Based on outgoing CB300F street naked motorcycle, Himalayan rivaling Honda ADV can soon become a reality
Ever since the Honda CB300F was launched in India, it has stirred quite a commotion in many. Sales figures reflect the same and almost begs the question, whether Honda should have launched this in the first place. It even got a discount of Rs. 50,000 at dealer level to clear off stock. It sits below Honda CB300R, a much more powerful and sporty offering.
New reports suggest Honda might extract more from this platform. How? By making an ADV version of it, of course. We have seen this strategy by Honda with CB200X based on Hornet 2.0 and it hasn’t procured much success either. It is yet to be seen how Honda will execute this and it might be launched by the end of 2023.
Honda CB300F Based ADV motorcycle launch planned
With ADV popularity on the rise, manufacturers are lining up their rugged machines to cater to this highly competitive segment. Sometimes, we also witness pseudo ADVs like Honda’s CB200X with style of an ADV, without any substance of one. We’re talking about the lack of long travel suspensions, wire-spoke wheels, larger front wheel and the likes.
Honda is considering taking a similar approach with its recently launched CB300F naked street bike. Going by past encounters with Honda ADVs, we would wager this will just be a styling exercise, rather than a trail and offroad-worthy machine. While at it, we hope Honda bases this upcoming motorcycle on CB300R, instead of CB300F. We say this because Honda CB300R is powered by a 286cc motor making 30.7 bhp at 9000 RPM and 27.5 Nm at 7500 RPM. While CB300F is powered by a 293.52cc motor developing 24.13 bhp at 7500 RPM and 25.6 Nm at 5500 RPM.
With CB300R, Honda can pit its upcoming ADV against KTM 390 Adventure, BMW G 310 GS and the likes with comparable numbers. That said, the figures of CB300F will limit it to rival against Suzuki V-Strom SX and KTM 250 Adventure, which is not a very hot segment. Not only is the CB300R’s platform more exciting, but it is also lighter as well.
Specs & Features
Going by Honda’s previous strategies, we would say this new Honda ADV based on CB300F will be equipped with a handsome looking fairing with a revised seating position. This ensures an upright seating position as opposed to ergonomics on a street bike. It will get design inspiration from its elder sibling Honda CB500X and is highly likely to be named CB300X.
It will be powered by the same engine and come equipped with identical componentry like USD front forks, rear monoshock, single disc setup at both ends, same headlight assembly housed in a different cowl, integrated into a bikini fairing is possible. That said, Honda can surprise us and actually offer longer travel suspension, larger front wheel and even wire-spoke rims.
Also, we expect Honda to tune the CB300X to suit characters of an ADV, unlike a street bike that it is based on. With CB200X, Honda offered a handsome and upmarket product without offroad-worthy hardware and there is a price increment of around Rs. 12,000. With the larger CB300X, we expect it to be priced Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 25,000 higher than CB300F.
