Z800:
Unbelievable smooth engine.
There is so much torque and because of short gearing, from the 3rd gear onwards every gear felt the same to me. Even the 6th gear felt to have as much punch as the 3rd.
90Km/hr never felt this scary on a bike. I mean the throttle response, the torque available literally made even 90-100 scary.
I wanted to ride this bike fast as I wanted to judge the wind blast. I only got one opportunity to open its throttle. I was on 90 in 6th gear, I just opened the throttle, looked up, looked back down and I was at 150. Holly Cow, I chopped the throttle of and that was it. After that I rode very slowly back to the showroom. I was smitten.
The only problem was I didn't want a naked bike. Many many discussion with more experienced friends concluded that on a naked bike because of wind blast the sense of speed becomes much higher. It is safer as you would ride slower, but on the day when you want to enjoy speed it will be a challenge.


If Honda goofed up with the pricing of CBR, I would have considered Z800 again.


Ducati 899 Panigale:Triumph Daytona:2006 Firebalde:
During this time I got to ride one of my friends 2006 fireblade and the word scary got a new definition. Its riding position was even more extreme than the daytona. It felt so powerful that even looking at the throttle scared me. One of the problem with us guys riding smaller bikes is that we aren't used to going smoothly with throttle. At least I was not. Everytime I would want a move on, I would grab a handful of throttle on my Karizma to do the job. This tendency was creating a lot of trouble for me with these bikes especially on the blade. I mean the throttle response is so sharp and resultant push is so big that the time between you looking ahead and you being there is very less. This was my first 1000 and boy it was so scary and yet so desirable. I mean if I had the money I would still get the new blade. Mid life crisis? Stress? Tension? This thing will blew everything away and replace it with only thing. FEAR. Beautiful Bike.


So now I will come to the CBR650F. I was constantly in touch with the dealer and every hour after the month of June felt like eternity. Then was the confusion on the price and anxiety levels were really running high. At the start of July the dealer told me that the bike will get launched in the first week of August and they might take Pre-bookings. Around 20th July bookings opening new became hot on the internet and I called him again. He said they will start the pre-bookings from 23rd July. Since I was going to my hometown on 23rd, he said I can give my cheque on the 22nd. On 22nd I gave a cheque of 50K for the booking. On 4th August the bike was launched with an ex showroom of 7.3. Honestly I wanted the price to not exceed 7.5 on road but considering the option this still felt like the best bet. On 5th August I went to him and he had the bike on display. I asked for a test ride. The bike was for test ride only, but it was not yet registered or insured so he was apprehensive. Some pestering later he agreed and I got a short test drive. Like the bike and started the loan process. The loan process took some time because of some confusion and eventually I got the delivery on 19th August making my bike the first delivery in North India and 4th in country.


Overall I had a good experience with the dealer. During the entire discussion process he was able to instil confidence in me for Honda as a brand, their servicing capabilities, spare stock and after sales costs of the bike. After the delivery I took the bike to them for getting Rim Tapes and Tank Pad installed and I must say the way they handled the bike was very good. Every possible step was taken to handle it with care and all the job done with great quality. Their service staff also comes across as well trained and educated and are able to handle customer well. Since this Wings dealer only deals with super bikes they treat you like that only.


I have done nearly 550 Kms till now and except for one thing I am pretty happy with the bike. I think this was the right choice for me considering the kind of riding I do. You can do occasional long distances, city riding and an occasional track day will also not be problem. Plus you can take your wife and daughter as well for that evening ice cream close by, if you want.


Here are my first impressions:
LikesDislikesOveral Damages:
Ex Showroom - 7.3
Zero Dep Insurance - 14652
Registration - Around 55K
Total - Around 7,99,000


My Riding Gear:
DSG Maze Riding Jacket and Dainese Air-3 Textile Riding Jacket
Vega Helmet and Bell Vortex Helmet
Alpinestar SMX2 and Dainese Veloce Gloves
Dainese New drake air textile pants
Alpinestar SMX5 boots


Changes/Accessories:
Saree Guard - Removed
HRC Tank Pad - Done
Red Rim tapes - Done
3M paint protection film - Done on few parts
Yoshimura Fender Eliminator - Planned
R&G Frame Sliders - Planned
R&G Radiator Guard - Planned
Akprapovic Exhaust - Planned sometime later

Now for Some pictures. Thank you for bearing with me till now.

The first sighting.



The blessings from God


First Day Posing



The complete family. This was just for posing.


At the 3M center for Paint protection Film and Windscreen wrap.


First weekend morning ride.


Eventually turned into a rainy day ride. My good friend got this Ninja 650 just one day before I got the CBR650F.


Some from the morning weekend Rides:

Near India Gate










One of my friends obliged her with a photoshoot. Thank you Prateek Bhai.




Current status after the Saree guard removed, Rim tapes, Tank pads etc.





I will try my best to keep this thread updated to the best of my abilities.

Thank you for reading.

CHEERS!!

Rachit

Congrats on the bike bro! it looks gorgeous and in my opinion one of the best all rounder,friendly,reliable motorcyles out there. I had the dream of owning one, but unfortunately the price and the place where they were selling the cbr i had my doubts , SVM honda in chennai. I saw a few reviews of their service centres and it was very bad, And also 8.10 price tag after tax put me off, 6.5l-7 could have been perfect for honda but was'nt to be.I just planned, dont think have the financial capability to get one, But a 2nd hand ninja650 from a friend seems a lot more realistic for me,soo im keeping that waiting, But always wanted the CBR 650 f because of the inline 4 and its reliability, and i've seen some first rides in india and all i heard was good things. Still dreaming of one

Thank you very much mate.

In my humble opinion, if you can afford a bike worth 6.5 to 7 lakhs and the only challenge is the last 1-1.5 lakhs to get this one. I would suggest to wait and get this one straight. The reason I say this is most of us wouldn't be able to change bikes that often so it is better to wait and get what you want than buy whatever you can and keep dreaming of something other. Also, when big bikes exchange hands they loose some money on depreciation unless you are smart enough to strike very good deals.

Try a few financial things like opening a recurring deposit for lets say 6 months, or going a strict diet for 6 months to save for this one.

Although Ninja 650 is a very good bike and the most VFM big bike in India in my opinion.

Plus do test ride it to confirm that you actually like it and its worth the wait.

Regards
Rachit

Thanks for the reply!
The service centre/showroom which has the cbr 650f is not very good, they are called SVM honda Aynavaram, I read the reviews saying how bad the service centre is and soo that really put me off. I ride a cbr 250r and the place i get my bike serviced is Didar honda egmore and they are very good! I just hope the bike comes here cause i really trust these guys cause they know what they are doing and dont do a proper job on servicing and maintaining the bike. Also Hoping honda get the CB650f , would be surely a cheaper option and with a windscreen i think it could be a tourer, but obviously still want a cbr,Also some suggested i pay extra and get the z800 which is apparently better value for money, I guess only time will tell.

Congrats on the bike bro!

Thanks for the reply!
The service centre/showroom which has the cbr 650f is not very good, they are called SVM honda Aynavaram, I read the reviews saying how bad the service centre is and soo that really put me off. I ride a cbr 250r and the place i get my bike serviced is Didar honda egmore and they are very good! I just hope the bike comes here cause i really trust these guys cause they know what they are doing and dont do a proper job on servicing and maintaining the bike. Also Hoping honda get the CB650f , would be surely a cheaper option and with a windscreen i think it could be a tourer, but obviously still want a cbr,Also some suggested i pay extra and get the z800 which is apparently better value for money, I guess only time will tell.

In Bangalore, service is very good. There is a issue with chain rusting for one of my friend. The service folks visited his house today along with Honda engineer to check. They cleaned the chain and lubricated again and said to watch out for a month. This is the level of service we have in Bangalore considering the highest sales in south India. As far as i know there are 12 650F's delivered already.

Coming to service costs another friend of mine just finished 2nd service and as per him service experience is very good as well. The total cost for second service was only INR 1990 . Here we have a separate air conditioned bay for 650F service with WiFi and my very own first service experience was very good.

Hope they keep it that way.

How's the buzzing? And at which RPM range does it kick in?

I dont trust SVM honda, read some reviews of their service and it seemed terrible and also i did'nt get a proper reply from their salespersons
,coming to test rides, i've seen test rides offered in bombay and hyderabad but not chennai... like even in the case of benelli chennai they only offer test rides on the 300 and 600 but no more, but thats something it self! Dissapointed in honda chennai, hope things change and a introduction of the CB 650 f would be nice but doubt that would happen.

Dude what are you talking about ? In Benelli if you are serious enough you can test drive their entire range. Except for the Trek 1130 have test rode all of them (not the 300 and 25 since wasn't interested in them)

Hey guys! My name is Nikunj and I am from Navi Mumbai.
I am not a regular at xbhp however I sometimes login and read thru the interesting stuff posted here once in a while.

I own a CBR 650F I got some month and a half ago - 16th November to be precise.
In these 50+ days I ridden the FURY (named my CBR that ) for about 8500 kms. Took it to Sikkim in December and returned home last week.
It was a 18 day trip for me involving riding thru 11 states and a total of 6400 kms. And yes, before you ask - I conquered Zuluk loops too on my CBR! Possibly India's first CBR 650 to tour in the North East

Out of the total 8500 kms I've ridden so far my experience with the motorcycle has been very very pleasant. I mean it does everything you ask for - it pulls cleanly from as low as 30 kph to top speed in 6th gear, it manages the bad/no roads very well, returns decent fuel average for a 4 banger, the suspension setup is just spot on for our roads, the brakes are sharp and ABS kicks in only when you need it the most - it is not very intrusive like your clingy girlfriend.
Plus the motorcycle is pretty comfortable and you won't feel the pain even after a long day of riding. I can say so since I rode around 880 kms on day 1 of my Sikkim trip and had barely any pain on my back or shoulders or wrists or any other joints.

The roads (or the lack of it) in Sikkim are unforgiving coupled with its crazy low temperatures, it is a very challenging ride thru the state. The CBR managed all this without any fuss. It is an extremely well made motorcycle built for a purpose. It is sufficiently powerful and it is surprising how it hides it's Fireblade genes under that sport tourer avatar. I mean you can ride all day at 120 kph on the highway and if you're bored just twist the throttle and you'll be doing 220+ sooner than you'd expect. It is wickedly fast in the higher RPM range when all of its 4 cylinders are in full glory. I would happily suggest this motorcycle to anybody looking to buy a smooth, fast, reliable, comfortable inline 4 cylinder bike with inclination towards touring. Look no further

A few highlights on the behaviour of the bike:
1.Engine is very smooth, however has that infamous buzz at 110 kph, 140 kph and some vibration at 180 kph. Rest of the speeds it is smooth AF
2. One of the smoothest gearboxes ever. I've ridden quite a few motorcycles but the gearbox on this Honda is just another level - you can never go wrong with it
3. Seat and sitting position is comfortable even for 600+ kms rides.
4. Clutch is a bit hard. It becomes unpleasant when you're in stop go traffic. I wish it had a lighter clutch, but nothing really that will cause a problem here.
5. This thing heats up too much when riding slow or in moderate traffic. I think a better quality coolant should curb this.
6. The off throttle vibrations are very annoying. That honestly is the biggest negative I see with the bike. However as soon as you're on throttle the vibes vanish. I have extra heavy bar ends installed to fight vibes and they've helped considerably but cannot really kill the vibes.
7. Brakes are very efficient and you can rely on them. The brake pads quality is also good, there is not much wear on them yet.
8. Dunlop tyres are s#it. Please get rid of them as soon as you can. The grip on dry is although decent, wet grip is plain horrible. I had to ride on black ice on the Zuluk loops and the tyres just wouldn't help me gain confidence. Almost slipped and fell on two occasions - somehow managed to keep the rubber side down.
9. Fuel economy on highway between speeds of 120-140 will return 22 to 23 kpl. With little sane riding you can expect FE upward of 23 kpl.
10. The stock engine oil is not very good. It makes the engine feel rough and gear shifts are also not very smooth as you'd expect. Motul 300v can cure this though. I switched to Motul at about 5000 kms and could feel the engine becoming smoother and gearshift lighter - could be psychological, but it worked for me

All in all very happy with the way FURY is performing!

Regards,
Nikunj

That's one awesome ride Arsenic.

Here are couple of snaps from our usual breakfast ride couple of weeks back.

Photo Credit: Ray (Shreyas from Bangalore Bikers)

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