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Well, Among the 2, the Duke is the better handler and the CBR is the one which does better overall on the highways. Both make almost exactly the same amount of power (25Ps) so the statement that CBR is more powerful than the Duke is not exactly accurate. Duke should be the more fuel efficient one amongst the 2 (its an important point when we consider that you are a student and your commute is almost ~1500km/month)

About the maintenance bit, the owners can guide you better, but in your case, you cannot go wrong with either.

​why not r15 or 150 r are on your mind?

I,m not an owner of both these bikes

But i,m also in urge of buying a new bike and i have made a well study of all the Bikes to some extent

Since the topic is only about the two bikes i will only give input about these two

Both these bikes may of the same segment but they both have different characters

To be short
CBR 250 : Touring
Duke 200 : Street fighter

Both these machines Chunk 25 Horses and remarkable when it comes to handling

Duke200:
If you are a Fan of Yamaha RX two stroke then i bet you will for sure fall in love with the Duke - Its quite exactly churns our the same kind of power delivery what you expect from a Rx or Shogun - and engine nice is quite similar too
Its a Short stroke engine similar to the RTR and produces lot of Torque like the Fazer - but quite naturally its different then all the Bikes that are available in INDIA.
10ltr Fuel tank capacity, All visible monster looks, Good build quality and trust worthy Racing heritage from KTM, with FE of around 35-40kmpl.

CBR250:
This Heavy dude is a downgraded version of bigger CBR's and looks really awe sum but its not a bike for Complete city riding, its a Tourer it does produce remarkable torque like the duke, but its a bit heavier then the duke so flicking it in traffic is quite a job, its costlier then the duke and FE is almost similar to the Duke too.
Honda's Bullet proof Engine quality and trust of Honda are the advantages of Honda.

Ideally the mind set of today's Bikers are all based on Bad impressions if you go for any product something or the other will be bad about it, but at the end its what you want that matters the most
So if your mind says Duke just go for it.
But if you ask a question VFM then i would say Ride the Wing.

If you want a Full faired Bike or the Naked Bike is the only question - if you answer this question you will get the bike which you want.

the duke now costs closer to 1.5L !! (yes i am still furious at the recent hike of 8k ex-showroom, which translates to close to 10k OTR).
IMO..
price apart, the duke is 'lower' on maintenance and spares cost while packing as much punch (very hooligan'ist punch at that) compared to the CBR.
CBR is comfy for longer rides, but the comfort factor is totally rider dependent.
If you are ok with the higher costs of spares (eg. oil filter costs 90rs on duke and around 250 on cbr, brake pads cost twice or maybe more on the cbr etcc) of the CBR and are a fan of faired bikes then go for the cbr, if you want to be a hooligan the duke!!
and i think i wud give the upper hand to bajaj/ktm for the after sales service.

PS: i am still at the price hike and may end up with a 200ns! semma kadupa iruku !! unnoda budget la oru path aaiyram adjust panna mudiyuma ?

Well the reason I thought CBR was more powerful was because although Duke has the same power as CBR, its short geared and it will be redlining in top gear at 135ks while CBR will still have some more steam left to go further, atleast that's what I've heard. Although I won't be going past 120ks unless I'm touring. The reason I thought of CBR 250 is mainly because of the ride comfort and that ABS technology. I guess I won't be getting an ABS version of the duke, but if I could somehow improve the ride quality (someone mentioned about padding the seats), I would happily pick the Duke.
Are you sure about the FE of duke ? I thought it was 30-35kmpl .
Well actually I'm a fan of Naked bikes so that pretty much leaves it to Duke I guess .
Lol, actually my dad wanted me too go for the P200NS as well. I don't know why he got a liking for the pulsar all of a sudden, because before the 200NS was out, he used to be a big hater of the pulsars. I had to do a lot of convincing to get him to extend the budget to 2L. Oh and the duke has released its new colors recently. I'll still go for the Orange version though

Oh and btw, I'm 5'7'' and 70kgs in weight if that matters anything.
I haven't test ridden these bikes yet. I'll probably do it next week or so.
Well firstly its the power. Both these rides are below 20 Bhp. You might then ask me again why not go for the P200NS. I don't like its looks when compared with the Duke 200. As far as I've seen Duke is a crowd magnet on the roads. More so than the R15 simply because you don't see too many dukes. I've seen like 10~20 R15s in my own locality, but only 1 Duke on the roads. And I want to be accustomed to high power machines because my future rides will be 900 or 1000cc bikes. Also the R15 or CBR 150 R are quite expensive for what they deliver. While the Duke offers so much for such a low price.

Go for the Duke buddy.The CBR is equally good but the Duke has the best Thrills to price ratio

so basically you want a "crowd- magnet' bike,and some thing unique,sounds similar to a "big boy' in the market.

Not exactly, like I said, the first thing is the power. Looks matter too. Compared to the R15 or CBR 150 R, duke's got more. That's the obvious reason. R15 is almost as good as the Duke in terms of looks, but not so in regards of the power, that's why I left it out. And the CBR 150 R well, its the same reason I left it too. Now 200NS has got 23Ps but I left it out too because its still not as powerful as the Duke, and lacks the aggressive naked streetfighter looks of the Duke. Basically I need a ride that gives maximum value for money. I see the Duke to fulfil this more than the others. Just a requote of what I said before, the Duke offers so much for such a low price.

warning: the thrill ain't cheap anymore,duke is 10 k rs more dearer.
big boy=gt 250 r.
are you game for a 2nd hand ninja?

I can afford that. I'm sure it won't be higher than 1.5 L atleast. As for the Ninja is concerned, well its ok for me to take a second hand, well maintained ninja, but my dad will never want to get me a second hand bike. He has agreed to buy the Duke since I wanted a ride fast, i.e. within 3 or 4 months. If I wait for like a year or so, I can get him to buy me a ninja. Now wouldn't that be sweet? Sadly I can't wait that long, so I'll have to settle for the Duke. Maybe in future I'll get the bigger version of Ninja or something like that.

Buy a CBR250R ABS version...
ABS is a feature u just cant ignore, especially because you are a new Rider...

I too travel 50Km/day (To college) on my CBR250R ABS, and its my first bike
Similar to you, and I just love it
The higher weight & Fairing on the CBR make it more stable at high speeds, and its Top end is also greater than the Duke
Also if you want more power out of it later on, an ECU upgrade will help u do that, unlike the duke, since its already at 10k RMP at its top power output...
I get a mileage of 30, so I reFuel to Full Tank every saturday and it costs around Rs.750 which is fair enough...

If its speed u want, faired bikes are always better,
And again ABS is a feature u just cant ignore...

CBR ABS all the way

Hmm, even duke's ECU can be remapped to higher RPMs

Actually a college student should go with some mileage stuff with some average power, because when you earn, you are more responsible on money matters, whether to smoke it on petrol or save it.

CBR 250 is mainly for touring for people who want power and speed on tours.

Duke is mainly city bike but no bike is like you can't use it in other way!!!

CBR ABS comes approx 2.0L and STB for 1.7L but thing is why to spend this much amount on bike when you are a college student.

I don't think a college student who has 35kms daily as an average should go with 250 or 200cc because you will be paying approx Rs120 daily/Petrol min, which can be on more higher side too.

The power and speed you are expecting would cost you with min average of 25kmpl by CBR and Duke would be close to 30kmpl. These are the figures which you will get if you ride these bikes at 110kmph or plus. It is very normal,if Duke or CBR are once on highway then you or any rider will ride 110-120kmph as an average speed.

If money itches you then go with CBR as it's best on highway with power.

If you think sensible then power or speed, then go with Dazzler/Unicorn/CBZ-hunk/Impulse, P150 and GS150r the best!!

Impulse is one of the best comfort bikes as reported by riders for good highway ride.(Actually comfort is very imp for 15kms+ ride daily cases)

Go with mileage with decent power than Mega Power like Duke or CBR or NS or P220 ..etc

No maintenance is trouble free!! It's purely on SVC you get!! My friend faces issue with Bajaj and Hero parts, but similarly my other friend don't have any issues!! So it's purely on how your SVC is?

From to where you go to college ??

Weekly 750 that means 4 weeks a month = 750*4 = Rs 3000 and anything more than college routine, some tour or other stuff would cross this Rs3000/- mark right ??

Surely, your parents are loving you alot. Ypu are lucky Bro!!

But you could have saved your parents money to great extend and petrol too. But if money doesn't matter you or your family then awesome!! But most of us are not that lucky so we have to settle at some average thing, But no regrets, today by own money I had own R15 and enjoy to the brim!! No petrol or money issue at all now.

He wants a powerful & Fast machine, and not just a mode of Transport...
And since he is ready to spend 2L, I think CBR250R ABS is the best he can get...