[evilmessiah]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

I have attached a pic with this post. It is just a bolt-on job - no welding required at all. I had removed the left side fairing to get easy access and fit it without any hassle. You can contact rk_sans for more information if need be.

Wow! That's a pretty good job they've done! I've sent rk_sans a pm about this. Should I get one fabricated locally or if it isn't much trouble, would it be possible to courier another example like this from Bangalore to Cochin?

[needmorebhp]

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

Thanks! I'm aching to remove the saree guard but isn't it illegal to drive around without a saree guard? If it isn't mandatory, I'm getting rid of it.

Heard somewhere that as per law its illegal to sell the bike without saree guard. This provides a loophole to ride it without one. In any case, mine came without saree guard. The dealership provided me the saree guard to carry home, maybe as a proof of their innocence.

No one has stopped me for that till now, so doesn't look to be an issue.

Enjoy the ride, the pain in wrists will go away!!

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by needmorebhp

Heard somewhere that as per law its illegal to sell the bike without saree guard. This provides a loophole to ride it without one. No one has stopped me for that till now, so doesn't look to be an issue.

The saree guard in all my bikes come off before taking delivery if its a new bike and the very day of taking delivery if its a used bike.

Reason - No one wearing saree/traditional outfit sits on the pillion seat of my ride. Mostly it will be solo and when my wife travels with me she is in jeans and riding jacket and fully outfitted like the rider.

Have not had issues with any cops anywhere till now about the saree guard. So if you too don't see the need of the saree guard, remove it without any worries.

[evilmessiah]

Originally Posted by needmorebhp

Heard somewhere that as per law its illegal to sell the bike without saree guard. This provides a loophole to ride it without one. In any case, mine came without saree guard. The dealership provided me the saree guard to carry home, maybe as a proof of their innocence.

No one has stopped me for that till now, so doesn't look to be an issue.

Enjoy the ride, the pain in wrists will go away!!

That's good news! I'm going to remove that abomination of a saree guard from my bike this evening itself. I hate that saree guard- it easily succeeds in ruining the bike's looks. My wrists don't hurt too much anymore nowadays. Guess I've grown used to the riding stance.

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

...Reason - No one wearing saree/traditional outfit sits on the pillion seat of my ride. Mostly it will be solo and when my wife travels with me she is in jeans and riding jacket and fully outfitted like the rider.

Have not had issues with any cops anywhere till now about the saree guard. So if you too don't see the need of the saree guard, remove it without any worries.

The same is the case with me too. No woman wearing a saree will be sitting on my CBR's pillion. My mom prefers my brother's Avenger's pillion anyway.
Thanks for clearing up my doubt. I'll be taking that thing off my ride today itself.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

Wow! That's a pretty good job they've done! I've sent rk_sans a pm about this. Should I get one fabricated locally or if it isn't much trouble, would it be possible to courier another example like this from Bangalore to Cochin?

Yes, hopefully rk_sans can provide you with more info. I'll try and check with him offline.

[Visaster]

Nice bike.
Congrats on the buy.
What was the calling shot to ditch the bullet to get this.
I understand Honda engineering but what more?
I badly want to do a test drive the CBR, but none available in Chennai.

I hear a lot of people including me are stuck between the bullet and the CBR, but most of them went for the CBR thanks to the waiting list issue with bullet. Not one said they regretted buying the CBR over the bull. That's made my life miserable

You say it slowly grows on you and that's exactly what it does. Hope to do a TD to find for myself. But 35K+ more is a little too much on my pocket.

Thanks for your opinion. Hope to see more pictures. Enjoy

[aargee]

Originally Posted by Visaster

I badly want to do a test drive the CBR, but none available in Chennai

Where're you put up? If you can join us on a Sunday morning ride, you can get a chance to ride my C250R.

Originally Posted by Visaster

That's made my life miserable

Not me...even after the engine seizure

Originally Posted by Visaster

But 35K+ more is a little too much on my pocket

Trust me...you'll forget it in few weeks;

And...one cannot compare a RE with CBR 250R; is like comparing a classic modern & modern classic.

[evilmessiah]

Originally Posted by Visaster

Nice bike.
Congrats on the buy.
What was the calling shot to ditch the bullet to get this.
I understand Honda engineering but what more?
I badly want to do a test drive the CBR, but none available in Chennai.

I hear a lot of people including me are stuck between the bullet and the CBR, but most of them went for the CBR thanks to the waiting list issue with bullet. Not one said they regretted buying the CBR over the bull. That's made my life miserable

You say it slowly grows on you and that's exactly what it does. Hope to do a TD to find for myself. But 35K+ more is a little too much on my pocket.

Thanks for your opinion. Hope to see more pictures. Enjoy

I was torn between the RE and the CBR too. What made me switch over was an incident that had occurred when I had the C3 for a weekend test ride.

My friend had tried starting the C3 with the electric start by keeping the switch pressed down for a long time (more than 10 seconds) and the carburetor blew off the hinges. Sure, that must have been because the bike was jetted lean or due to the wrong way in which he started the bike, but neither me nor my friend had any clue of what had happened at that time. The bike didn't start despite whatever we tried. Later on the morning after next, I spotted that the carburetor had split through and it was a five minute job in slotting it back to place.

That sounded like a harbinger of bad things to come with an RE for me. I thought about it deeply and after consulting with another friend who had previously owned a C5 and then sold it to buy a CBR, I decided to change sides.
The long waiting period was a turn off too. The RE dealers just kept postponing the delivery- they didn't even have concrete dates available. I had booked in Feb and they promised to deliver on last of June. On last of June, they said that the time of delivery would be last of September I don't mind long waiting periods, but this kind of postponement ticks me off big time.

If you haven't bought a Classic or a CBR, don't drop buying the CBR just because it's 37 grand dearer. Put it in this way- that 37K represents far better components, materials, paint, mechanical components, premium on the Honda badge and most importantly, infinitely better peace of mind. The last point alone had clinched the deal for me.

Originally Posted by aargee

Not me...even after the engine seizure

I had read about it- that was one terrible incident which had made booking for a Classic seem like a better choice. Later on, reading your experiences with the new engine- that was quite a big relief.

Originally Posted by aargee

Trust me...you'll forget it in few weeks;

Oddly, that's kind of true.

Originally Posted by aargee

And...one cannot compare a RE with CBR 250R; is like comparing a classic modern & modern classic.

Hmm.. for me it's been like this- buy the Classic when you follow your heart and when you come to your senses and the head takes over and hey! There's a CBR in your garage!

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

....infinitely better peace of mind. The last point alone had clinched the deal for me.

Trust me on this one! Totally agree. Infinitely better peace of mind. I own an RE Thunderbird btw.

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

I had read about it- that was one terrible incident which had made booking for a Classic seem like a better choice. Later on, reading your experiences with the new engine- that was quite a big relief.

Guess aargee is one of the biggest fans of the CBR 250R now

[aargee]

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

Hmm.. for me it's been like this- buy the Classic when you follow your heart and when you come to your senses and the head takes over and hey! There's a CBR in your garage!

Then its simple choice, go ahead & buy your bull no matter how long it takes. But later don't regret when a CBR passes by you

That's why I always keep saying - DEFINE the purpose & know yourself; what do you love the most? "There's no tomorrow" or "World can wait"? If you belong to former, then CBR otherwise the Bull. If you fall something in between saying, I occasionally burst then take a call as when you burst out, what's your priority? If you want speed & control, then CBR; if you think, I burst, but stay within controls, then Bull

[Sandeep_K_Ram]

Despite the "avant garde" from RE, the refinement in cruising at 3 digit speeds on a Honda is something else.

I would like to think that Torque-mongers and retro style lovers would go for the Bull, more than high speed cruisers.

[W.A.G.7]

Congrats on the new bike ! Looks real nice and inviting !! Every time I see the thread my mind keeps fluctuating between CBR250 and Thunderbird, thinking about which one will be my next. Two different bikes in two totally different leagues, I can't make up my mind.

P.S: Just curious, did you try the recently launched CBR150R?

Originally Posted by aargee

Lol!!! My CBR has clocked 28960 Kms in 12 months I switched to DOT 4 at approximately 22760 before starting my GQ trip.

Wow, you are a hard core biker to the hilt !! You seem to be enjoying your bike inspite the issues that cropped up. Do you ride 24 x 7?

[evilmessiah]

Originally Posted by aargee

Then its simple choice, go ahead & buy your bull no matter how long it takes. But later don't regret when a CBR passes by you

That's why I always keep saying - DEFINE the purpose & know yourself; what do you love the most? "There's no tomorrow" or "World can wait"? If you belong to former, then CBR otherwise the Bull. If you fall something in between saying, I occasionally burst then take a call as when you burst out, what's your priority? If you want speed & control, then CBR; if you think, I burst, but stay within controls, then Bull

Well said! That's a good way of putting it.

Originally Posted by Sandeep_K_Ram

Despite the "avant garde" from RE, the refinement in cruising at 3 digit speeds on a Honda is something else.

I would like to think that Torque-mongers and retro style lovers would go for the Bull, more than high speed cruisers.

Cruising on the Honda's kind of addictive. Late night runs on the highway have become a daily norm before going to sleep.

I'm a torque lover but I didn't feel that the C3 had much of it. I've heard people saying that the new UCE engine produces less torque than the older CI engines. The 500's another story- that thing is a torque addict's dream.

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Congrats on the new bike ! Looks real nice and inviting !! Every time I see the thread my mind keeps fluctuating between CBR250 and Thunderbird, thinking about which one will be my next. Two different bikes in two totally different leagues, I can't make up my mind.

P.S: Just curious, did you try the recently launched CBR150R?

Ah, the CBR150R- I had taken one out for a long spin while I was considering switching over to the 250. The first thing I had felt that it was a bit more svelte, lighter and smaller than the 250- it was easier to flick around.

I felt that it was even more impotent at the lower end than its bigger sibling. I had to rev it pretty high for it to perform- much more than I had to rev the 250. I was very uncomfortable doing it but the engine seemed to love it- keeping in mind with Honda's tradition of rev happy mills. Doesn't sound as unstressed as the 250 at higher speeds.

On checking out the spec sheet after the test ride, I was astounded to see that the peak power of 17.8 hp is produced at 10,500 rpm! The torque also comes in late at 8500 rpm. This thing would be a total pain in the traffic for sure. Unless I'm very much mistaken, this is an even more rev hungry bike than the track focused R15.

Overall, I found it to be a bit of an anomaly. It's like the engine wants to rev to the moon and race but the body and chassis isn't quite as ready- wrong soul trapped in the wrong body. Also, it's trying to do be a tourer, commuter and a racer at the same time resulting in a muddled identity.

The worst thing I feel about this ride is its pricing. It's more expensive than both the Duke and the iconic R15. Another sore point is that the switchgear's mighty similar (maybe the same) to that of the CBF Stunner. I had noticed this in the showroom display where all the Honda bikes were kept.

I felt that if I'm spending this much, it would be better to take the plunge and spring for the C250R instead.

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Wow, you are a hard core biker to the hilt !! You seem to be enjoying your bike inspite the issues that cropped up. Do you ride 24 x 7?

He sure is seriously focused. I was astounded when he said that he clocked in almost 29K in a year!! The GQ trip he had made is a huge testimony to his fortitude and skill as a biker and to the level of reliability of the C250R. Almost 6000 kms in about 5 days- it took more than a year to clock 6000 kms on my family's Honda City! Amazing indeed.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

Do you ride 24 x 7?

Lol!!! No All I rode was about 80 Km to Srilanka (on the sands of Gulf of Mannar) to 80 Kms to Pakistan (Jaisalmer); a few trips here & there between TN & KL & then this GQ

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

Well said! That's a good way of putting it.

Thanks

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

I was astounded when he said that he clocked in almost 29K in a year!!

Err...what's there to astound? Anyone can do it

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

The GQ trip he had made is a huge testimony to his fortitude and skill as a biker and to the level of reliability of the C250R

Saar...big deal!!! Anyone can do it

[S@ndy]

Congrats on your purchase evilmessiah. The red colour sure looks mean and I would buy CBR if it is a sedate performer. But, I guess I'm wrong here.

-So, Any mods planned or not?
-What about the long-term distances?
-How 'bout rider and pillion comfort?
-How is the handling?

Please, I really want answers to these questions. Would be obliged if you would answer.

Keep revvin'
S@ndy