good to know you are mech engineer too , yes you are correct in saying that may be i/we are commenting bit soon.

actually ilove the way gt 650r looks and do like the exhaust sound, hence i am interested in gt250r as well as my budget do not allow to go for 650 but again i do not find price upward of cbr 250r justified if it is launched at that price .

any idea about where to find good second hand bikes of 300 plus cc's for around 2-2.5 l. i may extend the budget bit more if bike is good.

Mine's got 7 years, still waiting for a single bolt to fall apart. Seems like we got the wrong batch then?

ROFL .... that's a good one

@ Mav.. 300+ you will but agin you need worry about teh paperwork and all that so better invest in a new bike....

@Alan.. 7 years.... nice man...

What Hyosung is in Bikes in the world. Hyundai is in cars in the world. Decent products, some very good products but they do not appeal to all.

If Hyosung can become what Hyundai is in India/APAC, then its a job bloody well done.

Santoosh (Santa) has been riding his gt250 since long. Strangely I dont recollect him have quality wooes. Do the 650 owners hace gripes about faulty parts etc.

I have ONLY experienced the fit and finish, and they are a few notches below the Kawasaki in that department. I am no brnd fanboy. I have a 650R from Kawasaki, but last I checked, it didnt come with a license to bash the GT650 for what it is!

Santa now upgraded to GT650 Naked .. he done already around 4-8K run [not sure].. he is riding it like anything.

there are couple of ppl who rides a lot and updates from them comes rarely .. like... Santa....Satyenpoojary...

I don;t think fit and finish is bad ... its actually design flaw [if u call it that].. the gaps around tank and fairing .. i attribute them to design flow rather fit and finish

:P
I know he now upgraded to the 650! My feedback was purely on the paint finish and the plastics used... nothing else. The blemishes on the tank with the paint is something I dread! Have no idea as to why it happens though!

Nagoo: As someone who was keenly awaiting the GT250, was disappointed looking at 5 speed gear box and Air/Oil Cooled Engine. Now I am back to Ninja vs CBR thought process.

man..these things were discussed a lot just a couple of pages back.. just visit it , it might change your view .. and btw..just buy the bike which gives you a big smile rather than listening others opinion,..trust me it will make you happy

Yeap, I have. May be the years with Buell and Yamaha have spoilt me. When I rode the GT250 in US, on a hot day with manageable traffic, the air cooled engine really barbecued me.

I was hoping the 2012 will be a better edition. But seeing that its the same thing, I dread riding it in Chennai Summer conditions. I am not talking based on reviews but based on my personal riding experience.

Was really hoping for the GT250 as the stop gap bike, before the Daytona

Some encouraging posts.

But we also have to keep in mind that our Hyosungs are assembled in Pune. Are they also painted here? Also the experience by Garware technicians might not be as much as the ones abroad.

But good to know from Alantris.

A little story

All right, I'm back again. I've tried again and again to clear the picture regarding these bikes, but it seems posters here just can't or won't look beyond their curtain of prejudice. I've been requested to do a review of the bike, which I will in time.

But firstly, here's an attempt to lay it out again. This post is actually more of a story. And for reading this story, you get a rant free .

The Story (from the POV of an average Indian biker):

I'm a typical Indian bloke who has spent his life starving after multi-cylinder bigger bikes and that is what I really desire. So I'm looking for a bike that has the following:

1. An engine that has more than one cylinder. (have had too much of them all my life)

2. Is a sportbike. (Aggressive riding position, exposed frame, sportbike dynamics, dimensions, USD suspension, dual brakes et al. All the usual bells and whistles).

3. Produces nearly as much power as an RD350 while still being frugal enough to run daily. (The RD: A true legend, sadly marred by its age, lack of braking power, non-availability of parts, fuel efficiency).

4. Is an in-production model so I can find parts. (Unlike the GSX-R250s of yore).

5. Teaches me how to handle bigger bikes for the future in my riding life. (After all, that's what beginner bikes are for. No? )

6. Costs around 2 lakhs. (or something that I can afford on my humble salary.)

7. Makes me stand out. On any road. (In India, of course.)

Who can suggest a bike that has all the above? Is there any, beside the Hyo GT250?

So why does the GT250 make sense? I think you've your answer.


The Rant:

Now we come to the ugly business. Forgive me for being an old sentimental fool, but from the kind of comments I see here, I guess I'm pretty old school (though I'm not old. lol )

I guess, as bikers, (and I guess I speak for everybody) we always want to go faster, harder, deeper. It's an inherent urge I believe everybody feels.

Lets go back 2 decades. What was the 250 scene then? You had your Suzuki GSX-R250s, FZR250s, CBR250RR MC22s. Would you dare compare any of those bikes with the 250s we get now? So what happened? We got cheated. And swindled. That's what happened. Now we have a bike that has a single cylinder, struggles to put out 25hp, has the seating position of a standard/tourer and calls itself a 'CBR'! Sacrile(ra)ge!

We Indians have got bikes that have the fanciest plastics, glitziest displays, multiple shiny LED lights, liquid cooling, 6 (OMFG!) gears even in a 150cc, zillion spark plugs, 5.434667 cc "upgrades". But did we ever get the real thing?

What about those multi-cylinder engines, exposed frames, sportbike dynamics, riding position. Acceleration, speed, handling, braking. Did we ever get that? NO.

And all we are worried about is liquid cooling, a zillion gears, regardless of whether you need them in such a small engine or not?

I've said it before and here I say it again:




A 250cc is a fairly small engine. Even if it is air cooled, I seriously doubt you would end up toasting your legs. HDs are famously air cooled, and I've yet to come across an HD rider who has complained of fried legs with 1200ccs of an air-cooled V-twin motor idling just below their balls. Same with ducatis, don't remember frying my balls on the Monster that I had with me for 2-odd months.

Not saying liquid cooling isn't better or more efficient, but you'll hardly notice the difference unless you are racing on the track or riding for more than 300 kms or so at a stretch.

You DO NOT need liquid cooling with engines as small as we have here. You DO NOT need 6-7 gears to go fast with an engine that barely displaces 150cc and produces 16 hp. Going by that logic alone, shouldn't the 600s or 900s have nearly 12 gears?

And the thing that really makes me despair is this:

Just like the cagers, who choose their cars depending upon the number of buttons,displays or usb ports they have; it seems I've truly gotten old. For the riders these days seem to choose their rides depending upon the kind of cooling, number of gears, fancy displays and the number of LEDs a bike has.

Whatever happened to the old-school way picking a bike based on its power, acceleration, handling, braking and the way it goes?


A lot of you would have hated the story and are free to go all hate on me. But that does not change the fact that you're willing to buy a bike just because it has all the fancy stuff listed above, rather than the substance that really matters.

The GT250 isn't the perfect bike (is there any?). But for the profile written above, there isn't any other option.

Signing off. Peace out!

I will agree with you on first part .. and there are no other options with those requirements .. and i too need a bike which is like superbike with all those superbike qualities ..but should be usable daily basis and should cost less to own and to maintain.. and in entire world this is the only bike which satisfies those conditions

Now second part.. here i partially agree with you.. first CBR [current version] is an wonderful bike [im not saying that you said it bad bike], but compared to old models its like evolution.. old CBR won;t even qualify emission tests or even economy of desire.. and its not the power which is imp ..but its the pleasure .. with all those new tech [liquid cool,engine,gear].. the current generation bikes are much more practical [not only CBR but all most all].

Pricing on the GT250R will be key.

I differ on this. You are comparing naked bikes (Harley, Monster...) to a full fairing GT250R here (not comet 250). Air cooled on a naked bike works, I have spent good amount of my life on Bullet and Harleys and Its manageable .

Riding the GT250 in a highway peak traffic in California summer did almost fry my balls. Thats the day I returned my friend's GT250. Your statement holds true for Comet 250 not for the new GT250 R.

To the second point, the option of 6th gear is convenience and relaxed riding in the highway. It makes a big difference in long term ownership. So I think its cheap on Hyosung to make this a 5 gear bike.

For me GT250 was perfect for all the points you had listed above (big bike feel etc) but these points make a practical difference in day-to-day and long term riding. Unlike a 650, I look at the 250 as my daily ride and these are critical.

I am not too worried about the weight or the GT taking ages to reach top speed...