Dustin
Moderator
And it's a fantastic bike. Everything about it really surpasses its price point.
It's well built and comfortable and feels great to sit on for me. It doesn't feel nearly as cramped as you might expect either. The controls and gauges are typical Honda and I love the new Honda displays.
Braking is surprisingly good from a single disc and the bike is very well damped. I'm sure it's under-sprung for my weight but it really doesn't feel that way from my initial ride and it makes short work of our shitty roads up here. I didn't get a good opportunity to really try the handling out but my initial reaction is a positive one.
The power. Well, it's not great but it's not bad. As a commuter bike it's definitely up to the task and the single cylinder makes more than enough power so that you don't have to be anywhere near WOT to zip ahead of traffic. The motor is pretty responsive, smooth and quiet considering it's a small-displacement single. Fuel injection is standard Honda, spot on.
First gear is short and awkward but the rest of the gears are well matched I think. Because it was such a limited demo ride, I didn't take the bike up past 70mph but I had a bit of a gap where the group split up and I opened it up. Above 6000RPM the bike actually has pretty nice power and seems to pull well into 10,000. It's a 250 single and that's people should expect but it's definitely more than enough for anything you might want to do.
I like the bike, it looks great and really offers a fantastic overall package. People seem to be averaging 70MPG or so with it and being a 250 insurance is cheap as well. It offers a lot of performance for a very small amount of money.
Looking back at the ride and getting back on my SV, I feel that the CBR250R isn't sufficient for my needs. This surprised me. I think that when loaded up with my cases and stuffed with groceries, bike parts or road trip supplies, the 250 would struggle in some areas and it would ruin the overall appeal of the bike as a light, easy to ride bike.
If I was to have two bikes, this would replace the SV as my every day bike; the problem is that buying a bike to save money is an oxymoron.
As far as a perfect compromise, I'm much more appreciative of the naked SV650 after riding the bike I've been hungry to ride since I saw it debut.
It's well built and comfortable and feels great to sit on for me. It doesn't feel nearly as cramped as you might expect either. The controls and gauges are typical Honda and I love the new Honda displays.
Braking is surprisingly good from a single disc and the bike is very well damped. I'm sure it's under-sprung for my weight but it really doesn't feel that way from my initial ride and it makes short work of our shitty roads up here. I didn't get a good opportunity to really try the handling out but my initial reaction is a positive one.
The power. Well, it's not great but it's not bad. As a commuter bike it's definitely up to the task and the single cylinder makes more than enough power so that you don't have to be anywhere near WOT to zip ahead of traffic. The motor is pretty responsive, smooth and quiet considering it's a small-displacement single. Fuel injection is standard Honda, spot on.
First gear is short and awkward but the rest of the gears are well matched I think. Because it was such a limited demo ride, I didn't take the bike up past 70mph but I had a bit of a gap where the group split up and I opened it up. Above 6000RPM the bike actually has pretty nice power and seems to pull well into 10,000. It's a 250 single and that's people should expect but it's definitely more than enough for anything you might want to do.
I like the bike, it looks great and really offers a fantastic overall package. People seem to be averaging 70MPG or so with it and being a 250 insurance is cheap as well. It offers a lot of performance for a very small amount of money.
Looking back at the ride and getting back on my SV, I feel that the CBR250R isn't sufficient for my needs. This surprised me. I think that when loaded up with my cases and stuffed with groceries, bike parts or road trip supplies, the 250 would struggle in some areas and it would ruin the overall appeal of the bike as a light, easy to ride bike.
If I was to have two bikes, this would replace the SV as my every day bike; the problem is that buying a bike to save money is an oxymoron.
As far as a perfect compromise, I'm much more appreciative of the naked SV650 after riding the bike I've been hungry to ride since I saw it debut.
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