Finally the day was fixed. The time was fixed and every thing ready to GO. I was anxiously waiting for the day, THE DAY of the ride. It almost felt like the day I was about to go to the showroom to see the ride for the first time and get its key to ride it. The thing going thru my head was just overwhelming. Finally the day arrived and we few guys from the Riderzsyndicate family were invited for the test ride of the mighty CBR 250R. Few weeks back I had the opportunity to pillion ride a CBR 600 and then test ride a CBR 250 on the very same day but I think that short time spent with the slender beauty just made me want more. Even in real life, I don’t know if you guys have any temptation of a certain things but believe me when I say this I was tempting for the day to completely take this baby for a spin. So the grueling wait began, prior to this ride we were about to go for a ride in between as well but the darn rain washed away the golden moment that could’ve arrived sooner but fate had its own course and so it did happen on a sunny and tiring day like this day. When a rider intermingled with a brand new factory transplanted piston on to a 250cc cylinder and it was pumping my heart faster.







The day had barely begun and there I was all prepared and calling up RS members to come quick and shoot to the Honda Wing World, Teku. Like they say, If you aint gonna wait for it….neither does fate”, the member who was supposed to go with me to the showroom got his tires flat, Damn!! I was furious at the darn wall clock which was running that fast. Man I was really starting to get upset, just then got a call and there he was, around my place then we rushed to the showroom. There after a short chit chat with showroom attendant and she made all the arrangements and we go thru all the formalities and then, just then we got a sneak peak into the bike we were supposed to take out for a spin. Man she was gorgeous…No not the showroom attendant, CBR250R (Sliver). I got an eye on her since the press meet few days back, Man she was all smiling and sparkling over the sun, then I wished if we could take her for a spin and now see, fate made it all real. The only thing left out was a long ride, since a lot of bookings Honda asked us to take her out for few hours only. So we complied and took it for the most popular shooting spot Chovar, merely 10kms away from the showroom.



Thanking god and gearing up we took the heavy key…the key was about few grams in weight but the joy of a test ride made it all heavy and huge. Placing me over the CBR’s saddle was just overwhelming. Swiftly going over the dial and turning the ignition on and watching the meter go zoooo and all the indicators lighting created this Sci-Fi movie themed space rocket effect. The Fi engine made this vibration in such a way that for a second it made me check for my cell phone just to be sure. My first smile was having the seat on the saddle of a CBR but now another thing made me smile again, an engine on/off switch…Man that gets handy on the go. Having ridden a Honda bike for quite a while I do know the importance of that same simple red switch which makes the magic. I must say, thumbs up to the Honda just to make that magic happen.



Well being a fresh import the bike, it did have this important feel on the streets. A few glances here and a few there, some head turns and zoom there I go. Funny even a 250cc’d bike can get that attention in the road…and hell yea I loved the attention. Honda always had that edge over a normal commuter vehicle, it had that accessibility and ease while on road and yes I must say they kept the legacy going. The short city ride up until Balkhu made me realize that Yes this bike DO streets. Minor humps don’t even matter and the potholes kind of goes somewhere else, gliding through the streets and frantic traffic made me go all smiling and surprised all the way, Surprised, because it had that pull when going through the third gear, not that sudden like on a sport but just enough to spill your pillion rider’s coffee…given if S/He would grab some. A short traffic signal made me go a different way just to go a bit further, the everyday chaotic traffic now seemed like going down for maintenance. It almost felt like a perfect traffic cutter, with that 25Bhp you could easily overtake a passing four wheeler with ease, not to mention the gear shifts…you remember shifting it on to 2 and next thing you know you are out of gears and sometimes you even just gear up just for a sake of it. I mean the gear ratio is OK but you don’t actually get that space to shift up and so you go all up with it just to put the gear up…if not to go faster then to hear the engine go to a different musical note. The well designed exhaust made that sound which was almost like music to my ears and shifting the gears made that music more melodious. The fresh new heart (piston) now pumping a 250cc bike was at its best going over 60 Km/h and I could not even feel like I’m doing 60. The fared body cuts off the air just as so much to make you feel all comfortable, not necessarily to lean on the corners and bends.



Well enough with the literary stuffs and joy words from me and on to the real deal that you’d all been waiting for and believe me, you must be smiling at the end of this. Either by the fun of it or by the judgment’s that I’ve made and I repeat this is not the impression of a Profound Biker, just a enthusiast.



Note: I can't comment on the overall power output of the bike at this point, whereas 25 Bhp@8500 in the spec sheet is impressive enough. Having not yet taken the engine anywhere close to the RPM range (11-13K) where things happen on these 250cc machines. Once the engine has reached the broken-in phase, and if I happen to get a hold of it, I'll be posting the follow-ups with impressions on that aspect. Stay tuned.



SUSPENSION:
Well after having ridden few of the bikes prior to this ride the suspension did not surprised me that much. The suspension was quite fairly executed in this bike. Few potholes didn’t even mattered to this bike yet could get some real shock when exiting a bump. The bike tend to throw the amount of pressure in case of exiting humps on a speedy lane.
The bike goes great on a steady stretch no problem on that. The bike I rode was a C-ABS so it did had that edge and that extra punch which made braking fun. On a sudden braking the suspension tends to make you lean forward whilst applying front brakes. I loved the way bike react, it felt almost like going to pop a stoppie on speeds.




HANDLING:
Like I mentioned earlier, we had a mighty sunny day and that made some difference in handling. With the hot tarmac and huge rear 140/70-17 radial rubbers made all that difference. The handling seemed fine to me.

The bike did some fine cornering on some sharp bends and leaning inside the curves never felt better then with a CBR 250R.






RIDER POSITION:
The feel of seating upon a CBR 250R is good. It had this On top of the bike feel (kind of like sport bike feeling)

For low speed maneuvering and general control over the bike this position made it a lot easier. The bike is not that tall so that I feel no problem to those riders who are not that gifted in the Height department.

For an average rider 5’11” (Its my height) the knee lean should be approx 77 degrees and the forward lean should be 26 degrees. On a few hours long ride it didn’t felt like I was holding my weight upon the handlebars. The weight was distributed well onto my thighs and on to the lower end of my body. I didn’t make me loose my energy from my wrists, little more fatiguing for the more casual rider or commuter might not be surprising depending on the rider.




TRANSMISSION:
The shifting on the CBR 250R wasn't bad, but it definitely will not give you a solid notice when notching up and down between gears. Granted this bike is very new at this point, a minimal foot pressure is required to make gear changes, combined with a very precise feel when the next gear engaged is surely enough to put a smile on your face.





CLUTCH:
One of the behaviors I'd gotten used to on the previous generation bike, was the "lurch" that was often experienced when dropping the bike from neutral into 1st gear …especially when cold. It was an issue where the fiber and metal plates had a habit of wanting to not totally disconnect, despite the clutch being properly adjusted and pulled in fully.



I was pleasantly surprised that the new bike clicked into 1st gear without so much as nudge; despite the bike being barely warmed up in the showroom before heading out. Nice!! Besides that, Honda’s do have some swell clutches, which makes the gear shifts pleasant.



BRAKES:
Well as I said earlier C-ABS are renowned for its braking world wide, not only a precise braking but a effective and well executed and safe braking system. The NISSIN brake hub which is used in the CB1000R and CBR’s (sport bikes) does also indicates on a world class braking system acting up upon those discs to make you and your ride safe. 296mm front discs made the braking even fun.
Upon few occasions it even made me lazy to apply rear brakes when I could get that pull with the front brakes and the shock upon the front suspension made it all really pleasant. Though applying only front brakes is not advised.






SOUND/EXHAUST:
Ok the sound from a 250 cc’d engine is quite satisfactory. Not that loud as you all might expect but going in high speeds around 100 Km/h it does ring that bell, the sound then can be doing some pretty fine screaming. The sound note is not that much of a masculine typo but you might surely get the punch out of it, besides what more you can expect from a single cylinder motorcycle.
I was satisfied with the sound and appreciated the exhaust. The exhaust no matter how hard you try comes back into the picture. Overall in this bike, the exhaust might be the main thing that attracts the most eyeballs, even if its not best…we must appreciate the sleek look it gives to the design.


WEIGHT/FEEL:
Though the spec sheets indicate around a 359 pounds weight for the 2011 model, I suspect a portion of that was not entirely true, it got to be light…not only the bike feels light, it makes the maneuverability even sweet. It’s easy to bend the bikes in the corners and swiftly exit from them in a knee down’s.
Well I’m not much of a Moto GP star myself but what the heck, I did tried for some knee downs and god it feels great to see some higher double figure numbers in the odometer and bending down in the corners.
This bike does do high speeds.



INSTRUMENTATION:
In this area it was a bit of a gain/lose situation. The gain was the analog RPM level gauge (which I like!). The loss is the absence of an actual water temperature gauge, being replaced by an idiot-light.

The other noticeable things in the instrument cluster is the tachometer; with the digital display. It did showed the temperature and that was nice whereas, the clock and some other noticeable dials were really looking nice on it. .

Like I said earlier a engine on/off switch was a good move by the Honda and besides that my concern was just that it runs the headlights on battery only and the headlights can be left on even before starting the engine, this might be problematic at times, besides that the instrumentation were good for me.



QUALITY:
OK for quality, thumbs up for Honda. The design was good even though the bike was manufactured in India the piece did have that swell feeling with respect to the original concept. After closely inspecting the bike in the showroom before hitting the streets made me realize that each and every part were fitted in just the right place and in right order, I must say a thorough thought out by Honda..

Riding down the streets made me realize that the bike did deliver some pretty solid feel, nothing waggling and going off the momentum. Every part was acting as a whole and going great with the flow. A pillion rider riding behind you also would not make you lean into the handlebars and that is also a plus point for me.



CONCLUSION:
Ok let me sum up the ride review this way, after the ride I did not wanted to handover the keys back to the showroom and ever ride back my bike again…Does that make sense??