Ok XBHP is becoming very colorful with thick colorful typography these days. Maybe Deepavali special but as the thickness goes up its not very interesting.

on the bike: Multistranda replica looks very very good. That is the kind of bike we don't have and we need badly. Yeah of course I am not asking for Skyhook or semi active suspension and very advanced electronics.
Repeating at 3.5 L this will be a great buy. What is bad is HMSI's approach towards serious bikers. And localization. Need to see how HMSI will handle twins. (May be they will do the job in the plant where the V-Techs are made).

Any way I don't think all of these lineup will reach our shores. If its a CKD, may pale against upcoming bajaj offers. Else it will definitely see decent numbers in sales.

Problem is that Hondas profit margin is not as good as Bajaj's so they are busy making scooters for India(which sells in thousands every month).

I dont care whether I like it or not. But I would prefer,Honda launching somthing,than not launching anything. So just bring it on. And a price tag of 3L for non abs,is justifiable. Honda must have realized the upcoming KTM onslaught in 2013. It will definitely bring these bikes to India next year. And most importantly,the naked wont work in India,as long there is DUKE. So they should give all the priorities to the other 2. Would be a good upgrade from Impulse and CBR250 respectively.
But aye,we need a naked 250 though.

I am not talking about LAMS. I am talking about the EU, a much bigger market than Australia.

This is not an official source but gives a general idea about the new norms coming into force in UK in about 2 months from now.

New Motorcycle Licence Categories and restrictions from 19th January 2013.

Hmm that makes sense, but still, I too wonder why Honda prefers to be within the 150 kW/ton range. Are they increasing the weights just to provide more stability at high speeds?

Lets just say that the 200NS increased the weight to provide more stability at high speeds. Ended up selling for 30% less than Duke .

So , Duke 390 will not qualify for A2 License even if weighs 200kg!

Originally posted by aargee View Post

KTM bought better technology? Wow...a rebored 125cc cylinder? Inverted fork that keeps leaking? Alloy wheels that keep breaking on high run over potholes?
PS - Can you think of any reason as why KTM's 40+ odd percent was sold to BAL?
.

Every bike have its share of problems, especially when newly developed. A light Alloy wheel is not as strong as the heavy one (just like the FZ's). We cannot say Duke 390 is superior in tech especially when the CBR 500 got a pair of cylinders. But The frame, Swing arm, forks are superior, and the craftsmanship all are better on duke I think. And the price thats coming is based on how economically they make it including Rand D. Honda cannot match BAL in terms of profit margin per piece at present. So Honda are costlier. That does not mean that one is superior or inferior. All; said I will pick 500X over a duke 390 if service and spares are cleanly available and if price difference is not toooo much.


BAL bought the stakes in very progressive stages over few years to reach 47. But I am curious to know the story behind the game.

That shows the kind of enthusiasts that we have here in India. I too had a dilemma to decide between CBR 250 R and Duke and the only reason I thought of picking the CBR is due to its ABS. Now that Duke has decided to release its own ABS variants and the D390 for a price close to the CBR 250, I've decided to wait for it .Well technically, yes.

Well technically, that particular source is not the official source. Just a guideline.

EU regulations don't have any minimum/maximum displacement limitation.

If the CBR 500R is priced somewhere between 2.5~3L I would most definitely prefer it over D390. But like aargee said, its better to wait and see if its ever going to come into Indian markets and then decide on it, rather than speculating.

Sorry Sir, i lost my mind for a while. Please ignore what I said in the above posts. However, I strongly believe that 500x would be a success if its indeed what its made to look like and the cbr600rr looks disgusting. What do you say?

I've no say; I DO NOT expect anyone to say Jai Honda slogan; all I was stressing is Praful's point "It's not as bad as what is being portrayed here". Please take sometime, search for the CBR 250R launch thread & read those posts. It's quite hilarious to see the speculations of people now.

Reading all those points at that point almost made me to cancel my CBR booking; but after owning the product for quite sometime now, I believe it would've been a nonsense decision on my part.

That is precisely why I suggest a MEANINGFUL discussion here, otherwise, there's seldom difference between xBhp & the FB groups.

I hope you get my point

"Built to a cost", "meant to be an economical ride" are phrases that attract varied opinions. More often than not such motorcycles are mostly ridiculed by self-proclaimed enthusiasts who are only (supposedly) concerned with the lovely term called performance! Where and how do you put a benchmark on performance for different types of motorcycles? I don't think it's easy.

My (so called) analysis tells me that the biggest trouble, mostly, with such motorcycles is LOOKS. Because the real world performance often turns out to be more than acceptable in varied riding conditions. As far as I am concerned, the biggest or the only problem I see with these new 500s is the wet weight. But I definitely won't fire a judgement cannon on the performance and definitely not on the quality of the motorcycles. Not yet. If any of these motorcycles is launched in India with a competitive price tag then Bajaj/Kawasaki will have a hard time selling Ninja 650. Ninja 650 with its slightly bigger engine and slightly more power weighs 211 kgs. So I am not sure if 192 kgs for a CBR500R is bad. Alteast for me, CBR500R looks better than a Ninja650 and this is where the competition will be for these 500cc Hondas.

Yes, the newly announced Duke 390 is a total drool maal for anyone who wants to burn the rubber (and probably with a mouth watering price tag). But then, I believe, this is only what KTM knows and makes. The Austrian is not as varied as its Japanese counterpart and whether it's good or bad for either of these manufacturers is a matter of opinion. KTM will never make an alternative for something like Ninja 650, but Honda can and I believe this is what they are trying to do here. Because Honda's CBR600F is still a quite premium motorcycle in its class. As I tried to imply in one of my earlier posts, these 500s would be great in India for a two-up touring with a satisfying performance while not being scarily expensive.

I agree with Aargee. CBR is a good product.. in between troubled by a lot of spares and after sales service problems but slowly Honda is taking care of it. Besides a lot of riders have dedicatedly done long distance touring and it has turned out to be quite a workhorse.

I am personally looking forward to CBR500R that ofcourse if at all it is launched in India. 500X is indeed unique! I believe seeing physically will make it a lot easier for a lot of people to decide.

If Honda prices it right they really have a good product in their hands. Honda Parallel twins are one of the best engines across other platform.


Cheers,

All said and done , i see the Honda 500 having an upperhand in terms of performance(read:Acceleration/top speed etc) just like their less powerful siblings.

KTM is all about midrange which i believe would come in handy inside city and on twisties. For everything else the Honda would be just fine.

I am expecting the price differential to be not as wide which would again give the Honda a few more brownie points.

PS: We still are not sure about these bikes making it to India, so these are just assumptions going by the performance of the CBR 250R and KTM 200.

interesting thread, lots of heated discussions, deleted posts, arguments between-"pro honda, against duke" & "pro duke, against honda" kind of ppl.let us wait for reviews friends...i got intrested by this statement, is it really so, ...but coming from you, it must be true, i would say let the initial hype die down, and say, after five years, which sells how much, will tell the exact story....