1st report at 12 days; 550 km...
Terrain: City - broken roads (what do u expect in Gulbarga? anyway), Highway - (long stretches of smooth tarmac!)
For the "kitna deti hai gang": 15.5 liters in the tank got me 580 odd km (if u r interested, work out the math)
hmm...so where do i start... lets go to the very beginning...
As my friend Das - a fellow biker - knows, I've been waiting for any half decent company to come up with a quarter liter + bike for ages - at a reasonable price of course. CBR bookings opened up in Jan.. at a price of 1.45 lacs ex showroom. That's not what i call reasonable. Its more like the upper extreme end of the term "affordable" for a person like me (even after being a biker.)
Ha.. ha.. But the advantage of working in a PSU bank is that i am eligible for loans at vastly concessional rates that most ppl cant even think of.. applied for the loan about a month after the CBR was introduced.. let me be honest.. that one month was the toughest phase.. deciding weather the whole exercise was worth it or not. Especially since i didn't like the VFR1200.. based on which the CBR250R is styled.. Didn't like her pictures either... OK.. i was confused.
So i went through all international magazines, other reviews and every piece of detail i could get about her... argued with Das, consulted with Kutz - another biker flexing his wings - and finally decided to go ahead. Didn't even tell my parents until after the deed was done.
CBR 250R booking can be done for Rs. 5000 and then one has to wait for 3 months to get your hand on the alloy clip on... Not if u are working at a branch where the local Honda dealer maintains his bank account.. Bu hu hu ha ha ha
Saw the CBR in flesh at the show room... 1st reaction.. " WOOOOOW, she's big".. and she really wasn't as bad as in the pictures.. Again Honda policy says "NO test drives"... Er.. Sorry?.. What was that again?.. :) half an hr later, suitably impressed after a decent spin on the bike, the dealer handed me the booking receipt. 4 days later, on a rainy evening (25th may).. I was driving home a red CBR very slowly.. :)
1st things 1st.. Its a big bike.. at least for someone used to the normal pulsar.. karizma.. apache brigade.. my friend Anand at the RBO initially felt it was too big until he sat on her (er.. its actually sit "in" the bike.. cause the large petrol tank sinks into the seat and the pillion seat is around 3 inches higher than the riders. u get the feeling u r sitting in something big) Clip ons are kept at a comfortable distance and foot pegs are spot on.. no crouching required.. she's perfect for touring..
Since we r just getting to know each other, i haven't gone beyond 5-6k rpm on the tacho. but with 25ps and 6 gears, that more than enough to have fun.. :) (5k rpm in 6th is 85kmph) but there's power every where in the rev band as long as the engine is revving above 2.5k rpm. Honda fuel injection means the power comes sweetly when called for. The sweet spot actually starts from 5000 rpm.. acceleration is pretty fast whichever the gear.. and the gearbox is slick.. all of which means the CBR (and the rider) feels constrained in cities and in traffic.. The easy solution for which is to take her out on the highways on Sunday mornings. Thats where the fun begins... :) on highways.. she can maintain 100kmph all day long comfortably.. overtaking is easy as long as someone is not going above 120.. in fact overtaking fellow bikers ain't an issue any longer on highways, nor are the trucks, jeeps and small hatch's.
Even so.. the tire noise from the fat tub less radials - which can be heard over the wind noise if you concentrate - reminds you of a car.. so does the heat generated from the radiator that hits your legs/shins after a fairly long ride. The suspension set up is soft in the front which soaks up all the rough stuff on the roads comfortably and far better than on any other bike that I've ridden - at speeds above 60 - 80. The rear does its job even better as a 200 km drive feel more like a walk in the park.. in fact.. last Sunday i was shocked when i saw the odo after reaching home after a morning spin on the highway.. 120 km covered!!
Riding her initially one gets a feeling, she's not a nimble bike.. That's largely due to the fact that she's very stable.. The stiff chassis, large size, and large turning radius takes time to get adjusted to.. on one of our first outings, when i tried cornering her by tipping her into a corner, i felt a her to be a bit reluctant to lean into the corner. Few days i kept wondering what went wrong to the normal procedure of leaning into corners - pointing knee at apex - power out of corners.. In order to get answers, i went to the closest thing to a track in gulbarga.. place called buddhavihar.. a budhist monastery that's about 3-4 km away from the highway... the connecting road is absolute bliss.. 2 medium size right corners, one sweeping left reducing radius left hander, and a chicane thrown in in between and beautifully tarred.. even though there are rough patches in the corners.
The 1st run was pretty normal where she changed sides fast and cornered at decent lean angles. The 2nd and 3rd runs where unbelievable. On the CBR, u can prepare her for corner entry, move your body weight into the corner, and hang on to the clip ons and the foot pegs. Even when you pull her into the corner - leaning her all the way, she's extremely stable. Hmm.. There's no replacement for a well engineered vehicle.
The stability is more apparent if the rider hops on to a smaller bike after riding the CBR. a 150 would definitely be more flick-able and easier to use in the city but at the cost of stability in corners and highways.
all is not great though... the cost of having a soft front end is that the front wheel feels a bit aloof on inclines while accelerating hard. the planted feeling disappears and a vague drifting sensation sets in each time a gust of wind hits you while cruising at 100 +. This can be worrisome on long corners.
That's OK.. i guess as long as she can cover long highways in no time and once you reach your destination, you'll feel like going for a long drive once more. And once you finally get back home and put her on stand all you can do is stand back and gape... if u didn't notice u r already smiling!
