[praful]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Planning to upgrade Tripathy Jee?

For years I've waited for a do-it-all bike like my 220. The bigger Duke seems to promise that, except I'm not sure if my fuel range needs will be met.

So HELL YEAH ... I'm waiting for this one to hit the PBK's!

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by Sheel

CBR 250R. Can ably tour two up & cruise at 100+kmph all day/night. One of my friend from Delhi tours with his wife on this & mighty satisfied with it.

A bit expensive, but the Ninja 650R ticks the boxes as well.

Maybe an year down the line, I can update you on this aspect

We have a TBHPIan who does enough touring on his CBR and guess with pillion most of the time.

My neighbour has a Ninja 250R and always complains of heat within city.

[Harshal.Bhosale]

Originally Posted by praful

A more realistic price would be anywhere from 2.7-3.2L!

Well, all I can hope is that they keep it around 2.5 (One can always hope Zigwheels got their facts right, can't we? :optimistic!). Will be hard to convince my dad if it goes nearer to 3lakhs than 2!


Also, talking of the cbr while we are, isn't the price difference around the 50-60k ballpark IIRC (ie 150R vs 250R?

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by jkdas

We have a TBHPIan who does enough touring on his CBR and guess with pillion most of the time.

My neighbour has a Ninja 250R and always complains of heat within city.

Not heat JK, I believe CBR heats enough in city as well. Maybe the Ninja 250R heats a trifle more, but that isn't an issue.

The ergos are more suited for two (personal preference rules, but believe if people are honest, quite a few shall chose the CBR) up riding.

The Ninja 250R would be more relaxed than the CBR250R at any speed at any rpm, but comfort and the ease to ride ability (torque low down) does the trick I feel. You can't brake H-A-R-D and think of apexes & shooting off corners & getting a knee down, riding two up. The dynamics change a lot. I would take things easy & slow down my progress. For solo riding the Ninja 250R rocks the boat.

Sure, you get what you pay for but in all honesty, I think the CBR edges here. The pillion seat is comfier & more accommodating helps as well. We have smart tourers (two-up) Karizma, CBR250R, Ninja 650R, Bandit and the VFR. Maybe I missing others, but these spring to mind almost immediately.

@Praful - See, I read your mind

The specs are yummy and would make for a very interesting & FUN Motorcycle.

[doctorque]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Not heat JK, I believe CBR heats enough in city as well. Maybe the Ninja 250R heats a trifle more, but that isn't an issue.

The ergos are more suited for two (personal preference rules, but believe if people are honest, quite a few shall chose the CBR) up riding.

The Ninja 250R would be more relaxed than the CBR250R at any speed at any rpm, but comfort and the ease to ride ability (torque low down) does the trick I feel. You can't brake H-A-R-D and think of apexes & shooting off corners & getting a knee down, riding two up. The dynamics change a lot. I would take things easy & slow down my progress. For solo riding the Ninja 250R rocks the boat.

Sure, you get what you pay for but in all honesty, I think the CBR edges here. The pillion seat is comfier & more accommodating helps as well. We have smart tourers (two-up) Karizma, CBR250R, Ninja 650R, Bandit and the VFR. Maybe I missing others, but these spring to mind almost immediately.

@Praful - See, I read your mind

The specs are yummy and would make for a very interesting & FUN Motorcycle.

Agree with most of it.

I used to commute on my R15 through peak traffic to work in mumbai and the riding position quite suits me (to each their own). Apart from the missing grunt at lower rpm's i did not quite have any complaints. Infact i began to enjoy the otherwise frustrating mumbai traffic. A very good seat shape and padding and just the right stiffness on the suspension, helped a lot too. Array of new bikes being launched including the new R15 along with a good deal made me sell my bike to get some thing even better to commute.

Ever since, i am forced to commute on my Ninja 250R as ive not been able to settle down on one commuter replacement to the R15. All the above was mentioned to make a point that if the road surface is not good and there is too much traffic and heat, in my case Mumbai, the 250R is not the right thing at all. So it cannot be a do it all bike. Its great on a sunday morning ride to Lonavala, but becomes very un comfortable tackling everything else. CBR i am sure would be better 2 up to commute or tour.

Miss the R15.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by doctorque

Agree with most of it.

I used to commute on my R15 through peak traffic to work in mumbai and the riding position quite suits me (to each their own). Apart from the missing grunt at lower rpm's i did not quite have any complaints. Infact i began to enjoy the otherwise frustrating mumbai traffic. A very good seat shape and padding and just the right stiffness on the suspension, helped a lot too. Array of new bikes being launched including the new R15 along with a good deal made me sell my bike to get some thing even better to commute.

Ever since, i am forced to commute on my Ninja 250R as ive not been able to settle down on one commuter replacement to the R15. All the above was mentioned to make a point that if the road surface is not good and there is too much traffic and heat, in my case Mumbai, the 250R is not the right thing at all. So it cannot be a do it all bike. Its great on a sunday morning ride to Lonavala, but becomes very un comfortable tackling everything else. CBR i am sure would be better 2 up to commute or tour.

Miss the R15.

LOL, are we both on the same boat or what?

I miss my R15 for the things you pointed. Neat brakes, grippy tires, sorted suspension, peaky nature of the engine. I miss all those on the CBR-250R. But then I was short on moolah and would have liked to upgrade to the Ninja 250R, but your post comes as a consolation to me & thanks for that Still the Ninja would have been better.

My priorities have changed somewhat and till I can afford two bikes or more, I think, CBR-250R would be the best bet at this price point for me now.

The only bike I regret selling. The YZF-R15.

[Bazinga]

3 years ago I was waiting with baited breath (with 1.5L approved budget from wifey) for the launch of Ninja250R, I was ready to plonk 50K more of hard earned moolah for a bike almost twice the costliest indian bike at that time.

Bajaj shattered my dream by keeping the price out of my wife's reach (I was still reddy ) A new car materialized out of that reserved cash. Was cashless again.

Time and again the bikes have eluded me. The more I pledge to sell off my trusted pulsar150UG1 the more it clings to me. All this while mom chants "manushya ki icchao ka anth nahi hai" (Meaning: A man's desires has no ends)

TBTS was difficult for Pune Traffic / too retro for my taste
KTM is too small for wife to fit in besides me
Ninja is too pricey....
CBR held a candle but is blown away with the news of Ninja300 and KTM390

Am still waiting... 3 years and a fruitless search. Probiking people know me as a crazy fool who keeps inquiring about bikes that are not launched yet :(

Although my budget is about twice the initial size, there is still not a bike in sight. Need Bajaj and KTM to put me out of my misery. Or Honda if they think a CBR (400/500) is worthy of being launched in India at 3L OTR... (Hell I will pay 50K more if you launch early).

Mere paas paisa hai, TBHP hai, dost hai, car hai... lekin koi sahi bike launch hi nahi karta sahi wali

[Passiautonate]

Originally Posted by praful

With the Duke 200 retailing at almost 1.5L now. How can you expect a bike which approximately makes double the power and has double the CC, to be priced just 30% more?

A more realistic price would be anywhere from 2.7-3.2L!

Well seems logically ok as far as maths is concerned, but you have practical examples to live with CBR150R trading at 1.3 lacs and CBR 250R at 1.6 lacs. Going per your logic KTM 125 (if launched) should be priced at 90K, well we know not possible.

We know KTM chasis is designed in such a way that a larger powerplant can be introduced. So cost wise there would not be exponential difference for the manufacturer. Only point I believe Bajaj will have to negotiate is, it should be high enough to stop the cannabilization (with 200) and low enough to attract buyers.

Knowing Bajaj, they will be going all out for VFM pricing. My take 2.25 lacs OTR.

Regards,
Maddy

[Harshal.Bhosale]

Originally Posted by Passiautonate

My take 2.25 lacs OTR.

Fingers crossed! Indeed, as you pointed out, there arent too many chassis changes required to be done and as such, the pricing needn't go all the way into Kwacker-territory. Seeing as we don't have any bike in the 2-2.5 lakh price bracket, 2.2 seems like a sweet spot to me.

[Abhi_Automobile]

MODS,

The thread confidently states 'unveiling in Nov.'. To me, this is still a rumour (even though a very strong one). Have we heard an official word yet? Or somebody got a confirmation from Bajaj folks about the international unveiling?

BTW, I had started the following thread to track the progress of KTM Duke 690 : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/superb...-diwali-8.html should we merge the two threads since the 690 isn't happening any time soon?

[Sheel]

The pricing is a very important criterion. Unlike with other products, where BAL enjoyed supremacy amongst rivals due to a better product, here it has to fight it off with its own ally. The very able Kawasaki Ninja 250-R.

I believe customers too would scratch head, 375cc, Almost 50% more power and at a lower price (probable & maybe likely) with a very fantastic suspension to boast about.

I really do not want to be in the room where the pricing for this would be discussed It certainly isn't going to be easy.

[praful]

Originally Posted by Sheel

here it has to fight it off with its own ally. The very able Kawasaki Ninja 250-R.

Market dynamics are changing, and I expect the 250 to go away in favor of the 300. And, I don't see anyway that they'd charge less than 4L OTR for the 300. Internationally also the 300R is about 15% more expensive over the 250R, the Indian price hike might be a tad more than just 15%.

Now you might argue that at this price point the N650 starts making a lot more sense, but here's what I think. When the 2012 N650 was priced at just 4% more internationally, we poor Indians pay almost 10% more for the 2012 variant over the 2011 version. The 2013 N650 (with ABS) is almost 10% more expensive internationally, so we would naturally pay much for it starting next year, which makes more spacing for the N300's pricing to touch the 4L mark.

Basically what I'm trying to say here is that the Kawasaki machines will get pushed forward to a much more premium pricing band, that would leave more space for BAL to price the new bigger duke at a premium but still below the Kawasaki stuff. And the bigger Duke does have more cc and power (hopefully) than the N300. So logically speaking I don't see any reason why BAL would price it anything south of 2.7L.

[Sheel]

I was not aware of the pricing for the 300 and hence my response earlier.

If one understands Motorcycles & knows his/her priorities, there would be no cross shopping.

Most are waiting for the 690 as well. Lets see as to what happens there.

[praful]

The 690 atleast for now doesn't look like will be manufactured locally, so via the CKD/CBU it would be pretty steeply priced again if you consider that the 690 is priced higher than the N650 internationally.

But the Duke375/390 is going to be locally manufactured so I don't see its pricing going sky high!

*fingers crossed*

[ebonho]

Guys, Kawasaki at best is in a tech for market type business arrangement with Bajaj.

Whereas Bajaj owns and controls a significant part of KTM.

There will be NO confusion in pricing the 375/390.