looks like the runt in a litter of baby VFRs

\"A killer learner bike...\"?? Not a learner killer bike??!!

\" You can\'t make big horsepower from a 4-cylinder engine without sacrificing a lot of low-end torque, so the CBR250s of old were very easy to stall. \" You mean a 4-stroke? The whole article is about 4-stroke, 1 cylinder 250cc engines, so I believe you mean 4-stroke and not 4-cylinder.

No, specifically 4 cylinder bikes. The older CBRs were tuned for big horsepower, which was achieved by giving them stratospheric rev limits. They were gutless at low revs, making them actively harder to ride for most learners - especially compared to 250cc twins and singles, which were torquier and easier to ride in most situations, but lacked the outright firepower of the screaming CBR, FZR and ZXR 250s.
The older CBRs were great bikes for experienced riders and for the racetrack, but it\'s my contention that they sucked as learner bikes, and this new one will be a whole lot better for developing skills and confidence on. ;)

I had one of the early Kwacker ninja 250s, black with the red graphic, 2 cylinder. Quick when you cranked it but a fair bit of vibration through to the old backside. It got run over by a reversing truck while parked and with the payout I got an almost new Suzuki Across 250 4 cylinder. The red line jumped to 17,000rpm and she was a bit docile lower down but when you opened her out and kept her above 9000rpm, oh man what a joy to ride. The sound was exhilarating and the acceleration left you hanging on, but the real delight was the lack of vibration coming through and the smoothness of the engine compared to the ninja. I never had any stall problems either.
So my main concern about this baby blade with a 1 cylinder is it going to sound like a trail bike and vibrate like a jackammer? The ABS, yeah damn good idea.

Like it\'s yet smaller counterpart the 125r (or 150r in thailand), you can bet my ass that it will have quite a number of \"fairing\" complaints due to the vibration..
though, it is still interesting to see how this bike will hold out to kawa..

I run cold on most new Hondas but I really dig this bike. I\'ll be willing to bet they have the vibes tuned just so..... to make it interesting but not too rattly. It would be a fun book end to my 955i and an absolute hoot in Boston city traffic where the Trumpet is a bit on the heavy side.

I really appreciated Honda being a contender to the baby Ninja. But after its launch here in Asia especially in India, we\'ve been seeing numerous break-downs and quality issues on every bit of the bike right from the radiator cooling system, front forks and even engine stalling and power loss.
If Honda is nearly as interested in taking the fight upto the Ninja they better pull up their wings.

The all time best Honda 250 surely has to be the parallel twin from the 1960s. In Britain at that time a new law had been introduced that limited learners to 250cc machines or smaller. In any case in those days the bike market was split into commuter machines such as the BSA Bantam (very slow and gutless) and 650cc machines for people who wanted performance. Honda\'s 250 broke the mould as it was a 100mph bike that learners could ride! Allegedly those bikes used special metals like Nimonic valves and it used to be said that later models were never as good as the original. Possibly the original was built with no expense spared in order to destroy the competition. It certainly did that and the police had to get rid of their side valve \"Noddy bikes\". (Noddy bikes by the way were extremely reliable and water cooled but were too slow) They became museum pieces long ago.

Id agree with loz on this. I actually have a Import 1988 Honda CBR250R Mc19 sitting in my garage, It is only just able to keep up with a V8 sedan in acceleration. But once you start moving it just keeps going.. Think quickest i ever been on mine was 135 mph. Which for a 23 yr old 250cc bike; Its quite impressive, But not suited for a learner, Which i can say for certain as its the bike i learnt to ride on. But i\'m moving up in the world. Getting a 2011 Kawasaki ZX6R this month; love the power! ;) CBR Get used to the dust >:]