First of all, for all the prospective buyers: why the cbr250r amidst all the competition in the market?
I purchased mine in 2015 thus, competition wasn't fierce at that time.
Main competitor- ktm duke 200
Options considered- 1. Bajaj pulsar ns200
2. Yamaha r15
3. Apache rtr 180 abs
4. Ktm rc200
Some pointers to justify my purchase:-
1. Ruled out the duke due to long waiting period of over 2 months.
2. Ruled out yamaha r15 due to aggressive riding position and, coming from a bajaj pulsar 135ls, 150cc didn't seem a kind of an upgrade. (views may differ)
3. Ruled out bajaj ns200 because i didn't wanted to own 2 successive pulsars (silly of me)
4. Ruled out ktm rc200 due to the aggressive riding position.
5. Ruled out tvs apache 180 abs because it was a mystery at the time of purchase, i.E. My local dealers did not have any idea of the 'abs' being offered on the apache, maybe due to the lack of demand for the particular variant.
Apart from the above facts, some reasons to prefer the cbr 250r:-
1, i liked the tricolour paint (personal opinion, again)
2. Smooth engine as compared to rivals (exception: r15)
3. Massive amounts of torque
4. Good honda service in delhi ncr
5. Sweet exhaust note *-*
Riding experience:-
I've clocked over 27000 kilometres on the bike till date. All 27000 kms of joy, except sometimes. The power delivery is butter-smooth and the gear box is a breeze to operate although the gears although the ratios are tall and require frequent gearshifts in traffic.
The tyres have been changed to mrf masseters and the performance viz a viz grip levels is superior.
Buying and servicing experience:-
The sales representatives at ganpati honda, gurgaon were very helpful and arranged a test ride at once, upon asking for one. The test ride vehicle had some rough noise which made me skeptical but i was assured that it was a problem with the test ride bike. I've never had a bitter experience with the service centre.
Servicing costs:- all free servicing costed me about 600-700/-
Paid servicing costed about 1500/-
Looks:- eye-catchy
Performance:- breeze :) recorded a top speed of 162 kph.
Maintenance:- now this is the part many will be looking up for. During my tenure of owning the bike, maintenance has been on the expensive side. Expensive as in the brake pads for the front and rear cost me about 1600/- combined (pre-gst).
The chain sprocket on mine was changed on 25000 kilometers.
Little niggles here and there have been frustrating at times, tho. Like, once i got hazard lights installed on the bike which resulted in the speedo and tacho going off.
The rear brake light at times would go off.
The stator coil failed at around 20000 kilometres and costed me 3000/- including labour.
Once, the front wheel jammed in the middle of the highway due to faulty brake pads and had to get them changed too
The camshaft tensioner has been changed 3 times. Costed me 700/- every-time excluding labour.
The shims were adjusted at 23000 kilometres.
Pros:- performance, looks, ride ability (even though it is on the heavier side), support
Cons:- poor parts availability, poor parts fitting (you can easily see the wiring for headlights and indicators through the fairing, while riding), bad quality contigos installed on the bike ,when purchased, may feel heavy at times
I had also done some minor changes to the bike during these 27000 kilometres:-
1. Installed a aftermarket slip-on exhaust. Sound was nice and bumped up the low end, but ate up the top end. Removed and back to stock, as of now.
2. Bar end mirrors installed.
3. Saree guard removed, and no plans of putting it back on (:p)
That's it from my side. Hope the review helps.