBay
Honda : CBR | eBay

Is is US manufactured or exported from India?

AFAIK, production of CBR 250R happens only in India and Thailand.
Many in the US have started getting their delivery. I've seen couple of pics from them and it has IRC tyres. I'm assuming that those are exported from Thailand to US.

Its Telugu actress Illeana.
Nops, its made in Thailand and exported to the US.