In very simple terms, 6 speed allows for much better ratios, and allows the design engineers to keep the powerband short (and peaky).
A well executed package with 5 speed (or for that matter 4 speed) will be better than a poorly executed 6 speed. So just adding a six speed gearbox does not mean anything.

But, adding 6 gears does show that design engineers kept with the times and did extract maximum performance possible for the current bike. It shows that bike is well thought out, which I doubt for this bike.
Apart from 5 speed, here are my other concerns (Which I feel, shows that not enough thought has gone into making this bike).

These are my inferences. Correct me if Im wrong
Justification for twin discs up front. I know it looks cool and all, but there are some downsides to this :Gyroscopic effect, makes steering this bike slower.
Lack of liquid cooling : Means this engine will be running richer (Lean burn increases heat). this means bike could have produced more power, but due to cooling restrictions, they had to go rich.
Also, with our climatic conditions, the risk of overheating is real.

Overall, for 2L it will be a good VFM bike, but I feel they allotted more to the "show" department, rather than go ( just look at the bike; on the outside it has all the big bike stuff, but on the inside, they have skimped a lot which are standard in this segment).

WOW!! The new paint scheme on the GT250R looks fantastic.

Sarcastic comment: If this is the case OMG! my son has to be driving a 15 geared Pulsar 1300CC bike. Only Automatic tranmission can save him

Precisely, a full blown package (no matter what it is with ABS, JetPacks, and what not) would still meet the same fate of the GT650 if its too close to the N250s price... Doesnt make business sense!

among all these news... there is one more good news , autocar india reported that Garware will be launching GV650 in March2012 and followed by GV250 in July .. now cruiser will be seen on road and also suggested that prices will be very tempting

not quite a fan of automatics due to lesser acceleration,fuel-efficiency[although some automatics provide more mileage than its manual counterpart],more maintainance.

All I know of the GT250s

The return of the Comet, is a news which most biking enthusiast should like.

Back at beginning of the millenia when the Comets in India were marketed and services were backed up by the Kinetic.Very few people got to know the performance of this machine first hand and also fewer people got to maintain it.

The Hyosung bikes are somehow always plagued by lack of proper service back up.Kinetic for instance, chose to launch such a bike which they cannot provide good service, and eventually they had to shut it.Needless to say, they were not even able to service own in house bikes.

On this forum, I found a lot of people questioning the Comet's performance and specs- even though Xbhp themselves have used the bike on the Great Indian Roadtrips often.

As far as I know, for many Comet owners, it was the return of the RD era in 4 strokes,back in 2004.India really had a rich RD era in 2 strokes.

But in this thread I read somewhere that the new Comet's peak power is estimated as 26bhp and weight around 188kg !!!!
The erstwhile Kinetic Comet itself had 27bhp of peak power at lowly 10,000rpms and weighed around 170kgs if not less.
The midrange was strong as 22Nm of torque just came up at lowly 7500 rpms.
We had a comfortable bike which we do not needed rev the guts out off to ride.
A torquey V twin which went about doing as well.
Sad thing is that, back then, we did not have so many Automags around to let us know all about it and few of us still know it first hand apart from what is highlighted by well sponsored Western mags.

Anyway, the 250cc Comet is now Fi, it was Carbed back then.
The power specs varies from 27bhp to 29bhp in different nations.

The Wiki article about the GT250 series puts all that in a gist, please refer for the standard specs of this bike here :
Hyosung GT250 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, a no holds barred discussion of how GT250R fares against many other 250s, here at this forum :
GT250R vs CBR250 - Aussie Street Bikes

I believe GT250s are only slower to the Ninja250R.

Also, the red-white CometR must be a 250cc, we have heard people say that the 650 an 250 GTs share similar chassis design !!!

its yes similar but not the same , 650 uses tubular twin spar chassis while 250 steel twin spar.
let wait for the spec's to come out .. my assumption is the power could be close to 26bhp owning to emission regulations stricter here [B-IV standard]

Sorry for OT but we need to clear some misconceptions here. Since there is no dedicated thread for this, I will be posting here.

Thats the precise reason I don't even feel like posting on xBHP. You can never have a grown up discussion. As for replying your sarcastic comment in a normal way, maybe he will, but a 200cc (not 1300cc) 150bhp Pulsar with unlimited gear ratios (ever heard of CVT ?).

Who would have thought during the early Doordarshan days that there would be 250 channels on every Tom Dick Harry TV... if we wouldn't have moved on, we would still be discussing whose bullock is the strongest.

When was the last time you kept/drove an automatic transmission car? Or shall we leave the cars out of this? Because If what you wrote is really the case then most Jaguar, Land Rover, Porsche, Volvo, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini & Ferrari cars in India will simply be off your shopping list since they do not even come with a Manual Gearbox.

So thats obviously not a reason why you would hate it.

When was the last time somebody changed the clutch on a Honda Activa/Kinetic Honda/ Suzuki Access? The point being, the Automatics may have a million drawbacks, but contrary to popular opinion, higher maintenance is not one of them.

Since it is impossible to over-rev (rev higher than rev-limiter), you can be sure that the engine will last longer.
Since there is no clutch, there is no clutch replacement.
The only maintenance of the automatic tranny is Automatic Transmission Fluid change (on older automatics) But you also change the manual tranny oil at similar change intervals so thats no biggie.

The newer ones don't even need that and so they are sealed for life (eg. New Ford Fiesta VCT Powershift).

Get the facts right pls.

As a GT250 owner and rider, I've kept out for most of this discussion. The reason has been pointed earlier before, you can't have a mature discussion here. But still, here I'm attempting to lay it out:

The GT250 develops close to 27 hp. With the original comets, if you took the cat con out of the equation, the figure jumped to 30. You can check this with the original ride report of the Hyo here on xbhp itself.

Once you take the cat con out of the equation, the power/weight ratio changes completely.

A tuned GT250 would easily put out close to 32 hp, a figure right up there with the RD350LT. Of course, the Hyo has much higher weight, but it's not slouch either.

The gearing comment is totally bonkers. You don't need innumerable number of gears to go fast. Gearing is determined according to the kind of engine and the kind of riding the bike is intended for.

The Hyosung GT250 has a V-twin engine. Translation: Torque spread is the name of the game, not hp. It provides a linear spread of torque throughout the rev range, with power peaking and going bonkers after 7K.

Being a V-twin, it provides much better rideablity in town and on highways because of the linear torque spread. You can easily toot around town at 30 kph in the 4th gear.

Just Fyi, my GT250 with a Screaming Demon shorty exhaust does 110 KPH in the third gear. I guess that speaks much about it having only 5 gears.

It WILL smoke the P220 and the CBR250. Only the N250R would go faster than a GT250.
I seriously doubt if any of the people claiming otherwise have actually gone up against the GT250 with their 250 rides. If you haven't, please go up against a GT250 and then make claims.

Ultimately, I guess it comes down to quality. It's not the best but it's not the worst either. Anybody, for lack of a better argument, would bash Hyos for the quality.

But bajaj isn't known for its quality either, what with incidences of shoddy forks and rims. But nobody would ever bash bajaj, for we got too many loyalists/owners of the brand here.

GT250 owners of course would always be in minority, what with only 300 or so bikes making it here. And it's always easier to bash a minority with the majority.

I guess everyone likes their own bikes and would go up in arms defending it. I guess to an extent, that's what I'm engaging in here.

I do not intend to start a flame war. Just wanted to lay down the facts coming from somebody who actually rides, owns and maintains the ride, rather than clueless assumptions based on hearsay.

If you like other bikes/your bike/the best bike/the worst bike, then so be it. Whatever rocks your boat. To each its own.

Peace out.

the hyo is said to be very slightly behind Ninja @ top speed other than that there is no drawbacks except Ninja built is more top notch.
the CBR on the other hand said to be more torque in the initial bands, hyo will over come this with extra cylinder added.

quality is way better if u see [read on other international forums] the 2010/2011 models and its no way compared to 07/08 models and lot of Indian bikes not even close to match it [some case even CBR with initial lots..now it improving like true honda]

once the GT/R launched then we see the minority statement

Wrong assumption, GT250s are not that de-tuned even in the most cleanest nations on earth.B4 emission norms just follows some other better emission norms out there.In that case, why wasn't Ninja 250R detuned too ?

27bhp to 29bhp is the stock state of tune.Lower for carbed versions and higher for Fi versions.

the Bikes should have been here by now ... but according to recent news .. its due to Union Budget which is holding the announcement, the Union Budget is on 16th and based on the results of it the GT/R pricing will be decided and the bikes will come out around April end.

The same is with the new CBR250R 2012 models

ohh hooo just awesome

continuously variable transmission is it?
humble a-star ,didn't quite like it.

they are off my shopping list anyways cause i don't have that kinda of money.

yeah true.
so the torque converter needs not to be changed
The automatic transmission is one of the most complicated and one of the less reliable parts of the vehicle. The repair of an automatic transmission is complex and expensive. periodic fluid change can be complicated as not all automatics come with dipstick , an automatic transmission can not be drained completely - there is always some transmission fluid left inside the transmission (the torque converter, in the valve body, etc.) which means you only can change about 60% of the fluid at once. This is one more reason to change it more often.