If it looks better in flesh and sounds Good; Garware will need to back up their service seriously.

@Antz... The satyen's example of sunny... was a metaphor.
We know she's not for sale.. in India.. ROFL.

I thought you were continuing the metaphor

Anyone knows what happened with Melroys case? That can have some impact on the way the people react to the 250!

That's still in court.Next hearing is in march i think.

GT250r

Any guesses when it will launch in India, I'll surely go for these Gt250r....

@aargee: It was my bike which was ridden by Dilip. Not sure whether his comment would make sense to all who ride even on tracks. He mentioned that the bike doesn't slide at a high speed corner while breaking. I am not sure most of them even with a Ninja would be able to do that on tracks. And also the bike ridden was bone stock including all the settings. Little research on google shows many of them race with GT650's.. the 250 having almost similar chassis and dimensions, I am sure wouldn't be far off on handling and stability at speeds.

But people here are comparing brakes, handling, etc etc even before the bike is here!!! instead of being happy about the increasing number of options we are getting like Satyen mentioned.

So now we are gonna have 3 250's to choose from:

One:
Comes with maximum power and torque
33bhp
World's best 250
The green
utmost reliable
USD forks
great handling
parallel twin
Price on the higher side

Another One with:
Honda badge
ABS optional
Good torque and top end
25bhp
Spares issue
good handling
best price

Another One with:
Big Bike looks
V-TWIN
good torque and good top end(based on international reviews)
29bhp(based on our forum)
V-TWIN sound
V-TWIN vibrations
Service issue
no liquid cooling
USD forks.. twin discs
good handling(based on international reviews)
price not known

those are fantastic options.. that too in our country. Any buyer will surely be pleased with atleast one of them unless his expectations or over-optimistic.

What we miss is a bike like CB350 or Inazuma to choose from, which can accomodate a pillion with great comfort at the same time have good power. Hope a bike like that hits the market soon to even the options..

+1; this is exactly what I was trying to say; none of the 250's are superior or inferior to anyone & every product (be it auto or non auto) is unique in the market. Comparing them (like magazines) are utter crap as each of them are designed to deliver what they're supposed to.

With each development comes flaws too & one needs to learn how to live with them or choose the one that has least flaw (if at all)

Last but not the least, if one defines what they need realistic, they'll find out a product that is close to their need, which is certainly a tough job & obviously not many of them do!!!

So the bike is a looker. But understand that there are a few negatives too ( I was considering this bike, but decided to go with Ceeber).

Dual Disks : its basically all show. There is a reason why you DONT need dual discs for the front. It increases the gyroscopic effect on the front wheels (due to front wheel having heavier spinning components). side effect? slow steering. Sure bigger bikes have them, because they have higher speeds to shed, more frequently. And yes, they do suffer due to twin rotors, but they dont have a choice.

Oil Cooled engine : v-twins are generally screamers. And there is a good chance that bike has to be revved higher to keep it in boil. Now something like CBR that has much more lazy motor needs liquid cooling, with fans turning on in traffic. I have a sneaking suspicion that this will overheat quite a bit in traffic.

Lack of six speed transmission : Err, which year are we in? Even our desi sports bike pulsar, will now have 6 speed transmission.

All that jazz : Such heavy fairing (and heavy handed treatment) has added a lot of weight. Is it gonna be the next ZMR?

Having said all that, there is no denying that GT250R will be a looker. Will have good performance. And if priced right, will do damn well in our country, mainly because we Indians are value oriented, and we dont care if something is from Korea or Japan.

And guys, lets not forget that there will be GT250N. Now that will be one heck of a bike, simply because it will be lighter. Though other issues remain. Heat will slightly better managed, since there is fairing restricting the bike.

If they can price it right, it will do well. Let us hope Garware will step up their service and after sales.

What's the deal? Even high end cars have only 5 gears. What is the point in having the sixth gear? AFAIK the 6th gear is to cruise on it on low RPMs, but that doesn't seems to be a big advantage, tourers might not choose such a sporty ergonomics.

Help me understand your point.

We must not forget that no company is introducing any bikes for public service. Everyone is doing it for earning profits, so stop treating the newly launched 250s in the market as godsends and favours that Honda/Kawasaki/Hyosung are doing to us. I wouldn't consider them that as long they are not giving those bikes away for free.

The problem here is that everyone tries to be diplomatically and politically correct all the time. Anyone who calls a spade a spade apparently commits a cardinal sin and must be punished. We really need Mr. Dilip Bam to join the forum.

@Yuv_biking What is the use of 5 gears when the Jawa / Bajaj Priya had only 3? Maybe we should have just 1 gear like those electric bikes I read about 2 days back doing the IOMTT. And FYI, the 'true' high end cars have moved on to 8 speed Dual Clutch gearboxes.

In that case they would have lost out on the 600 cc market to their own product of 250cc, Similar strategy is followed by Honda for cbr250 first and then the cbr 150

If they provide the Hyundai like service and advertising maybe, but very happy to see some affordable style and power

over all the confusion and debate on who's father who , here is a shocking news - the GT250R might shun the EFI tag for India and come as carb's due to reduced price , although this news is from BSMotoring [Bussiness Standard] they also assuming , still the specs are not yet clear,

Now for carb's version with 2L price tag still it be a attractive option ?? and wt big difference it can make without EFI ... now its a big spoiler for me [read me as prob first customer], in that case i may choose to go for some other option, and surely not before bashing the Garware through mail for not letting EFI come to India

Interesting to see things heating up in the 250cc segment.... This is surely gonna be worth watching out for. Hows Hyosung's support and after sales going for the 650 owners??

Still dont understand Whats the fuss is all about.if the Specs remains the same(29 Bhp,22.6 Nm,etc),and bike is Carbed one,then just around 2 Lakh OTR(1.8 L exshwroom) is great.Seriously waiting for this one.We can also expect a Naked Version at around 1.75 L OTR.
The previous GTR's in early 2000,s were not localised(they were CKDs).Hence,Priced higher.

Dude,whats your take on NINJA 250(carbed) ? Even if it had been priced at 2.5-2.6 L OTR(I think this is where it should be),would you still say its useless, just because its a Carbed?We should actually wait for the Hyusung's price to be revealed before bashing them...

Well I use only 3 gears in my bike to reach around 160.. which I suppose might be the topspeed of GT250R. So 3 gears would be enough then if the GT250 can reach there the same way ain't it

Just kidding!!

@jd666: The service can be split into 2 things.. knowledge and attitude towards customer. The attitude of the SVC guys have been really great and appreciatable so far. They are as helpful as they can be.

The knowledge part is not great. Things are mostly sorted out in trial and error. But this is something that I expected even before going for it. They lack that experience of handling bike bikes and the tech. This should eventually improve and how long would that take is really a question.