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The CBR is said to be a heavy bike. I always knew that the CBR weighs at 167 kgs- what I didn’t know was that RE bikes weigh nearly the same. But riding wise I never found it heavy, it flicks with great poise in traffic and occasionally even with pillion I go flat out on my commute and to admit frankly I never found my ZMA so effortless as this one. In fact the P220 being lighter in comparison, I find it heavy to negotiate in traffic while crawling and at speeds. I have ridden much lighter bikes- but then I don’t get that stability confidence in case I happen to ride them like the CBR. So is it justified that the CBR is being spotlighted as an elephant and this very point being one of the factors that people add it to its negativity?
Premature conclusions on performance is the next thing. Haven’t ridden the KTM so can’t comment on the ride feel and the acceleration characteristics…though I can vouch that the KTM would give you more thrills than the CBR. In fact it’s obvious one might even end up under the impression that the KTM is much faster than it actually is. The CBR on the other hand would be happy to do all the drudge like a non-complaining housewife without much fuss…the same characteristic which many people loved in the ZMA while choosing it over the P220 despite being lesser on power specs. On the contrary just to add- post 6000 rpm, the CBR does go into a completely different element.
Continuing on similar lines…we have the handling factor. Now without second thoughts the bike that immediately and deservedly springs up is the R15. No arguing on the fact that it’s a great handler- but so much so talks go around that the CBR automatically is highlighted as a bad handling bike- which I feel it is not. I find it way way ahead of the neutral handling of the ZMA which is considered to be a good road-mannered motorcycle. Yes the suspension is soft and the front does dive on hard braking- but then it is what it should be like considering that 99% of the biking population ride their bikes on roads and not on track. If both bikes still had to be taken on track- no guessings who’d be coming out with faster laptimes. Well the CBR has more power would be an obvious comment…but then the P220 with its brute power still trails the R15 on laptimes…its not only about power, isn’t it? If I had to swap the CBR with an R15 for my daily use- within a week I will be coming back crying over a stiff body, I will say the same for the N250R as well. Practicality prevailing on the handling factor- won’t a CBR be a better proposition? Poking in with the KTM here which has a lovely soft suspension- in fact the rear is softer than the CBR at the softest settings- how it performs- time will tell. And finally coming back to the cornering ability here- I really wish to ask the level of skill of a rider who would be cribbing about the ‘not-so-great’ handling of the CBR. At what level of speed will a CBR falter i.e. the bike would lose its line during cornering, the front tyre losing traction or the rear fishtailing. I feel the line of error between the CBR and the R15 will be so much high up the graph that it will need an extremely talented and professional rider to actually push both bikes to a level where the handling limitation would come to light. I found the CBR a completely different animal on cornering when compared to my ZMA- initially I always had apprehensions cornering on the CBR, the first reason being not to crash a new bike and second the cornering technique on the ZMA doesn’t completely apply to this one. It was a very similar case when I rode the R15 for the first time- I was like why the heck is this bike not turning? More of body inputs and the bike reacts to where you want it to go. I had suspicions on the Contigo which were dismissed when Sheel mentioned that they are as grippy as the ones on the R15…its all in the mind isn’t it? Well coming back to the handling since that I have now started to get the hang of the CBR, I would admit that I have started loving taking corners on it without second and creepy thoughts. In the end I wish to question, a motorcycle excelling on a track would excel in real world conditions? If one has to pick a motorcycle for all round use and had to pick between say an R6 or an FZ6, or a CBR600RR or a 600 Hornet- what would be your choice?
And the issue that bought the CBR into a brighter limelight than the bike itself….QUALITY! Am not sure how deep to go into finding the quality issues. Starting off with the paint- I would rather ask myself as to what a bad quality paint job is. The only two bikes that made me go ga-ga over the paint has been the N250R and the N650R- simply outstanding finish, no other bike can really match them- but I do mind shelling out one bike’s cost for added quality. I can’t really compare the paintjob of the R15 and the CBR here for the fact that the red on the R15 is more maroonish and the one of the CBR that I have is metallic red. I would be grateful if someone could really highlight as to what a bad paint job really means.
Another is the point of criticism….ugly welding joints. Well here are a couple of pics of welding joints of different bikes. The rest are from high res pics sourced from the net except for the CBR.
My CBR- looks real bad?
The R15: Deltaframe joint looks good, look at the pillion frame weld.
The N250R…that’s a smooth finish?
The KTM200….again is that a smooth weld joint? Look at the chassis surface finishing.
Rusting:
My bike was gathering dust for a month at the godown- thanks to Bank of India who made me run around for one and a half month and finally asking me to go to a branch near my residence to avail the loan. When I got the bike, there was not a micron of rust on the bolts, chain or anywhere.
I was always impressed with the dashboard plastic quality of the R15 with lovely texture and great fitting….I find the CBR no different.
The engine coating on my bike is still as it was when compared to Parimal's first batch CBR (8000+ kms) which had peeling issues right after a few days. Honda was ready to replace the entire block just coz of the peeling from a few places- but he asked them to coat the block instead of replacing as he didn’t want to get into running in again. Though all the bolts were replaced including a new set of grab-rails.
Will end on the note with the words I started with…it’s not a post on defending a motorcycle just coz I have bought. It’s an extremely versatile and it feels a “built-to-go-well-everywhere-motorcycle” the moment you start riding it. And somehow it’s quite bad to see people going too much with criticism on quality and handling comparisons- which I have doubts about at present considering the new batch of bikes. Maybe Honda gave a specially made motorcycle to me. I might be light years away from a rider of a high order- but my riding experience (lotsa commuting and touring as well), I would say the CBR is a great recipe for real world conditions with a gem of an engine that pulls and pulls and pulls…..good stopping power and it excels at whatever you throw at it. Not forgetting to add the lovely EFI that is miserly to the core which during my commuting gives me fantastic mileage figures (35 to 40 kpl). The only grouse I had with my CBR was the quality of the brake pedal and the gear shifter….but then not enough to be a deal breaker to go ahead with.
I genuinely feel that the quality issues were taken care by Honda (one example cited of Parimal) and the new bikes are much much better (mine is one). So as for the bombardment of criticisms, I would say it’s time to look up and beyond and to what the CBR actually is.
Everyone has a right to disagree though.
) ..
(pun intended).
] , but being the answer to the Ninja250R as a learner bike , it can't be too twitchy/nervous , it would have to be designed to be steady , stable and calm in its handling characteristics in order to appeal to a wider target customer base. Sort of like the old classic Pulsar (twitchy but agile ) vs the DTSI (longer , more stable ).
, which now gets even more urgent - before the gobermint adds that extra diesel tax. 
