HONDA CB300R? WHY GET A SINGLE WHEN YOU GET THE TWINS?

IS HONDA TOO LATE TO THE PARTY??

300 cc market has quite some actions going on every time you blink your eye. Everyone abroad and even the locals are trying to built something to sell here as the market hits a balance between everyday usability, ease of maintaining, accessibility and has got a premium buy, a perfect upgrade from 150 s and 200 s they owned. But price tag was not consistent, Dominar costs under 2lakhs ex showroom while the R3 costs almost twice of what you pay.

When it comes to 300s it was KTM that had dominated the market with their incredible value for money and being best performer out of the lot. While companies were fighting it out to dethrone the King, Royal Enfield brought in the 650 twins to the sub 3 lakh price tag throwing all other 300 cc bikes through the window with their bang for buck. 

Creating new market for two wheeler all around the world at that price point, its the most bizarre time to introduce your new 300cc bike. Just then a company who hasn't shown signs of existence in Indian sports bike market suddenly came up with the CB300R raising the question "Was all this wait for Honda to finally return to Indian market backfired?" and "Why to choose a single cylinder bike when you can get a twin for same price tag?"

The last sports bike which we could buy from Honda was at least 10 years old but was a legend and still selling in pretty decent numbers. Till date no 250cc bike could actually replace the mighty CBR250R. This bike showed what Honda was all about, great built quality, reliable as a rock, and really really usable engine with adequate power and torque to do all sorts of riding. It sets benchmark in sports touring catagory and with certain mods it could be track ready.

But at its time of launch CBR250R was pretty much an upscale for average Indian , and shortly after the arrival of KTM most buyers chose the Austrians over Japanese as they offered more punch for your penny. . Still sales went on slow but steadily. While everyone begged for and update Honda never brought in another low capacity sports bike, not even the CBR500R, they might have felt Indians are not ready for a Honda. With only a ten year old design and a bunch of activa's siblings in their purse, Honda finally decided to launch a 300cc bike.

NEO RETRO CAFE RACER

Knowing about launch of 300R what i felt was "we got what we want, but not what we need". Still Honda was being Honda while making this bike. Its a small bike but keep it next to a cb1000r and you get blown away by their similarity. one quick look with both together you wont differentiate them. The bike is really well build just like Honda used to be. Good thing is that they have not compromised on any areas for the Indian market, its exactly the same product delivered all around the world.

The switch, gears panels and welds all look pretty neat and had a lot of attention. So in short the first impression was really great. The bike looks very compact with a cafe racer geometry, The tagline of neo cafe racer suits to the appeal, the overall design looks futuristic and retro at the same time, Something  between the Interceptor and Conti GT, but the exhaust looks like it was a final add on which they forgot  to add on the original design, It looks so massive, out of place and doesn't suit  the overall proportion of the bike.

INCREDIBLE BUILT QUALITY

EXHAUST LOOKS TOO BIG FOR A COMPACT MACHINE

Swing your leg over and its the lightness what greets you, Its damn light and the seat is very accessible. lean on to the handle bar and you feel like you are "ready to race". the instrument cluster is well stacked unit with all necessary stuffs and some extras like average fuel consumption and live fuel economy, but misses out on gear position indicator. The cluster is fine but  no where close to the duke 390s beautiful TFT screen. The plastic quality is top notch and switch gears too. looks and feels premium.

NEATLY STACKED INSTRUMENT CLUSTER MISSES GEAR POSITION INDICATOR

You get the sense of urgency the second you starts moving, The clutch  is light and just incredible to initiate, The engine may look dull, on paper with just 30ps of power and 27 nm of torque it certainly looks under powered but on  the brightside 140 kg of weight makes it really light bike in this class and that compensates for an under powered engine. The CB300R has really punchy characteristics low down the rev range and throttle response is spot on, combining that to the lightness and small dimensions and it filters through city traffic like a knitting needle find its way through a fabric. The ergonomics and seating posture was pretty fine for short city rides and weekend getaway. You may take time to get used to the swap between the position of horn and indicators but the flipped operation of horn switch was not easy to operate.

A VERY VERSATILE ENGINE

After fighting city traffic get on to some good highway and the CB300R excel there too the bike might lacks power in mid range but has enough torque to pull the vehicle. The bike could cruise pretty well and  has got a tractable engine , the torqy motor ensures it pulls all the way to red line without much efforts. Ring open the throttle and post 7000RPM the engine screams, it is an absolute hooligan at the topend and gets to 100 under 7 seconds, not bad for a 30 bhp bike. The engine was smooth as butter and fueling is incredible, The dialed down mid range also ensures minimal fuel usage at those region which gives a fuel efficiency of 35 kmpl, some owners also claimed 40 kmpl under normal riding, I don't know how true it is, but you could easily get 30-35 kmpl depending the way you ride. Yes, a bit of vibrations do creep in but that is very very minimal,.

Ride your way to twisties  and CB300R is home, the cafe racer geometry is best appreciated in a winding twisties. It is an absolute joy to ride. The bike tips into corners fast and caries great corners speed. The tubular diamond chassis, the reason for the lightness is well balanced, and if something went wrong the brakes anchors the bike really strong. The feather weight contributes to braking efficiency too. The 296mm front petal discs and 220mm rear disc brakes offers great bite and feedback and haven't felt anything to complain, It anchors the bike where you want and i loved it. It may not be best for the track, and you are not going to take one to track either.

STUPENDOUS BRAKING

The let down was the tyres, I am not a fan of the Michelin Pilot sports, It is more prefered for touring and always felt it holds back the sporty credentials of the bike. So would have loved to see an Apollo Alpha instead.

Yeah so being sporty, you might wonder if Honda made a naked sporty bike compromising on comfort? Well, No, the bike is surprisingly comfortable, For short or average riders the CB300R is well suited, for tall riders the comfort is fine but you would look humongous in a very small bike.In an average person's view the seat might feel bit stiff but it is really wide and holds your bum fine a 100 km ride without break doesn't look tiring. But suspension is bit stiff to other bikes in class so bad roads would be a bad dream or even nightmare depending on how you ride. The Show 41mm USD forks and rear monoshock can serve pretty neatly in a fully fared sports bike, They are really good on corners and inspires a great deal of confidence.

Al though comfortable for long rides, Don't expect it to be a committed hard core tourer like Mojo or Dominar but can do occasional rides provided enough breaks on your ride. Its better not to talk about a pillion coz they were not considered while designing this, making life of a pillion miserable as ever. But the pillion grab rails are pretty neat for short drop offs which is the only consideration taken designing pillion seat. Honda also brings in lots of accessories including luggage racks, visors and much more for the CB300R which adds up touring potential and functionality too.

A UNIQUE GRABRAIL DESIGN

So CB300R is a very matured yet fun offering from Honda which does every single duty you throw at it, It  is comfortable and has sporty performance and could be called as a jack of all trades. But getting back to where we started, the bike costs same as that of 650 twins. So should you get a CB300R instead of a 650 cc twin cylinder by Royal Enfield.

The answer is why not, You see this Honda is a jack of all trades You can do city duties, weekend long rides and anything in between comfortably, Though it misses out the character offered by 650 twins are just incomparable and can never be obtained from any other bike but you could actually live with the Honda which the 650s cant.. 

So if you are to have only one bike in your garage with duties of a 100cc bike and a sports bike equally then its always better to get the Honda CB300R and if you got at least a moped to do city surviving there is no point in missing out the cheap thrills of a 650 twin.

The next question is why to choose this over  the 390 duke?? There is no doubt on which i would choose...For a enthusiast who wants outright power and excitement, CB300R loses out with the Duke hands down, even the equipment offered the Duke stands high. But as a more matured machine with which you can take on the city directly, with ability to do almost all stuffs the duke can do and with the reliability and peace of mind Honda offers, a matured practical man with a 9-5 job and youth still in his heart might prefer the CB300R over the KTM.

This bike could also be a gamble by Honda to see if India is really ready for the Honda? What if CB300R hitting high on sales chart could convince Honda to launch more smaller sports bikes including the most desirable CBR250RR on to Indian shores??? Fingers crossed.....

By-
AMBADY ANIL & AARON JOSEPH