The Rompongz

Write Up : Alantris
Photos: Deanmalakian | Rjoy
Video: PedokFumi

Recently I managed to get my hands on a brand spanking new CBR250R standard version in its most glorious color, silver and red or red and silver, whichever way you want to look at it. I have been looking forward to test ride Honda's entry level sports bike and with Honda deciding on a single cylinder power plant makes the waiting ever more exciting.



First Impression:

Now, first impressions, looking at the CBR250R in the flesh, the whole bike is screaming with Honda's quality. Fit and finish are almost flawless, all bolts and nuts marked and clean, paint job looks ridiculously luxurious, the dashboard are simple but it has all the important info you will ever need, instead of deciding on a temp gauge or a fuel gauge, Honda put them both in a nice LCD display, nicely scaled RPM (who needs tachometer that reads 17K when your red line is only 10.5), a digital speedometer which doesn't encourage you to speed just to see the needle lean all the way and, wait, it even has a built in clock! That is pretty nice if you are running errands around town.

Once you sit on the CBR250R and pick up the side stand, you'll quickly realize how petite this bike is and standing it up, it is as light as a 100cc moped, thanks to the bike single piston lightweight engine, trellis type frame and the engine being placed as far back as possible, the bike's weight are all directed under the rider, hiding it's actual 161kg weight which is in reality only 5kg less than the Ninja 250R. Turn on the key, and you'll be greeted with a modern feel of bike checks, speedometer checks, tachometer checks, and the engine check light will light up while the fuel pump prime the injectors, and once the yellow light is gone, all that is needed is a simple push of the start button and the engine roars, ehm.. well, purrs to life instantaneously, the EFI seems to be doing its job pretty well balancing the mixtures on a cold start.

Now here is something else you'll quickly love or hate on this bike, everything is light! It has huge bright lights, the whole bike feels light, the clutch is feather light and so is the brakes, the steering, the rear suspension, the gear changes are super positive, super light, well, let there be light they say, and Honda provides.

First impression conclusion:

As an entry level sports bike, all the before mentioned traits is a GOOD thing, entry level as in someone who has never ridden a proper bike before except for a 100cc scooter. What it gave for lightness is feel, it lacks feel, it felt more like a moped than a sports bike but let's not jump into conclusions yet, after all, it has a claimed 26hp, that is a respectable figure over any 100cc mopeds, on par with 125-150cc 2 stroke screamer.

First Ride:

Here goes, put it in 1st gear, let the clutch off and the CBR moves almost effortlessly. Now let's do that again, 1st gear, let go of the clutch, and yeah, it moves, the thing with the clutch is, its feather light that you can't really tell the friction zone, but again, the friction zone is so wide and the bike's low end torque is good, getting the bike to move is something a baby (with a beard perhaps?) can do! The bike will revs happily to 7000rpm before the engine start to sound stressed, which is more than enough to get you around traffic, gear changes comes quick on the CBR250R, but given the smooth gearbox and feather light clutch, not a problem. 100kph is easily achievable, this is no moped. The engine's single piston low frequency pot-a-to sound quickly turns into a bee like buzz once you start cruising at 80-100kph, pleasant to the ears and not bad at all. The whole package, the engine, the chassis, the ergonomics, doesn't inspire you to ride like a hooligan, it just felt so comfortable doing 100kph all day. The seating position is wonderful, I'm 5 foot 3 and 58kg light, and the bike felt comfortable, the seat is flat, yes, flat, it doesn't push you on the tank like a crotch rocket or lay you back like a chopper, and the wide bum support holds your bottom firmly, no iron butt required to tour on this quarter liter beginners bike.

Running around heavy traffic jams of MRR2 and Jalan Ampang, the CBR 250R can be flicked around just like a moped, though the one I'm on is non-ABS, the brakes are perhaps 5% more than adequate, so it's good, as far as slow-medium speed filtering maneuver is concerned, the brake works like a dream, Honda's dream. Up to this point, when adjusting the rear view mirror, which is a little too long for my liking, perhaps it's Honda's obsession with wings, I don't know, I can see myself smiling under my clear visor. So it is a fun bike after all!

First ride conclusion:

My first day on the CBR 250R, all day long in KL traffic, as a City Sports Bike (if there is such a thing) I'd give the CBR250R 9 out of 10 (the lack of a luggage basket still makes the LC135, Suzuki Smash or Honda Wave 125 a better town bike, for not having a front basket, the honda loses 1 star LOL) But as far as an entry level sports bike, or perhaps any sports bike, that you can, and want, and wouldn't think twice about exploring the city in peak hours, the CBR250R is ace.

Touring the CBR 250R:

Running in the CBR250R, the trip was KL - Manjung, Perak, the route is a mix of heavy traffic (Sungai Buloh), some twisty back road (Ijok) and straight open road with consisting of rough bumpy surfaces and smooth fast tarmac with surprises here and there (Kuala Selangor, Sungai Besar, Sabak Bernam)

Me and my brother set out, he was riding the CBR250R and I was on my Naza Blade 650N. We were racing with time and decided to fill up at Kuala Selangor. My Blade has a full tank of petrol while the CBR have about 2 bars left. From Batu Caves to Sungai Buloh to Paya Jaras, it was 100% traffic filtering, racing around between cars and mopeds. At this point, I really have to honk quite a lot, signaling my brother not to leave me behind, the CBR was really quick through heavy traffic, me and my 200kg bike was struggling to keep up.

Now the hard part is over, we are entering the twisty back road of Sg.Buloh - Ijok. Traffic began to ease off and replaced with heavy trucks, rough tarmac and some sand and dirt every here and there and now and then. Everything was under control, cruising at 90-100kph, well at least until we got to the twisty, tighter roads closing up to Ijok. My brother started pulling away, not having to brake as much and carrying less momentum, the CBR eats the S'es and U turns much quicker, and by half way, I was already left behind trailing a trailer. Could be that my bro is a nutter on a bike or I am not brave enough or a simple fact that the lighter more nimble CBR just do the job better, that is to be tested.

Stopped at a Shell in Kuala Selangor, paid RM20 to fill up the CBR from 2 bars indicated and end up topping the tank at RM15, the next RM5 just nicely fill up my Blade 650 and off we go. We limit our maximum speed to 120kph all the way, and I was tailing the CBR just to look at the bike in motion. The bike looks solid on the road and to my eye, very beautiful. The suspension looks good, given the bumpy roads from Kuala Selangor all the way to Hutan Melintang, my brother did not complain of fatigue while I had to signal him for a quick smoke and water stop before I dislocate my vertebrae, kidding.

We reached Manjung a few minutes over 6pm, the whole 200km journey took us almost 3 hours. The wedding was very much over then, after getting something to eat, we decided to head back to KL. Refilled in Lekir, the CBR250 only needed RM10 of RON97 to top up, that is about 3+ liter for an at least 150km run.. Mind boggling, is it even possible? Honda claims 70 miles per gallon, translated to 3.3L/100km, if what we see is true, cruising between 90-120kph with no hard acceleration gave us like 90MPG?? Hmm, to be revised. My Blade needed RM13 of RON95 that is about 51MPG, not bad as well.

We set off at about 7:22 pm, night time, the CBR is very visible. The tail light and brake light were as bright as traffic stop lights! As for the head lamp, it totally out shined my blade single halogen. It took us another 3 hours to reach KL, and when we reached KL, taking the CBR away from my bro is quite a task. As a commuter it eats up the miles comfortably, slowly, but comfortably. That is something we should be looking at, safe speed, less fatigue and fun while you're at it.

Touring conclusion:

Knowing Honda, they never take anything lightly, it seems that when they decided to make an entry level sports bike that will make a beginner feels confident and an old timer grin, yet be practical enough, economical and safe, they really kind of nailed it.. Maybe it's just me. I've ridden the Ninja, they are definitely faster than the CBR, but the CBR is so forgiving and comfortable, you forget about speed altogether. Really, ride one and you'll know what I'm talking about :) No offence to Ninja riders, but again, Ninja Riders need not feel threatened as the CBR is certainly no beast nor lightning fast or super quick, it's just in the in between, making it practical and fun, perhaps this is the jack of all trade master of none, something the 250 class has been missing (except for the briefly introduce Momos Boxer 250, which can be a quite practical and fun as well)

The CBR250R for Sunday Awana Rides:



The sporty side of the CBR250, after a long day, decided to climb up Genting Highlands, it is a Sunday after all. Ringed a friend and there we were, the petite CBR250R, an ER6N and an ER6F. Going through Karak highway, the baby blade, as usual was doing a constant 120kph effortlessly, the ER6 have to bear with me being the slowest bike in the pack, thanks guys.

The CBR250R I'm riding is on a set of Bridgestone BT090 150/60 and 110/70, which makes me a little bit more confident over the stock IRC Road Winner. Crossing the first guard house, I can feel the uphill climb on the CBR, given its small engine, this is expected, riding up, keeping the revs at 7 to 8K RPM, the bike climbed at a steady pace, steadily, not crazy fast, but not a snail either. Then come the S'es and twisty bits, and this is where the CBR started to show that it is in fact a CBR, just like its bigger brother. Though it lacks stupendous acceleration, it was so light you can straighten out the turns fairly easy, there was even some moments where I was thinking about the need to brake. For a start, it doesn't have the entry speed to need to brake, and once you reached turn in, the bike turns in as if it can hear your thoughts, and it did it pretty quickly. Instead of hard acceleration to 140 then hard braking to 80 and turn in at 60 and hard acceleration back to 140, the CBR simply just attack the turn at 90kph, turn in at 80, exit at 90, no hard anything. It flicks around like an RS125, yet the power delivery is like a , well, CBR250R, let me try to give an example, imagine an LC135, and give the LC extra 10 ponies, that's more like it. Imagine if you can flick around your RS125 or another 125-150 2T screamer without having to worry about keeping the revs in its short-lived power band. The CBR250R will pull up the hills of Genting Highlands at anything above 4000RPM in almost any gear in case you missed a shift or two. Its very forgiving, yet another nice trait for a beginner sports bike.

Now, both ER6 are ridden by fairly new rider, but no newbie, mind that. Both are fairly quick on their ER6, and the 650 twins are pretty damn good in low and mid range torque as well. But here one of the ER6 rider comment was, (translated of course to English) "Saw you entering the turn, then the next, then you're nowhere to be seen!" I could swear I was only topping out at 90kph and did not feel like pushing the bike at all, the CBR just flick in and out of turns consistently, it doesn't really loses speed by a lot and it cuts through the turn cleanly. What it loses in sheer acceleration and top speed, it makes up with consistency, persistence is indeed a virtue I guess.

Anyway, be reminded, only once, I actually threw the bike wide around a turn, simply because I can't feel the front end and feared the front might simply give away, having to shut the throttle off and ending up wide. But deep inside my mind, I'm sure the bike won't just give, or could it? I put my trust in God, the BT090 and the CBR250R suspension and chassis, and it turns out, the bike can keep its line, no problem. But the front end lack of feel in long curves is kind of worrying, I would say, not that the front is losing it, it's fine, as the rest of the uphill turns proved so, it's just that it is not giving enough feedback to you the rider, come to think of it, Ah! so that is why the bike feels so comfortable, the suspension is set up in a way it disconnects the rider from the road, not that it's not doing its job, it's just not telling you what and how it is doing it. Good or bad? You decide, I'd definitely want some feel from the tires and roads, which is what you get aboard the Ninja 250, but I also wanted the magic carpet ride comfort of the CBR, too bad we just can't have both ;).

Anyway, for Awana ride, for those who might think the CBR250R is going to be a sloth, well, you might be surprised, it isn't that fast, but it is definitely not that slow either. I'd say, in a good day, you won't get to finish a stick of Dunhill before the CBR 250R arrives and finish off the other half for you. On a race track, 1 second matters, but on the road, what can you do with an extra 5 minutes? So yeah, the CBR 250R is Awana Sunday Ride capable.

Let's talk downhill now, same story, only a tad faster, and the brakes on the CBR is like said, 5% more than adequate, so it's just fine. Anyway, from Genting Sempah to Gombak, it's another story, the ER6 are screaming past doing most probably 160-180-200. The CBR is happily cruising at 130-140kph. Did a brief less than a minute brief full throttle run downhill in 6th gear, and i got an indicated speed of 182kph, this is downhill by the way, on flat straight (as flat as the Elite highway anyhow), the cbr only managed 160-165 kph, it does climb to 166 -167-168, I know eventually it will hit 180, but to wait that long, it's ridiculous. So let's put the top speed safely at 100mph or 165kph ;) so what is the difference between 120kph (2km per minute) average vs 180kph (3km per minute) average over a stretch of 25km? at 120kph, you'll arrive in 12 and a half minute, at 180 you'll arrive in 8 minutes and 20 seconds, so that is a difference of less than 5 minutes or about 4 minutes and 10 seconds ... what can u do in 5 minutes.. take off your helmet and gloves, put your bike on the side stand, and... Ah why bother, a freaking 5 minutes. When I got to Gombak toll, both of my friends are on the bike, helms on, engine running, most probably I was just 2-3 minutes behind.

The reality of speed is, to overtake a bike capable of 160 on short stretch such as Karak highway and have the time to buy an ice cream and smoke a ciggy and boast about it, you'll need to be doing 320kph and start at the same time, then you might get 10 minutes ahead, if you want 15 minutes so you can finish your ice cream and actually do something purposeful, think about 340-360kph............AVERAGE.

Awana ride conclusion:

So there you go, is the CBR sporty? Carves the corner well? Fast? Quick? well yes, yes, yes (averagely fast just for its ability to cruise at 140kph), yes (quick as in quick turn in, quick lane changes, not 0-100 in 3 seconds quick).

The CBR250R as a track tool:



Monday, 11th of July, the CBR250R saw its first track day, all stock from factory except for the stickier Bridgestone BT090 tires. Sunny skies and hot tarmac, the conditions were perfect to see what the CBR250R can really do.

The first three laps were sighting laps, thanks to Master Adli and Halloaizq, a slow run around to familiarize the track for new riders and a great way to warm up the tires as well. With the warm up lap done, time to pick up the pace, getting the CBR all the way to its limiter (which is an early 10.5K RPM) is pretty easy for the first 4 gears, in 6th, you'll need a steep downhill or perhaps a push from behind to even get close to 10K RPM, time for the facts, looking at the gear ratio, 5th gear and 6th gear are pretty close together, 1st to 4th have a wider gap in ratios, it seems obvious that the gearing is intended for easy and quick launch, again another plus for a new rider. 5th and 6th gear is the cruising ratio. Here on is where you can feel the single cylinder 250 getting a bit vague or flat. At the front almost 1km straights of Sepang, exiting T15 at about 90-100kph before picking the bike straight up, the CBR250R managed to clock 155kph, and that is only achieved by shifting at 10K rpm and locking the throttle all the way to the 100m marker of T1. Similar experience as when you are on the road, the CBR250R does 0-120kph fairly easy, getting from there and above though is a matter of patience. Along the whole Sepang straights, the CBR250R speedometer climbed slowly, very slowly, and it took the whole straight to get the speedometer to show 155kph, if there is another 1km, perhaps 160kph is possible. The CBR250R did not see 160kph anywhere around the Sepang International Circuit.

Sepang is a very big circuit, designed for F1, getting the 26hp (claimed crank hp) CBR up to pace is quite some work. Riding around with the Ninjas, the 6 hp difference are immediately felt on the straights and corner exits, to have any chance of leaving the Ninjas in Sepang, the CBR will need to leave the Ninja by a whole straight before turn 14 comes, which is near impossible, for me at least, perhaps a better rider on the CBR would do differently, all I can say is, I did my best and my best wasn't good enough to best the Ninjas.

Where the CBR excels though is braking, turn in and mid corner. The CBR's lighter weight means it slows down quicker and the lower top speed before turns means it has lesser momentum to shave off as well. Being able to slow down quicker and the light weight and balanced frame means direction changes are instinctive with the CBR, turn in is easy, just point and shoot, which is very fun and very good to have.

In mid corners , the CBR are very poised and well balanced, allowing it to move around or change lines or dive deeper or just pick it up, it is very agile, the CBR is capable of holding a tighter line it seems, but the fact that, to have a relatively tight line to the CBR's advantage in Sepang, there is just not much of it, T1,T2,T4,T9 and that’s about it, and all of this tight turns are followed by fast long sweepers, meaning you'll immediately lose any advantage you get due to the lack of acceleration and speed.


A mock race was held at the end of the track day, consisting of around 20-30 bikes on the grid. The CBR250R started from the 2nd last row of the grid. With the red lights off, the CBR launched flawlessly jumping straight to the front group, not surprising as the CBR was designed for easy launching. Getting around in the skirmish for turn 1 is easy enough with the CBR's agility, but upon exiting turn 2, the long sweep of turn 3, the CBR was struggling to hold its position from the 125-150-250 2 strokes and the Ninjas, right after T4, the bikes were quickly separated into two groups, the faster front group and the 2nd slower group. The CBR250R was running at the end of the front group along with 2 Ninjas and the front was conquered by the 2 strokes. Somewhere in T11, the two Ninjas were battling out, I saw this as an opportunity and tried to get around the outside, greedy me, quickly enough, I ran out of tarmac and climbed the apex curb, almost got around one of the ninja, but silly me, getting the bike back on track and up to speed cost a lot of time, the Ninjas were already entering T12, which is a fast left hander, the CBR just doesn't have enough "fast" juice in it in Sepang to catch up. There it was then, a little lonely in between until a Cagiva Mito comes into the picture, running around with the Mito was fun, it has almost similar agility, however the Mito has a little bit more acceleration than the CBR, it inches away right after T14. At the end of the day, at least the CBR did not finish last, somewhere between 9 or 12 place I assumed, keeping in mind that this is a stock standard bike with 1800kms on the odometer and the only changes were the BT090, the CBR did pretty well. In front of the CBR was all 2-strokers except for one Ninja (Number 24, Toni Elias Scheme) ridden by a friend of mine who was pretty darn fast, another Ninja pitted due to tire issue (he was on Shinko R010, not very promising) The mock race was won by an Aprilia RS250.

Conclusion of SIC trackday:

Conclusion of SIC trackday on board the CBR250R? Well the CBR250R is a fun bike to ride in Sepang, the handling is great, the brakes are excellent, the chassis are well balanced, but to ever get the bike to seriously fly in Sepang, here is a few things you might want to consider:

1. Do get a good set of tires, I'm on the BT090 and they are great, the IRC Road Winner will be troublesome in Sepang as grip is very important for light machines such as the CBR.
2. The pegs needs to be raised a little higher, the CBR250 standard foot pegs would scrape the tarmac if you lean it low enough fast enough, which happens a lot in Sepang, and the CBR is very balance and agile, meaning, you'll be scraping both left and right foot pegs in no time.
3. Try to squeeze out a little more ponies out of the engine, the CBR250R has a claimed 26hp (crank) so roughly about 22-23 rwhp, while the Ninja have a 33hp (crank) or about 28-29 rwhp, if you can get the CBR to churn out the extra 6 ponies, combined with its feather light handling, it will be a worthy contender.

Otherwise, if you're only looking for a fun bike, or if you're a new rider and you want to learn things quickly and safely, the CBR250R is just fine. So ……….

Is the CBR250R a track tool?
If you wanted it to be, it can be done, throw in a Remus exhaust and Juice Box for an extra 3 ponies, it might do pretty well. Handling wise, It is definitely trackworthy.

Will the CBR outrun a Ninja in Sepang?
In standard form? Most probably NO. In Elite Speedway? Perhaps. With some mods + a good rider? You might open up an opportunity.

Will the CBR250R win the Ninja in Awana rides?
Don't race in public roads please, but the CBR can and will keep up in Awana rides, and it doesn't really matters who arrives first right?


CONCLUSION:

What is the CBR250R? It's a bike designed to cater for new riders looking for a way into the sports bike world safely. It inspires confidence, it is fun to ride without being dangerously fast or idiotically slow. It is very economical, which is a good thing as new riders are often financially restricted. Best part of all, it is very practical in terms of handling and power, its simplicity and user friendliness makes you want to ride it anywhere, for an experienced rider, this could be the 2nd bike you've been looking for, for new riders, you'll be riding much more with the CBR and the more you ride, the more experience you'll get.

Is it worth to buy, as the Jack of all trade, it is definitely the best buy in the 250cc market but if you're looking for something faster you might want to get the Ninja 250R or the Naza Blade 250R. The choice is in your hands (and wallets of course) consider what you wants from a bike and you'll know which bike you will need, and yeah, WANTS and NEEDS are two different things but again, it is good to have a choice and the CBR250R is very much a welcomed addition to the 250 class in Malaysia.

And lastly, a video of the CBR 250R mixing up with the Ninja 250R around Sepang International Circuit.