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New Honda CBR250RR

73K views 471 replies 50 participants last post by  bheezy27403 
#1 ·
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#40 · (Edited)
We're still talking about a concept bike here, so if/when Honda actually announces a production version of this bike remains to be seen. That said, Honda is not a company known for building 'limited edition' models. If they do go ahead with the eventual production of a new 250 -350 twin cylinder super sport, similar to the bike featured here, I'd think that it would have to be a mass production global model in order for it to be profitable... at the end of the day, Honda Motor Co. is all about creating profitable products that have broad consumer appeal. An example of this is the 2011 - 2013 CBR250R... while Honda may not have made a large amount of money on each individual CBR250R that they built, their overall profits on this one model must be huge given the total number that have been sold worldwide. It's a numbers game. Build 100,000 CBR250R's and sell them for a net profit of say $250 USD each... $25,000,000 USD is a pretty nice profit from just one model*.


* Of course these numbers are just speculation/guesses on my part. I have no idea what the real production & profit numbers are for the CBR250R.
 
#41 ·
Just my opinion but, I think it would be pointless for Honda to release a 250 twin cylinder when their main competition is the ninja 300 and the r3. But I also don't think anything bigger than a 350 makes sense because Honda has the 500r. I would love to see a 250 4 cylinder(maybe Kawasaki or Honda will be brave enough to release one) but it seems we will have to wait a while longer to know for sure what is coming.
 
#43 ·
One thing I think that we (as consumer group)overlook that today's engines have to meet much harder noise/air/ pollution regulations than 15 to 20 years ago when the CBR 250 RR came to be. So it may cost much more and be harder than we think to produce a 4 cylinder 250/350 RR machine. Personally I think that the new bike will be a twin cylinder bike that will get good mid range torque and great top end power...and be cheaper to produce than a 4 cylinder engine.
 
#42 ·
Yes it's going to be real interesting to see where Honda go from here. I don't think they will wait as long with the new model release as they did with the 250R because essentially the 300 was an easy re-hash of the 250R, so they've had good mileage out of that same frame and engine. It's getting long in the tooth now and the competition has the edge on them.

If its going to be a global release then I too would be very surprised if its of 250cc capacity. Asian market only, then yes, maybe.

I wish one of the big four would have the courage to produce a higher spec small capacity super sports, possibly limited edition. I for one would happily fork out the money. I don't think it would be Honda tho, they tend to err on the conservative side and rate profit margins higher than performance as Mike pointed out.
 
#44 ·
I don't think Honda will bring you a 4 cylinder under 750cc anymore.
It just makes no sense from mpg perspective, which high mpg, is what Honda is aiming for.
The only one of the 4 big bike companies focusing on this.
Suzuki focuses on cheaper price.
Kawasaki on better performance,
And Yamaha usually seeks to top everyone else in performance and price , by adding a few ccs to their bikes, compared to the competition bikes.

Multiple smaller cylinders often run less efficient than a single larger cylinder.
Air cooled, a 250cc is about as high as you can go per cylinder.
Watercooled, a 650cc like the boulevard S40, makes less sense than 2x300 cylinders, but suzuki did it...
Dual pistons offer improved performance over singles, but singles get better mpg.
Usually the sweet spot is 300cc or below:1cylinder
250-1000cc: 2 cylinders
750-1800cc: 3 cylinders
1000+cc : 4 cylinders.

Especially on small bikes like a 250, it makes no sense installing 4 cylinders, which adds to cost and maintenance, and complexity of the bike..
 
#48 ·
I don't think Honda will be coming out with any new small bikes to tell you the truth since they have a 500 and a 300 already and I've seen no indication there will be new bikes released in the US. As I recall they advertised the Grom and 300 bikes many months before they came out. Maybe 2017, but I doubt it. I look for them to add ABS, new color schemes, and minor tweaks to the existing lineup for the next several years.
 
#49 ·
If they waited that long they would lose too many sales to the competetion which already has the edge on them.
I'm expecting to see a new model on display at Tokyo Motor Show this time next year. Could be wrong tho... :D
 
#51 · (Edited)
Makes sense to get a Ptwin CBR version, but for the F version a single cylinder makes sense.
So far, Kawasaki has always lead the pack with the fastest, highest RPM engine, and Honda has always been the one with the best fuel economy.

Yamaha is a relatively new contender, not in India, but in USA with small bikes, but even on their V-stars, it seems they are the ones to outdo competition with larger CC's.

I would love to have a 299cc thumper, but doubt Honda will make any like this for a while.

Most Americans will say that 300-350cc is the sweet spot for city and interstate riding; and sadly is also exactly what most motorcycle manufacturers just don't produce nowadays, save for Yamaha.
Honda engines are very good. If they can increase their 284cc engines by just 5-10%, they're good!
 
#52 ·
I agree. If you were designing a lightweight bike that would do everything well... good mileage, fast enough for interstate, cheap, and just for the American market, it would be 300-350 cc. What seems to always happen is they modify bikes made for other markets and can't quite get it right. The Honda 300s are pretty close, but another 25-50 ccs would help a lot...hopefully without adding any more weight. I think most Grom owners would prefer a larger engine in that bike. The CBR300 engine in the Grom-style bike would be popular in America...get it up to speed.
 
#53 · (Edited)
I don't know, I think the market for these bikes have never been this good.
In Australia/England, there are laws requiring you to only be able to use low displacement bikes for a certain amount of time. In some Asian countries it's cheaper due to tax. It's usually a power to weight ratio thing though.
In Australia after getting your motorcycle license you can't ride anything more powerful than the KTM RC390 in terms of sport bikes for 3 years. This means the 600cc RR is legally out of the question. In terms of naked bikes its usually never past the 600cc range.
For those 3 years you're going to have to stick to something somewhat enjoyable. With new riders being mostly male young adults, they usually go for the fastest or sportiest of the bunch. The Honda CBR300r doesn't really make the cut seeing that there is an R3 and the Ninja 300 available which are both more powerful on paper. That audience either goes for them or the 1990~ CBR250RR which is around 4-6k AUD here in Australia, it is also more powerful than all of the modern 300's.
I still have high hopes for this bike and I'm confident that at least a concept version will be unveiled within the next few months at at least one of the upcoming expos. I don't see the 500r as a "sport bike". It's big, heavy and very upright. I see people opting for this more authentic "sport bike" feel bike even if it costs a bit more than the 500r.
 
#61 · (Edited)
I apologize for not screenshotting, I assumed it wasn't going to be taken down.

All I remember was it consisted of 3 different Honda Grom iterations.
A neo-racer type, classic looking type and dirt looking type?

It also showed the new Supersports light weight that this post is about.
- It showed the front lights in action, they looked like small blue-white L.E.D similar to the ones on the new R1, except the lights reflected off the fairing.
- They showed the rear, rear lights were also blue-white and they were small L.E.D's.
- They showed the dash which I think is the best part. Black/white digital screen, nothing we've seen before on a Honda dash. Deep colours like the R1 dash. Modern looking, something you'd see on new bikes coming out this year.

All of the shots of the light weight super sport were of new angles we haven't seen previously. There was text but it was all Japanese and they were all images so couldn't translate.
 
#57 ·
#59 ·
I dont think they would get many sales if they were targeting the track bike market! :D

Personally, if they lower the bars a bit then I'm stoked as i wont have to spend over $100 on new bars and dick around fitting them.
 
#65 ·
Yah! Great to finally see some detail. Thanks for the links guys. It's hard to know how close to the production model this bike will be but here's my thoughts on what we are seeing:

- So yep, its a parallel twin not an inline four but oh well, we pretty much guessed that would be the case.
- Inverted front forks - yes! Hard to tell what diameter from the pictures tho.
- Looks like a cast aluminium rear swing arm similar to CBR650.
- Classy digital instrument display showing a redline of 14K
- The throttle cables exit on top of the housing, presumably to be able to keep the handle bars lower without fairing interference.
- Extensive use of carbon fiber. Got a feeling this may be for show bike only.
- Rear section behind the seat looks very similar to the Ninja, not a bad thing IMO
- Love the high swept CF Akrapovic exhaust but doubt that would come standard!
- Levers appear to be non adjustable, points off.

Overall I really like the aggressive styling, well done Honda, bring it on! :)
 
#66 ·
Yeah Kiwi rider, I agree with your post, very much doubt the
production model will come with carbon or akrapovic exhaust,
it still would be made to a budget on the global stage. Also
hope it has an external oil filter like the ninja and r3.

But I like the aggressive styling, gives it a great edgy look !
I think this bike would look great in white, with a tinted screen
IMO !
 
#72 ·
If it's a 300 anything I'm keen, I was all set to buy a Cb300f, injured
my right hand, ligament damage, can't even ride a bicycle at the
moment ! Cabin fever is setting in !!! Does anyone know when this
bike will be available ???? I really love the look of it, I know it's not
the production model, but Honda have had enough time to build a 300
+ CC bike that will be competitive against the ninja and r3. If it's a
350 ? Then happy days are a coming !!.....I won't need any psycho
therapy for my cabin fever !
 
#73 ·
If it's a 300 anything I'm keen, I was all set to buy a Cb300f, injured
my right hand, ligament damage, can't even ride a bicycle at the
moment ! Cabin fever is setting in !!! Does anyone know when this
bike will be available ????
I really love the look of it, I know it's not
the production model, but Honda have had enough time to build a 300
+ CC bike that will be competitive against the ninja and r3. If it's a
350 ? Then happy days are a coming !!.....I won't need any psycho
therapy for my cabin fever !
I'm going to enter into the murky territory of completely uninformed speculation here and guess that it will be a 2017 model year bike and there will be a production model on display at Tokyo this time next year.
If it's any sooner then that's great tho :D
 
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