As we reported on 28th December, Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India has started taking bookings for one of the most awaited motorcycles this decade- the quarter liter sibling of the CBR family, CBR250R. All the prominent dealerships have been decorated with huge CBR posters inviting inquisitive bikers to the showrooms. Ironically though, many dealers have no or very little clue about this bike.
For one, I can talk about the HMSI dealership at Wakdewadi, Pune. Despite a loud and clear “Bookings Open” message outside the showroom, no one on the floor knew about the bike and cited “Company is yet to provide any info about this bike” when enquired. Nonetheless, what we do know clearly is that Bookings have been made open starting this year. You can go ahead and book a CBR at a meager amount of Rs.5000 only. However, for the bike to be yours you would have to wait till April. CBR has been priced at an ex showroom price of Rs.1.5 lakh which makes it a ‘close to Rs 1.7 lakh’ on road bike. The higher version loaded with C-ABS comes at approximately Rs.2 lakhs on road.
You can also go to HMSI’s CBR 250R official website and check the small ticker of ‘Bookings Open’ at the bottom of the home page for this bike. When clicked at, it opens a small form to fill which sends your details to the company’s database and they would contact you regarding more details of the bike.
Honda would manufacture the bike in India providing advantage of localizing components and labor in turn saving incurred costs. Apart from India, Honda would also manufacture this bike in Thailand. As a matter of fact, CBR250R is powered by a short stroke 250cc single cylinder DOHC fuel injected and liquid cooled engine belting out 26PS of power output mated with a 6 speed gearbox.
With the Honda badge at its heart, pretty impressive figures to boast of and a very decent price tag, this one seems to be setting the tempo rolling for the Indian quarter liter motorcycle segment. Bring it on!
– Saad Khan
