[kailashnj]

History about me...

I started riding two wheeler at a very young age. At 11, I was riding my Dad's Bajaj Sunny within the compound of my building easily (due to this he sold it off so that I don't learn to ride the scooter on public roads at such a tender age and that too without license). My first bike (my very own) was the Yamaha RX100 which was gifted by my grandma at age of 17 as my birthday gift. I used this bike for couple of years.

Below are the other bikes that I have owned in some point of time till 2009 (in sequential order). List below
1. Hero Honda CBZ
2. Bajaj Pulsar 180 Classic
3. Bajaj Pulsar 180 DTSi
4. Bajaj Pulsar180 DTSi V2 with Alloy
5. Bajaj Pulsar 200 DTSi
6. Bajaj Pulsar 220 FI - 2007 edition

I also own few ungeared scooters in the family for wife and Dad like the TVS Wego (sold), Hero Honda Pleasure (sold), currently own Honda Dio and Honda Aviator.

In 2009 while riding the Pleasure to pick up my kid from school, I met with an unfortunate accident, which left me with a broken right knee and dislocated left shoulder, which rendered me out of action for 2 months. Due to this my Dad sold off my Pulsar 220 at throw away price (35000 only) and I was not allowed to buy any bike for many years. In 2011 Honda launched the CBR250R at a mouthwatering price of 1.75 lakhs with ABS version OTR Mumbai. I was very happy and went ahead and booked the bike. Since the bike was in high demand, I had a waiting period of 45 days. Somehow my Dad got the info that I had again booked the bike and he made lot of fuss (read that as lot of gyan and shouting to me) which resulted in that I had to cancel the booking and take the entire amount back from the Dealer. Since the Honda dealer was a friend and also since the bike was in huge demand, I was handed over the entire money without any cancellation charges. Thank god.

Fast Forward to 2015 - I was now without bikes for 7 years and the itch to get back on the bike was growing by the Day. Secretly, I started scouting for the options that I had and I was pleasantly surprised by how the biking scenario had changed completely in India. We have so many options now - the KTMs, Hondas, Suzukis, Kawas etc. It was a feast for me to check these bikes and shortlist which will be my new ride after 7 years. Did lot of research and test ride and short listed few bikes. During this time I was also online reading news about the new launches and heard Mahindra is launching the Mojo 300 after 5 years from the dekho that they had in the Auto Expo. I waited for the bike and when it was launched, I booked the bike and was part of the first 100 customers to book the bike in Mumbai. On 1 Dec 2015, I was back on bike after 7 years. It was a dream come true for me. Luckily this time there was no fights from anyone in the family and it seemed like GOD himself was helping me go back to the two wheeled World that I missed so much.

Fast Forward to 2016 July - August period. Mahindra Mojo has served me well but it has lot of quality issues. Especially since my bike had done Mumbai - Delhi in Feb 2016 for the Auto Expo, when the kms were less than 1500 on the clock, the bike started giving me issues like coarse engine, gear shift issues and rusting on lot of parts which is totally unbearable for me, but the most hated part are the brakes - they are just not upto the mark and I had many situations where I had my balls in the mouth under hard braking. Another issue is the pillion seat size is so small that it’s just not there at all. The pillion seat on Mojo is good for only my kids, no one else could sit comfortably (read that as wife) behind me. Hence I started looking for another bike which I can ride without any worry. During one of my rides, I got a chance to ride my friend's CBR250R 2011 model. I was just bowled over again with the bike. I asked him to allow me to take the bike home. When my wife sat with me on the bike, she was like this is a sofa set on two wheels as compared to your Mojo. She could enjoy the ride with me without any fuss. Hence I had more or less made up my mind to buy the CBR. Started scouting the dealers and when I went to buy the bike, I was surprised that the bike now costed 2.21 lakhs in Mumbai OTR for the ABS, Cool 50k over the price in 2011. I did not want to block so much in a new bike and anyways I did not like the colour options available at this time. Hence I started looking at options in the used bike sections of Quickr, OLX, Bikewale, Zigwheels, Team BHP classifieds etc. Short listed few bikes and started followup with the owners. Luckily, I was able to find a 2015 CBR250R with only 4463 KMS done and the seller was asking for 1.7 lakhs for the bike. Negotiated with the guy over the phone and went to check out the bike.


On 4th Sep - I went to check out the bike and I was in love with the bike in the first look. Bike was 1 year old, but looked like a virgin and straight out of the showroom. Let the pictures do some talking here.

This is how the bike was standing when I first saw it. It was an instant click for me.


Me checking out the bike on 4th Sep


During delivery on 4th Sep itself.


I am in love with the CBR and have already done 1000 kms in 10 days that I had spent with her. All local runs within Mumbai and enjoy it thoroughly.

On 5th Sep - Ganesh Chaturthi Day.

Since I got the bike in the night - we did not conduct puja for the bike. On 5th Sep, it was an auspicious day of Ganesh Chaturthi and hence did Puja at the temple in Mulund.

Post that Its been just nirvana for me.

Few issues that I have faced with the bike till now are as follows:

1. Front Suspension is very soft
2. Number plate touches the front mudguard
3. Few Vibrations in the fairing. (need to check)
4. Both tyres have multiple punctures - hence looking for new tyres.

The positives are as follows:-

1. Brakes with ABS - One of the best brakes in this category I feel.
2. Pillion Seat is spacious
3. Sitting position is not that committed like the RC and can be used for long rides

I have planned few mods for the bike which I will install soon. No particular order though.

1. Adjustable levers
2. Bolt Charger
3. Earth Wire Mod
4. Michelin Pilot Street Tyres
5. Panniers and Rack for touring.
6. Frame Sliders and Fender protectors
7. Powertronic Piggyback ECU
8. Tank Pads

Let the pics do the talking now. This was on one of my ride to a friend's farmhouse near Talegoan.





The smile here says it all.


This bike is very good to ride. I love the smooth engine and it has enough grunt to overtake in any gear except 6th. Gear changes are also butter smooth and with just a slight touch of the foot, I can change gears easily.

The ride of this bike is very well sorted and it will soak up most of the bumps with occasional bumps being felt. Due to the soft front suspension, I have noticed that the front number plate occasionally touches the front mudguard. To mitigate this will have to rely on some desi jugaad. One thing that I can surely say is that Honda CBR oozes quality. Every panel, paint job and stickering is all top class.

Performance

I am sure by now you have already seen in the pics above that I am little on the heavier side. I have used the MOJO which has a very high torque motor as compared to CBR. With MOJO, I have started loving the torque that its engine offers and comparatively, CBR seems to be little low on power. Don't get me wrong, it has lot of power but when I compare it to MOJO its lags behind a little.

For me the best part is the smooth engine and you can ride this bike whole day at around 100 kmph speeds where the bike is around 6k RPM.

Fuel Efficiency

I am still not able to gauge the FE on this bike as I have got high variances in FE for the 3 fill ups that I have.
For my first fill I got a mileage of 30.17 per litre (only city riding)
For my second fill I got a mileage of 33.45 per litre (only city riding)
For my third fill I got a mileage of 28.68 per litre. (citi and highway riding)

Hence I am not able to say what will be the correct FE. If I take an average of the above 3 then the FE is around 30.76 per litre.

Handling

CBR's handling is just beautiful. This bike is light weight (as compared to Mojo) and feels really planted in the straight runs (straight line stability) even if you are on triple digit speeds. Though the stock tyres are not upto the mark - Contigo, specially in the corners, hence I am planning to change over to Michelin Pilot Street. I am sure this will transform the handling of the bike as many other CBR owners have mentioned.

Apologies for the long thread. Hope to keep the thread updated regularly.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Motorcycle Section. Thanks for sharing!

[farhadtarapore]

Congrats on a very sensible purchase! When I moved from Bangalore to Mumbai, for some strange reason, I sold off my 3 year old CBR and I regret it.

It's one of the best bikes to own and ride in our cities and occasional jaunts on the highways. Ride safe and enjoy the bike

[Abhi_abarth]

Congrats on your purchase. It's raining CBR250s in Tbhp. A pre-owned cbr is a perfect value for money. The only thing questions me is the availability of the repsol fairings since they are limited edition. Does honda provide them as spares too ?

[Blow Horn Ok]

Hi. Congratulations for your new possession. You have got a pristine example.

Came across an ad on olx about a 2012 silver/grey CBR (non abs) at an asking price of 90k. The bike has run 20k kms and seems to be scratch free and well kept. I hope the seller would agree for 83-84 k. How is the price and what are the points which should be checked before picking up a used cbr 250? Any pointers about engine health?

[kailashnj]

Originally Posted by farhadtarapore

Congrats on a very sensible purchase! Ride safe and enjoy the bike

I am seriously in love with the bike. Its really fun to ride. Thanks for your wishes.

Originally Posted by Abhi_abarth

Congrats on your purchase. Does honda provide them as spares too ?

Not sure if they are available. Though I just hope I don't need to buy them as spares ever. Thanks for your wishes.

Originally Posted by Blow Horn Ok

Hi. Congratulations for your new possession. You have got a pristine example.

Came across an ad on olx about a 2012 silver/grey CBR (non abs) at an asking price of 90k. The bike has run 20k kms and seems to be scratch free and well kept. I hope the seller would agree for 83-84 k. How is the price and what are the points which should be checked before picking up a used cbr 250? Any pointers about engine health?

I have seen many ads before finalizing on this. The best that I could find was 2012 ABS version for 95k and 12k KMS done. But I would not go for that old bike. I always wanted to buy the 2015 version. Try out on OLX for the bike, I am sure you will get a good find.

Updates:

I am planning to tour on my bike and hence needed few things sorted. Mobile phones are integral part of our day to day activities. But due to this we have to ensure that our phones have juice when ever we need it. For this I added the following accessory in my bike.

Bolt Charger


I connected it directly to the battery. Connection is easy and can be DIY too


Also I was not at all happy with the grip of the stock Conti GO tyres. As I had mentioned earlier, I wanted to change the tyres to Michelin Pilot Street. One of my friend suggested that I should go for Pirelli Sport Dragon. Though a cross ply tyre, it has superior grips. He also said that he can get me a very good deal. Hence I got those changed too today. Both front and back tyres costed me around 6400 all inclusive.



This is front tyre.


After the change in the tyres, the handling has improved drastically. I have lot more confidence in the tyres now and the grip levels then the stock. I can easily recommend the PSD for CBR.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by kailashnj

...Front Suspension is very soft..

Thanks for sharing he report. I read about the above issues in almost all threads. I believe some of them suggested a change in the (suspension) fluid and everyone has reported a good improvement.

Can't recollect exactly what brand of fluid, you might want to go through some of the threads on the forum.

Edit:: I guess it's the fork oil and the brand suggested is Motul.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post3985595

Originally Posted by kailashnj

...
Bolt Charger
...

I think this is one of the most practical mods on the bikes today. It serves on long drives a lot.

Originally Posted by kailashnj

...Though a cross ply tyre, it has superior grips.

Could you tell me what's a 'cross ply tyre'? And the advantages / dis-advantages of this over normal tyres?

[aargee]

Originally Posted by kailashnj

Both front and back tyres costed me around 6400 all inclusive

That's a good price, assuming they're brand new & not used; just do me a favor, keep an accurate log on the number of Km clocked on the new set of tires. Use the one Re coin method for measurement between now & when replacing.

My trust is with Michelin; its not only expensive & Radial, but worth every paisa spent on it. My rear non radial is Michelin & didn't expect it to serve over 20000 Km which I haven't got on any MRF (R & non R), Dunlop, Conti crap till date. So my next set of tires are certainly Michelin R's, but would like to know how good are Pirelly plies & hence the request.

PS - Pls check if Pirelli's have 6 cross plies for me. Tks

[kailashnj]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Thanks for sharing he report. I read about the above issues in almost all threads. I believe some of them suggested a change in the (suspension) fluid and everyone has reported a good improvement.

Could you tell me what's a 'cross ply tyre'? And the advantages / dis-advantages of this over normal tyres?

Normal tyres are all cross ply only and I was planning to buy the radial earlier but ended up with these PSD.

Originally Posted by aargee

That's a good price, assuming they're brand new & not used; just do me a favor, keep an accurate log on the number of Km clocked on the new set of tires. Use the one Re coin method for measurement between now & when replacing.

My trust is with Michelin; its not only expensive & Radial, but worth every paisa spent on it. My rear non radial is Michelin & didn't expect it to serve over 20000 KMs

PS - Pls check if Pirelli's have 6 cross plies for me. Tks

I am hoping to clock atleast 20 k on these tyres. They are brand new tyres and yes I will maintain the log as you said. Will post the pictures of measurement of thread depth later today.

[kailashnj]

10,000 Kms Update

I have been enjoying the bike for some time now and have crossed 10118 Kms as of now. I use the CBR for daily commute as well as long distance touring. On 26th & 27th Nov 2016, I did Mumbai Bangalore Mumbai. Total distance covered is 1980 kms total. Time taken - 14 hrs and 25 minutes one way. Got consistent mileage between 29 to 31 kmpl.

The highway between Pune to Bangalore is just pristine and with CBR I could easily cover 70 Kms per hour. This was really good. Roads from Pune to Satara have lot of diversions as there is road widening job going on. I had to be very careful but since I had started at 5:00 am in the morning, I could easily avoid traffic in Pune and in Satara. (I am sure people from Pune will relate to this).

Below is one of my favorite picture of the trip.


Few more pics from the trip.






Few upgrades that I had done for the trip.

Added Aux lights for night ride. This helped a lot, as while returning from Bangalore, i was late to do previous day's long stretch haul, and left Bangalore only at 12:30 pm and due to which I reached Mumbai only at 2:30 am.


Another upgrade was the Ram Mount to hold my mobile. You can see that its right next to the Bolt charger that I have installed. Due to bike's aerodynamic's and since the mobile is under the front screen, even at speeds above 135 kmph the phone was very stable. (Please don't try such speeds in city or at crowded places and only do it if you are well aware of your and your bike's limits) Never even once did I feel that the phone is not secured. (pic clicked after TLC on my return)


After some TLC on the bike, did waxing and polishing (All DIY - and the above pic too is after the DIY) - and also washed and lubed the chain.


Ending my update here at the moment with a promise that there is still lot more to come.