The recently launched CB350 in India competes with the likes of Royal Enfield Classic 350, Jawa and Benelli Imperiale
Honda has been reaping benefits from the introduction of H’Ness CB350 introduced a couple of months ago in the India market. Despite being available in limited numbers through its premium chain of dealerships BigWing, it has found a decent amount of buyers.
Now, the Japanese auto giant is looking to expand its popular CB range of bikes. Patent images of a new motorcycle possibly of the new CB250 have leaked and surfaced on the internet. Going by the images, it resembles closely to CB300R which is slated to launch in India soon.
Design Expected
Although it seems to share most of its working components with its elder sibling CB400 SF including its frame and bodywork. The frame in discussion here is a conventional double cradle type and the swingarm seems fairly simple. Lots of focus has been put into the rear suspension setup which gets a mono-shock unit and has been mounted directly in the swingarm with no rising-rate linkage.
Thus the cycle part is mounted on the frame directly behind the machine’s fuel tank, something which is common to more modern Honda motorcycles. Rest of the components are similar to the CB400 SF like the seat, wheels and tail section.
Development on this seems to be in nascent stages since details available are very limited. However, it looks Honda might be serious about this because if it weren’t so important a more generic image of this could have been drawn.
CB250 legacy
The first generation of CB250 came out in the 1970s with its latest incarnation coming out in 1992 and staying in global markets until it got replaced by CBF250 in 2003. Despite its modest power and torque figures, it performed its duties without any complaints and became one of the most popular middleweight classic motorcycles.
Chances of production & arriving in India
As of now, Honda’s CB range extends from the entry-level CB125R to top of the line CB1000RR which recently got updated. Question arises whether this bike will indeed see a production version soon and if it will arrive in India or not. Honda is surely looking to expand its premium range of motorcycles in India and the new CB250 could be an enticing option since the much loved and endeared CBR250R got discontinued earlier this year.
Currently, Honda premium range of BigWing motorcycles starts from the new H’Ness CB350 and the new CB250 could be placed under it. The challenge for Honda will be to heavily localise this bike just like it did with the CB350 which is claimed to be more than 90 percent localised in India.
