Honda CBR250R ABS 1,000 KM Ownership Review by Ratan

Hey readers, I am Ratan, 19 year old guy from Mumbai.

First and foremost, a very big thanks to Bikeadvice forum for helping me inchoosing the right bike !!!

Before the main review, I would like to tell you guys about my short story on how I got my hands on the ceeber.

I am from a middle class family and I thank my parents for giving me this machine regardless of its price. I learned riding on my dad’s  5 year old Bajajdiscover 125cc which we still have. After getting the learning license, I told my parents about my desire to get a good sports bike. My first preference was the R15 v1 (that time v2 hadn’t launched), they told me that they will gift me the bike on my birthday on 31st December,  2011. I was very happy that time and since then I started some research on bikes and then on September 6th, R15 v2.0 launched. enquired from the showroom and they told me that v1 production has stopped and only v2.0 is available. The bike looks awesome but me and my parents dint like the rear seat because it is too small and has no grab rails for safety. so I decided to buy the HONDA cbr250r with ABS, after convincing my parents about the ABS and its safety , they agreed.

On 1st Jan 2012, we went to VENETIAN Honda showroom, took the test drive and booked the RED  cbr250r for Rs. 5000/- , they said the waiting period is just 20 days. I was very happy as it was a great start for the new year 2012. on 19th Jan 2012, I got a call from the showroom and luckily my dad was home that day. We both went , checked the bike , made payment of 1,90,477 and got the bike. I was a bit nervous so I told my dad to ride it and I sat as a pillion, filled 500rs petrol and we came home. this was how I got my mini fireblade.

Now comes the 1,000 KM review of the Honda CBR250R ABS

I have just completed 1000 km on the ODO. 1st service was done at 400 kms. Used semi synthetic oil as I had read on the net that full synthetic oil should be used after the bike is at least 4000 km old.

I will go feature by feature , telling about my ride and rating every  feature of this bike individually.

Honda CBR250R ABS Looks : 4 out of 5

The bike looks awesome (not as awesome as the R15 v2.0). Almost every person on the street turns back to see which bike it is. It is a joy to ride such a wonderful looking bike. the Red + grey combo rocks. Out of the 4 available colors (red , black , silver , HRC) HRC looks the best but red is the most noticeable and attractive color.
Quite futuristic exhaust , nice cockpit , fat tyres, large 296mm disc , large looking fuel tank , etc make this bike look one of the best lookers in the 2 wheeler market in India.

Honda CBR250R ABS Handling : 3.5 out of 5

The handling of the bike is good, I will give it 3.5 out of 5 because I find it heavy in traffic jams. I weight just 67 kgs and the bike weighs 167 kgs, I find it a bit difficult to ride on very slow speeds in traffic jams specially at 5 to 9 pm in the evening, but in corners it is amazing , I would say it is almost as good as the R15 in cornering, but R15 again is light weight so it handles better in traffic. I would rate R15 4.5 outa 5 in handling, but since CBR250R is heavy and a bit difficult in traffic , 3.5 is proper.

Honda CBR250R ABS Performance : 4.5 out of 5

This is one powerhouse, almost 26 ps power. Though the bike feels underpowered on 1st and 2nd gear, but as soon as you reach higher gears you can actually feel the power. The bike loves to be revved hard, I cannot explain it but you can only understand when you ride it at higher gears, the bike is amazingly powerful. It has a great mid end and top end but lacks the low end. It needs to be revved, you won’t enjoy it riding below 4k rpm, max powerband is at 8500 rpm and max torque at 7000rpm.

Honda CBR250R ABS Fit and Finish : 3 out of 5

Fit and finish includes the paint work , the welding works , nuts , bolts , and plastics. I am not totally satisfied with the fitting, specially the mirror bolts, my bike is of the new batch and hence there is no rusting problems and grab rail quality issues, but still the fit and finish is not up to Honda standards (it is good but when you spend almost 2 lacs, you expect top notch finish), the rubber material on the foot pegs are slightly torn, the paint work (black paint) on the clip on handles is not that great. The plastic of the fairings doesn’t seem strong (same in case of R15) or i guess I am expecting too much  so I would rate the fit and finish 3 outa 5 which is not that good keeping in mind the price I paid.

Honda CBR250R ABS Comfort : 4 out of 5

Quite comfortable bike, for the rider as well as the pillion. My mum and dad went mahalaxmi temple from borivali. It was a small 100 km up down total and they said the bike is very comfortable and is a joy for the rider as well as pillion. That time I thought that I made the right choice by not buying R15 v2 since it has no comfort for pillion and less comfort for rider. (I was a big r15 fan until they came up with a dangerous rear seat) I am 6 ft tall and I get no back pains, very slight pain in palms when I ride in traffic jams because continuously have to keep the clutch in friction zone and also because of a slight sporty seating posture.

Honda CBR250R ABS Mileage : 4 out of 5

Now by looking at the 4 star rating, don’t expect 50 kmpl, the bike gives me 27 kmpl mileage in city and 35 kmpl on highways. I rate it 4 out of 5 because for a 250cc , ~26ps performance machine, 27 kmpl in city is really really good. Before 1st service I was getting only 24 kmpl, but now i get 27-28. I mostly ride in cities, for long trips (100km+) on highways, my dad uses CBR.

CBR250R ABS brakes : 5 out of 5

The best feature of this bike is the brakes, made by NISSIN, so not much to explain here  . Mine is the ABS version which is made by nissin, the standard CBR  brakes are made by bybre and I dont know how good or bad they are, but my CBR’s brakes are just fantastic. The bike never skids, I’ve purposely tried braking hard on muddy type roads which have gravels, it does not skid, I have also tried applying rear brakes very harshly (didn’t have the guts to pull front brakes strongly on the road filled with gravels) and the bike stops very quickly without locking the tyres. I think ABS is a must on Indian below average quality roads in city. Roads on highways are comparatively very decent. Brakes is the part that I love the most in my bike. Safety first !!!

Honda CBR250R ABS Tyres :  2.5 out of 5

Indian CBR 250r tyres are provided by continental (contiGO).
The tyres look great but do not perform that good. It has just average road grip. While cornering, you wont feel confident. It “feels” the tyres are not holding on to the road very well while cornering. Apart from cornering , the tyres are decent..  but still , for the price paid, we expect real good tyres. MRF zappers are good, Pirelli sport demon is the best. Will buy Pirelli after 10,000 kms because now my parents won’t let me spend much on my bike 

Honda CBR250R ABS service centers : 2 out of 5

Honda seriously needs to take care in this area. I am not satisfied with the service, yes they changed the oil and oil filter .. thats ok.. but even minor parts are not available in the service center.
Actually, the bolts on my RVM becomes loose after every 100 kms, I don’t know how, maybe because of continuous vibes , the bolts loosen. The showroom person had told me that they will fit a new bolt. but what answer do I get from the service center ? I get an ans “sir woh bolts abhi available nai hai” which means they aren’t available. Simple bolts of the CBR’s RVM not available ?? damn, so I bought new bolts from local shop and fitted them, now there is no loosening and one more dis satisfaction was that I was charged 1000 Rs for teflon coating, I think that was too much but I wanted the bike to look new all the time, but recently i read in bikeadvice that most of the service people just wax polish the bike which just lasts for a week or so. Teflon coating takes one entire day and hence these people just polish the exposed surface of the bike. so I was very sad
that my 1000 Rs went in just for fake teflon coating. HONDA are you listening?

Ok now enough of ratings  now lets look at the bad part of the bike (not many)

Honda CBR250R ABS CONS:

• As mentioned earlier, I am not very happy about the fit and finish of the bike.
• Service centers not good, spare parts issues and lack of skilled mechanics (they are good for small bikes but they lack knowledge about CBR).
• 167 kg, very heavy in traffic (maybe because I am new to such heavy bikes), however my dad never complains about this (he is an expert rider who owned a RD350 and yezdi in his younger days).
• Front mudguard is very small, hence every time you ride in water or sticky mud, the mud enters the radiator fins. So I will have to take care during rainy seasons.
• Saree guard looks bad, design is pretty odd, also, the saree guard does not have place to keep the foot, so how would a female wearing sari sitting on CBR place her foot when she sits sideways.
• There should have been a rear tyre hugger like R15 v2, it would look bit odd but without it, every time I ride even slightly in water, the drops comes on the back of the pillion and also, the area below the seats gets dirty.

Conclusion:

Nothing much to say here, it has won 17 bike of the year 2011 awards  and the best sports/race/touring  bike in INDIA by overdrive magazine on par with Ninja and R15. Overall, its a racing + tourer. It is fast and comfortable and suitable for long rides. I have not made any long 100+ km rides till now but will surely take the bike for long trips when I am free from studies in vacations.
Ninja 250 obviously is a better and faster bike, but then it costs 3 lacks 20 thousand in India and gives 20 kmpl mileage in city and also doesn’t have ABS (though without ABS also its brakes are top class). So overall CBR250R is a value for money bike. Ninja looks better and performs better but CBR is VFM and that’s what made it the bike of the year.

That’s all. Hope you liked the review, whatever I wrote in the review is true based on my experience, no bias and I m not simply praising the bike because I own it.