Why I chose the Honda CB300R over the RE Himalayan & Jawa 42

I briefly toyed with the idea of Kawasaki Z650 and Honda 500x but then the high sticker price plus the fact that I would be riding mostly in city, I quickly crossed them out.

BHPian samgoodkid recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I am happy to announce that I recently took the delivery of my CB300R - matte black on 26 Jan 2023.

This bike finally ends a 7-year draught where I was without a two-wheeler and used my Jazz to commute. Before this, we had Yamaha Libero, TVS Apache 150, RE Thunderbird Twinspark in the family.

Funny part is that when I sat down and started shortlisting potential bikes this was nowhere near in the consideration. I was aware of the bike' existence and its capabilities but had some sort of a mental block (probably because of high sticker price).

So, it all started when Honda reduced the prices of CB300F by INR 64000/-.

The itch to buy a motorcycle used to surface every now and then, but with the prices slashed, I decided to enter into the ring and take a test drive. I decided to give bikes from other stable a try as by now, I was convinced that I really wanted a motorcycle.

I was mainly looking for a bike that would put a smile on my face and was VFM. Wasn't too worried about the numbers on the spec sheet. Wanted to use it for my commutes to work and occasional touring/highway rides.

The options considered on paper (not in any particular sequence):

• RE Hunter
• Scram 411
• Interceptor
• Jawa 42
• CB 350 RS
• KTM Adv 390
• CB 300F
• Dominar 400
• BMW GS310 R

I briefly toyed with the idea of Kawasaki Z650 and Honda 500x but then the high sticker price plus the fact that I would be riding mostly in city, I quickly crossed them out. I don't think I would have been able tap the full power of these bikes in city and that factor alone helped me in crossing out a few bikes from the list.

Final contenders:

• RE Hunter
• Scram 411
• CB 300F

Started visiting the local dealers in PCMC area for test drives.

RE Hunter: The first thing that hit me is that this bike is actually bigger than that it looks. The refinement of the J Series engine is altogether on a different level and the bike pulled all the right strings. My better half too found the seats very comfortable, and she gave it a big thumbs up. I knew that this would be the bike I would end up with if nothing else works out. Good looks, nice easy revving engine at a very good price. What else one needs, right?

Scram 411: I was always fascinated by this bike and liked the overall stance and look of the bike. But this was immediately ruled out as I test drove it after I rode Hunter. The engine had a lot of vibrations and with a heavy heart crossed it out.

CB300F: I went to the PCMC Big Wing showroom along with my cousin and wife to test ride the motorcycle. The bike pulled neatly upto 70 KMPH but the overall feeling was that of similar to Yamaha FZ25. A little disappointed, I handed over the keys think about how to sum up the experience, I saw the CB300 R in the parking lot. My cousin asked for a test ride and before we could blink, the keys were handed over to us. I hopped on first and the moment, I fired up the engine, I had a grin on my face.

The bike felt effortless, and the in-gear acceleration was fantastic too.

During the test drive I had an occasion while braking I felt the rear tyre locking up and losing a bit of grip. Not sure if that was the ABS kicking in or just me riding after 7 years

My wife was worried about the pillion comfort, and it took a couple of test drives to convince her that it isn't as bad it looked.

Convinced that I found the bike I was looking for I went ahead and booked the bike.

The showrooms folks informed me that the Big Wing showrooms would only focus on 300- 500 cc bikes and the bikes above 500 cc would be sold through the Honda Gold Wing (not sure of the name though) showrooms.

They also informed me that 500x (which was recently taken off the Honda website) would be re-launched in April.

For now, I am happy that I have closed this chapter of my life which was open for the past 7 years.

I have covered just about 25 Kms on the bike till now but I think I am back in the game now.

So much so, that I have started planning for the next one 5 years down the line.

I am looking at you, Kawasaki Z650.

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