Team-BHP - Baby Ceeber comes home! Honda CBR250R
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Hi,

I've been sitting on the fence for a long time about buying a bike. I was torn between the RE Classic 350 and the Honda CBR250R. Though I had booked for a C3 on February, I decided to buy the CBR instead. I had gotten worried about RE's bad reputation in quality and servicing and decided to put my trust in the CBR. And I'm a proud owner now!

Dealership experience:

I had visited almost all the Honda dealers in Cochin while I was deciding to switch over to the CBR. Oddly, almost all of them only had the tricolor in stock- no reds or blacks. The standard reply I had got was-'Sir, the CBR250 is now available only in tricolor for Kerala. The production of other colors have stopped.' That sounded like hogwash to me. I bought the CBR from my native town where they had a red example fresh off the truck. The experience was hassle-free as I personally knew the owner. Got the bike yesterday. I'm a happy soul now.

Now, about the bike-

Engine: I'm no expert on bikes. The only experience I had with them was riding my bro's Honda scooter and the weekend trips on the RE Classics loaned from the showroom. Compared to the Enfields, the CBR's motor felt quite refined and vibe free. It's smooth and doesn't exhibit any drama. I guess that makes it a relaxed tourer. I'm sticking to below 4000 rpm for 500 kms for now. I'll update later after I've completed the first service.

Gearbox: Extremely smooth and positive feeling. I've only got a couple of grouses about them. One is the fact that the gear lever's a bit too short. But I can get used to that in a couple of days. Secondly, I'm missing a gear or two while shifting, ie, while shifting to second, I'm inadvertently shifitng to third. I think that I maybe at fault here. Gotta work up my shifting skills while riding alone late at night.

Ride & Handling: Sure footed and stable. I got the feeling that the Conti rubbers weren't too fond of wet roads, but they didn't lose traction or anything. The ride quality is pretty good though not in the Classic's league.

Braking: Mine's a STD version with Bybre brakes. The brakes don't have much bite and feel safe and progressive to operate. However, they can be inadequate while braking from high speeds. Seems like replacing the stock brake pads with better ones can improve things. I need to practise more braking on the CBR- just to be safe.

Ergonomics: The positioning takes a bit of getting used to. My wrists were aching after a ride. As I had said before, the gear lever and the brake pedals are small but one does get used to them over time. The main seat's pretty okay so far. The pillion seat seems uncomfortable and I don't think I would want to take a ride sitting on that seat. I didn't like the look of the rear footpegs and would be replacing them with something classier and made out of aluminum.
The switchgear and plastic quality seems to have improved over the first batch. I had been quite unimpressed with the plastic quality of the first batch of CBR-s. But now, they seem to have improved quite a bit. For example, the weld marks on the chassis aren't as prominent as they were before.
The instrument console's pretty nice. Simple, but functional.

I apologize for the poor quality pictures. My cam had run out of juice and I had to make do with my lousy phone's camera instead.

Baby Ceeber comes home! Honda CBR250R-img_20120712_134244.jpg

Baby Ceeber comes home! Honda CBR250R-img_20120712_134252.jpg

Baby Ceeber comes home! Honda CBR250R-img_20120712_134514.jpg

Baby Ceeber comes home! Honda CBR250R-img_20120712_134525.jpg

Pros-

1) Refined and smooth engine.
2) Linear power delivery. Has the grunt to make light work of most vehicles.
3) Smooth gearbox.
4) Good ride quality and sure footed handling. It's no corner carver, but what it can do is more than enough for me.
5) Heavy and feels quite stable.
6) Improved quality of plastics.
7) Extremely forgiving vehicle- it's easy to ride even for a noob like me.
8) 5 year extended warranty at a nominal price. A lot of peace for the mind.
9) Spares and servicing seems to be cheap.
10) The internals seem to be reliable. After all, it's a Honda.

Neutral-

1) The CBR's looks take some time to grow on you. The reaction of people was polarized, however. Some seemed to like it and some didn't. Oh well, it's me who's going to ride it- not them so who gives. It's not that I'm running a popularity contest anyway.
2) Gear & brake lever length is a bit short. Not too big a deal though.
3) Riding position. Again, needs a bit of getting used to.
4) Fuel Efficiency. Around 30-35 kmpl would be okay for me. Haven't checked it though.
5) Refinement. While it's a huge step up from the RE-s I have experienced, it's not as refined as say, an FZ16. It's got more clatter and noise than the FZ. Maybe it'll subside after the first service. I like the rorty sound, however. Adds a bit of character to the bike.

Cons-

1) Expensive. I would have seriously gone for the Duke 200 instead except that there are no KTM outlets in Cochin. There's only one in Trivandrum and travelling for about 120 kms for a service isn't practical. There's no doubt that the CBR250's expensive. Now that the Duke's here, it's not quite that VFM anymore. One's going to have a hard time convincing people it costs north of 1.5 lakhs. My neighbour took a guess at its price: how much did it cost? 75K?!http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images...rustration.gif

2) Still some rough edges in the fit and finish. The clip on handle bar is a one. The finish where the handle bars are bolted to the bike's chassis is terrible. It looks crude and shoddily finished.

3) Poor rear seat storage mechanism. I'm having a hard time opening and closing the storage area under the rear seat. For one, the space's pretty small and secondly, the hinge and snap lock mechanism are poor.

4) I like the linear and progressive feeling brakes, but many who ride at high speeds might find them inadequate. Replacement of brakepads with better ones might solve the problem.

Overall, it's a pretty good bike. Great for long distance trips and mile munching. It's a likable bike- it just grows on you. Hmm... time to hit the road and pile up some miles.

Congrats on the bike mate! Wish you many happy miles with the bike. Nice and balanced review of the CBR. Regarding refinement, i think piling on a few kms should smooth it out.

Is the FZ in the pic yours as well?

Congrats man. Thats a stunner really, looks gorgeous in that red. I so much want to buy one for myself but for my wife. How I wish I was single!

Did you consider any other bikes as well? If I were in the market today I'd be terribly confused between this and Y R15. Equally love both.

Wish you lots of happy miles on your ceeber.

Congrats dude, she is a beauty. Maybe you should get rid of the saree guard for added beauty ?

I feel it makes little sense for the bike which has no leg guard to have a saree guard. I know they both have next to zero significance over each other.

Quote:

Originally Posted by abhinav.s (Post 2837932)
Congrats on the bike mate! Wish you many happy miles with the bike. Nice and balanced review of the CBR. Regarding refinement, i think piling on a few kms should smooth it out.

Is the FZ in the pic yours as well?

Thank you! The FZ belongs to my friend who had dropped in for lunch. I used that chance to ride his bike for sometime just for comparison sake.

Quote:

Originally Posted by joslicx (Post 2837947)
Congrats man. Thats a stunner really, looks gorgeous in that red. I so much want to buy one for myself but for my wife. How I wish I was single!

Did you consider any other bikes as well? If I were in the market today I'd be terribly confused between this and Y R15. Equally love both.

Wish you lots of happy miles on your ceeber.

Thank you! Yes, I had considered other bikes too. I was torn between the Ceeber and the RE Classic 350. When the Duke was launched, I had considered it as well. I did not consider the R15- its posture is far too aggressive for my tastes. Its quality is impressive however. The Duke was out of the equation solely due to the lack of a KTM outlet in Cochin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaurusAl (Post 2838017)
Congrats dude, she is a beauty. Maybe you should get rid of the saree guard for added beauty ?

I feel it makes little sense for the bike which has no leg guard to have a saree guard. I know they both have next to zero significance over each other.

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.

Congrats for the 250R! Its beautiful. You owe us better quality pics.:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilmessiah (Post 2837699)
....
Cons-

1) Expensive. I would have seriously gone for the Duke 200 instead except that there are no KTM outlets in Cochin. There's only one in Trivandrum and travelling for about 120 kms for a service isn't practical. There's no doubt that the CBR250's expensive. Now that the Duke's here, it's not quite that VFM anymore. One's going to have a hard time convincing people it costs north of 1.5 lakhs. My neighbour took a guess at its price: how much did it cost? 75K?!http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images...rustration.gif

Never mind the neighbour, he seems to have come out of a cave after a decade. In my opinion, ~1.5L to 1.75L is "as affordable as it gets" for a 250cc bike with full fairing. Enjoy it and ride responsibly. :thumbs up

Quote:

Originally Posted by SDP (Post 2838056)
Congrats for the 250R! Its beautiful. You owe us better quality pics.:)


Never mind the neighbour, he seems to have come out of a cave after a decade. In my opinion, ~1.5L to 1.75L is "as affordable as it gets" for a 250cc bike with full fairing. Enjoy it and ride responsibly. :thumbs up

Thanks! I'll put up better pics soon. I'm still a greenhorn so I'm riding quite cautiously. As for the neighbor- lol:

Congrats for the bike. Whenever i think to upgrade my pulsar, only the classic 350 and the Cbr 250 comes into my mind. What is the price difference between the two? Apart from the performance, the bullet displays a cult image, while the Honda displays a contemporary image. Even i like the single tone colour (Leaving the Silver bits apart).

Congratulations on your Ceeber :)

Quote:

I did not consider the R15- its posture is far too aggressive for my tastes. Its quality is impressive however. The Duke was out of the equation solely due to the lack of a KTM outlet in Cochin.
Personally, I love the looks of R15 and I have driven the first version of it. I had found it to be very smooth and I was really very impressed. The only grouse that I had with it was the 150cc engine, how I wish Yamaha would offer a 250cc one! But other than that, the R15 really looks and drives great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilmessiah (Post 2837699)
Braking: Mine's a STD version with Bybre brakes. The brakes don't have much bite and feel safe and progressive to operate. However, they can be inadequate while braking from high speeds.

Use DOT4 from TVS, you'll see a considerable improvement in braking

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilmessiah (Post 2837699)
Seems like replacing the stock brake pads with better ones can improve things. I need to practise more braking on the CBR- just to be safe

Hope you're aware that there's no AM replacement brake pads available for BYBRE in the market now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by evilmessiah (Post 2837699)
Now that the Duke's here, it's not quite that VFM anymore.

Didn't know Duke is 250cc that comes with full fairing with forward leaning riding posture ;)

BTW, Welcome to the club

Congrats. It is a great bike, very good for touring. Keep us updated with the ownership experience.

So far as I know, as per CMV, any two wheeler which needs to be approved for homologation needs to have the saree guard, and the vehicle manufacturer needs to provide one. Not mandatory that the owner should have one. Kudos to our archaic laws for keeping up with the times; Traffic cops have blackberrys and what not, but we still need a saree guard.

The CBR is definitely better of without one, and I feel the Honda designers made it as ugly as possible, so that the owners would take it out in the first instance.

Congrats for you ceeber. It looks super cool in that colour.
Quote:

Originally Posted by evilmessiah (Post 2837699)
Hi,


I'm missing a gear or two while shifting, ie, while shifting to second, I'm inadvertently shifitng to third. I think that I maybe at fault here. Gotta work up my shifting skills while riding alone late at night.

Did you get a solution to this problem? I too face this problem while riding my room partner's ceeber.

Anyways, kindly upload some more pics of your beauty. Take care, Drive safe.

Awesome bike. Am about to go for the same one pretty soon. :)
Do post the ownership experience post the 1st review and some more KMs on the bike.

Howz the backseat comfort on city ride?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blow Horn Ok (Post 2838110)
Congrats for the bike. Whenever i think to upgrade my pulsar, only the classic 350 and the Cbr 250 comes into my mind. What is the price difference between the two? Apart from the performance, the bullet displays a cult image, while the Honda displays a contemporary image. Even i like the single tone colour (Leaving the Silver bits apart).

Thank you! The price difference between the Classic 350 & the CBR250 is approx. 37K here. Most showrooms are keeping the tricolor variant in stock. I had some trouble finding a single tone example.

Quote:

Originally Posted by _raVan_ (Post 2838359)
Congratulations on your Ceeber :)

Personally, I love the looks of R15 and I have driven the first version of it. I had found it to be very smooth and I was really very impressed. The only grouse that I had with it was the 150cc engine, how I wish Yamaha would offer a 250cc one! But other than that, the R15 really looks and drives great.

The R15's finish and quality of components impressed me big time. I haven't ridden one yet as I hadn't considered it at that time. It's a mighty impressive bike- there are a lot of R15-s in Cochin!

Quote:

Originally Posted by aargee (Post 2838363)
Use DOT4 from TVS, you'll see a considerable improvement in braking

DOT4's a class of braking fluid, right? I'm mostly ignorant about this, how does it improve the braking performance?

Quote:

Originally Posted by aargee (Post 2838363)
Hope you're aware that there's no AM replacement brake pads available for BYBRE in the market now.

I'm sorry- I wasn't aware of that. But, I had read something about it here- Cbr250R 1 Year 25000Km Review - Indian cars and bikes - Motoroids
.. about HH sintered brake pads. That was why I had made such a statement.


Quote:

Originally Posted by aargee (Post 2838363)
Didn't know Duke is 250cc that comes with full fairing with forward leaning riding posture ;)

BTW, Welcome to the club

He he... I was talking about the price range and in bhp terms- that's all. Many people do cross shop at a price range. I do that- in fact, I was comparing the Ceeber and the RE Classic 350 before I had bought this ride.
Agreed that the Duke's a different machine with upright riding posture and very aggressive power delivery (like the old two strokes) with short spaced gears, but it's in the same performance ballpark as the Ceeber. About 25 hp for ~1.2 lacs- that's some 40 grands less. A lot of people are going to think that way- especially when they aren't too decided on the form factor (full faired, naked, etc) of the bike they are going to buy.

But when the ride comfort, top speed and refinement comes into the picture, the CBR shines. It's still a great bike.

Thank you aargee! Your thread on the frequently asked questions about the Ceeber and your ownership review was one of the major forces that motivated me to get a CBR.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatienceWins (Post 2838382)
Congrats. It is a great bike, very good for touring. Keep us updated with the ownership experience.

Thanks! I'm planning to go on a long trip on this weekend! I'll keep the thread updated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifisharu (Post 2838404)
So far as I know, as per CMV, any two wheeler which needs to be approved for homologation needs to have the saree guard, and the vehicle manufacturer needs to provide one. Not mandatory that the owner should have one. Kudos to our archaic laws for keeping up with the times; Traffic cops have blackberrys and what not, but we still need a saree guard.

The CBR is definitely better of without one, and I feel the Honda designers made it as ugly as possible, so that the owners would take it out in the first instance.

Okay, so after the registration, one can ride a bike without a saree guard right? I was worried whether a cop would write me a bill because there's no saree guard on the bike or not.

The saree guard on the CBR is an abomination. It looks like a distorted barbecue grill.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dZired (Post 2838521)
Congrats for you ceeber. It looks super cool in that colour.


Did you get a solution to this problem? I too face this problem while riding my room partner's ceeber.

Anyways, kindly upload some more pics of your beauty. Take care, Drive safe.

Unfortunately not. The only way I think I can get around this issue is to start wearing shoes- I wear casual sandals all the time. Sure, I'll put up better pics soon!


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