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For City usage, Duke is the best bet. But then pillion comfort here will be compromised. Also try the Pulsar 200NS.

With this criteria go with P220 !! or Karizma !! These bikes have good torque in city with good pillion seats.

But easy handling would be with Duke but pillion seat would be compromised! NS200 would also be good but it's power is less for city becuase of it's power is over 6k rpm.

CBR 250 ABS anytime good with city torque and ABS but it's not very easy to handle in city as what i felt, but on touring it's awesome with Pillion.

If you have good exp on biking then go for CBR!!

I could balance the CBR in about 5 Kmph without putting my foot down or haggling the handlebars left& right; just could control the vehicle using clutch & shifting gears, no need to even accelerate on bumper to bumper traffic

handling and maneuverability of C250R is better than karizma or ZMR in city. even though the weight it carries, it is easy to ride in city.

With then it's more easy to choose, CBR is best!! TS go for it!!

Re: The seven year itch

Of the 3 you listed, the cbr is the best.

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I'll go for a test ride this Saturday/Sunday and decide accordingly. I'm very much inclined towards the CBR but the issue is most of the people are discouraging me to go for the CBR as this will be my first bike and its one hell of a powerful bike for sure.

How does the ABS perform in 250R? Is it worth the moolah I'll be spending?

If you are okay with a 150cc engine(because mainly for city driving), then CBR 150 can also be considered - lesser weight, comfortable pillion seat, Honda's reliability. Other options - P200NS, Karizma ZMR, P220.

first of all, it is very clear from your shortlisting, that you only want, top of the line, kind of bikes, with some amount of exclusivity also, and money is not a problem. so guy, no use of suggesting bikes like P200NS.

out of all the three, KTM Duke200 is best for street fighting in city. although it lacks pillion comfort, but how long will a pillion sit continuously within city. it also depends who is the pillion, if it is your GF, smaller pillion seat is a bonus, if your sister, she can manage yaar, if your male friends- who give a f***, but if its your mother/father, then you need to think.

but to tell you - your parents will not find even a CBR's pillion seat comfortable, even if its the most comfortable of all the three mentioned here.

if you want a bike that is good in everything it does, though not a master of anything, and is most comfortable, go for CBR250. it will never let you down except when you are racing with a ninja250. period.

if you want a bike that is thoroughbred street fighter, and screams "wanna race ..........on the streets", has looks that makes you look like a college going guy....once again, can easily make you look like a hooligan of streets, and you can compromise on pillion comfort, and you have no particular liking for fully faired bikes. go for KTM Duke200.

R15 is, if you have any intentions of taking to race tracks, or wanna go knee dragging, or just love the way it looks, if you are a wannabe rossi, ready to compromise on CC, power, acceleration, and pillion comfort, R15 is for you.

now you decide.

one more thing, ABS does helps a lot.

so you have saved up a fair bit of money and you wanna indulge,you want pillion comfort,you want easy handling bike,you want city bike.fz and fazer fits your bill perfectly.ride it for 2-3 years and then come back to market for upgrade.

The thing is this will be my first bike and I'll like to keep it for a long period. Even if I go for a upgrade later on I'll not be selling it off. Lack of power in Fazer and FZ will get into my head eventually. That's why I'm very much inclined towards the CBR since this seems to be a practical buy at this point of time. Super smooth reliable engine, Good brakes, Nice power delivery and what I've heard it handles like a dream. Going through the Ownership thread it seems like the bike got reported with some quality issues which needs to be sorted out. Can any CBR owner of newer lot confirm that whether these issues have been dealt with or they persist?

Also in Kolkata which Honda dealer/Service centre can be contacted for quality service?

i am not sure if you can get quality service from honda,dugar honda at vip has good good stock. rest assured new batches are free of niggles

From the three options you have pointed out, I too will suggest you to go for CBR250...

But since this is your first bike, (and it's not clear if you have previous experience of riding bikes) then none of the three bikes willl be satisfactory for the city traffic of kolkata, along with the fact that you are a first timer..
To give an Example, I shifted from a P150 to P200NS, and had a hard time adjusting the bike in the Bumper to bumper traffic of kolkata (because of it's bad low end torque, and ability of Quick acceleration when revved high)

In that case, I will agree with the suggestion given by Sayank, of going with a Fazer, or P220F high segment 180 cc bike. R15 perfectly fits the bill, but then I too opted out of it because of the pillion seat. Also it's a very demanding bike, and will not be suitable for long rides.

This is more than sufficient for city riding!!
TD R15 you will forget this statement!!

But Power/Speed/Stability this is awesome!! INMO city bike should be more to more a 150cc daily commuter segment. If you have touring as a plan in future and frequent then only it will be worth spending 1.7 or 2.10L for CBR. Why not a NS 200/GS150r/P150/Dazzler/CBZx-Hunk ???