Good points there though!

The Honda CBR250R will definitely win the numbers game. No doubts about that.
With the base variant of the CBR250R being available for almost half the price of the Ninja 250R, the difference in sales volumes will be much more than twice. A price difference of 1.2L (Ninja 250R: 2.7L ex-showroom, CBR250R: 1.5L ex-showroom) is a huge sum of money, & that is what will pull in more numbers for Honda.

Unfortunately, I foresee a lot of difference in (majority of) the kind of people riding both the bikes. The Ninja 250R will definitely have a more matured & enthusiast set of owners who understand the capabilities of the bike, while the Honda CBR250R will definitely be dotted with the poser kind of riders, riding helmetless & with flip-flops.

All said & done, the biking scene in India is definitely changing for good for the enthusiast rider. I'm waiting for the day when the import regulations will allow the 600s to enter our shores, or when the litre class bikes will become affordable (than they are now).


You just dropped a bomb.
Have you ridden the R15 (not in traffic that is), & what bike(s) are you comparing it with?


Bajaj has done enough to stop people from generalising about their service. I guess you should too.
The mechanics who service the Ninja have been trained specifically for it & I hear (& read) are very good at what they do. I don't think anyone on our forum has faced issues with servicing of their Ninja.

I think this is a baseless assumption. The CBRs aren't even getting sold and you conclude that these will be ridden by so and so people. Posers will pose with any bike even on a Busa.

The bikers who opt for a CBR or a Ninja are sane enough to weigh the pros and cons and then chose.

Performance and servicing should not be talked about at all. These will be the hot topics after say 3-6 months after launch.

Thats your thought, but I will stick to mine.
I said: "I foresee". I'm not Nostradamus, & don't expect you to swear by what I say.

I used the word 'majority' not 'all'. I never said people will not make a sane choice. All I said is that posers (majority i.e. in terms of percentage) will be higher for a 1.5L bike, than a 2.7L bike.
You probably took offence coz you are a prospective CBR250R customer.

I guess you read my post in haste, as you were eager to reply.
I was replying to someone else's post w.r.t servicing of the Ninja.

Am a prospective 250cc customer. Although I've booked CBR, I still have an open option of considering the Ninja given the lead time of 4 months waiting period which can unleash a lot of information from both the companies.

Maybe I got agitated because your assumption sounded like a conclusion to me. Even now, if i read back your post, i get the same impression.

And I do accept the last part of the reply was irrelevent to the main message of the post.

Good to know you have booked the bike.
4 months is too long a waiting time for a bike who's performace is still an enigma for the rider (if reviews by journos were enough, who'd test ride a bike before booking it!)
I just hope they put up display bikes soon so that people can atleast see in flesh what they will get.

& don't worry, I'm not including enthusiats like you & me in the posers catagory.

Yup, the good thing is that we can ponder at several options in the meantime enjoying the CBR reviews as well.

Aren't we drifitng off-topic? ;-)

Ohh dear, people at ZW are not so insane as to do such kind of blog-ish blunder.
Its just a way of reflecting an unknown design. If they say P250, they must have some insider news

On that point, even the TVS showroom guys have informed me (after i bought the 180) about they being briefed about RTR2xx

Its better to enjoy 1st impression, and motorcycle ownership experience of CBR till we have more options down the line

A marketing insight

I am a budding marketer/biker. One thing I have found about consumer behavior during market research projects is that you can pretty much sell a relatively 'lesser' product more successfully if the junta think it is good enough. Honda has a halo in the Indian market already, with its wide presence and collective market experience. This is one reason why a lot of common people with enough money will simply buy the Honda 250. ("All Honda products are good, no?") IMHO, apart from true-blue bikers, common Indians do not know and do not care whether the Ninja delivers better performance or not. They will shun it for its high price tag.
Secondly, good products which are technically far superior can easily fail, if consumer needs aren't met. If a consumer defines at least one of his needs as 'value', then 3 aspects jump into the picture- quality, service and price. The Honda scores on perceived quality (the Honda tag endows this), service (with Honda showrooms in many cities- the consumer may trust the serviceability of Honda 250R more because of this) and Price (1L lesser than the Ninja).
Better mouse traps seldom sell well if they're costlier than the next cheaper alternative which serves the basic purpose of trapping mice. But they will sell well if there are enough connoisseurs of trapping mice with style!
So it comes to be that the Ninja 250 and the Honda 250 are positioned to serve different target segments. The Ninja 250 will serve the biking enthusiasts with money. The Honda 250 may very likely end up serving lots of commoners as well as enthusiastic tourers.

Will Ninja really face heat?

I visited PBK today...Was casually talking to a lady in there. I told him bout the CBR250R. She didnt know the name of the bike but was aware of a 250cc Honda being launched with a price tag of around 1.5L..
I asked her that this would definitely hit the sales of Ninja.
She replied that 'Ninja ke rates bhi girne waale hain sir Honda ki wajah se. March tak samjho..'
(Ninja is also going cheaper due to Honda 250cc...Expect so by March)

Within a year I don't think the question will pertain only to the Ninja and the CBR, it would later apply to(speculations) the suzuki GW250, Pulsar 250, yamaha 250 fazer, hyosang 250, Apache Rtr 2**, and the KTM 200 also....
So I'm expecting with a year or so the potential market for 200-250cc bikes to burst open in India thus in the process unravelling a whole new era of biking and touring and also heavy competion(Which is obviously better for us).
1.5 to 2 years from today would be one of the best times to buy a 250 cc bike with an ubdant number of options before you and so many different bikes and brands to choose from...

There are 2 kinds of ppl who buy a NINJA 250R
1.Who has the budget or loves a Sports Bike
2.Who pushes their budget with difficulty to get it or who would like a sports tourer but have no choice.

CBR250 will kill NINJA250R's sales from the second category.

forget about twin cyl and sportiness, and other blah blah.. the fact that there is another 250 faired bike with similar specs out there, for much lesser price would obviously affect buyers decision whether to go for cbr instead of ninja or simply save up some more and get a 650(650gtr/ninja650).
Cbr will slash ninjas throat, We just have to wait n see.

In terms of sales, yes, the CBR will outperform ninja. It has to .The USP of CBR is the pricepoint .

completely agree !! this is how the game is speculated to play out !!