Throwback Thursday: Honda CBR250R The Rahul Dravid Of Bikes?

Most enthusiasts today find Honda motorcycles to be a bit… soulless. Like a hardworking joe, they’re efficient at most things, but struggle to let their hair down and have a little fun. However, that wasn’t the case with the CBR250R in India back in 2011, back then it was the Honda’s posterboy in the game of performance. Sure, it was no ‘fireblade’, but this versatile knife sliced and diced corners on Sunday’s and returned to being a dutiful Honda on a Monday.

Slotted between the super affordable Bajaj Pulsar 220F and the super premium Kawasaki Ninja 250, the CBR250R was the best of both worlds, but master of none. With the ABS version setting you back by nearly Rs 1.68 lakh back in the day, it was nearly twice as expensive as the Pulsar. And despite being powered by a 250cc liquid-cooled motor, it made much less power (roughly 24PS) than the Ninja’s 32PS. It’s choice of Dunlop rubber also played spoilsport in it corner carving abilities, worsened further by its soft suspension setup.But thanks to its setup, this middle child of India’s then family of speed quickly found its niche - sport touring. And that’s the keyword - sporty enough, with comfortable tourer traits.

The CBR’s throttle was clinically crisp, allowing it to be as enjoyable in stop-go traffic as it was around corners of some ghat road or even the race track (with some modifications that is). Not to forget it was the first bike in India to get Combined ABS (a strange combination of dual-channel ABS and CBS). Hence, if you were someone with the means to spend more than the next guy with a Pulsar 220, and less than that rich kid with the Ninja, the CBR250R offered a sweet balance. Something that was rare in a performance deprived market like ours, especially back then.

Sadly, the CBR250R no longer retails in India. It soldiered on for about a decade but somewhere along the way, Honda moved away from the game of performance. This led to the old guard feeling a little under armed in the company of Austrian invaders - KTM. But this throwback Thursday we shall fondly remember the small Honda that gave us big wings.