The low capacity, high performance segment first surfaced in India because of Indian consumers demand for motorcycles which are fuel efficient as well as powerful, and now this obsession with the pocket rockets has gone viral and is taking the world by storm. Honda had earlier launched the replacement to the Honda CBR 250R in the form of the CBR 300R. The Honda CBR 300R has been in production for a few months now, with production taking place at Honda’s manufacturing facility in Thailand.
The CBR 300R is doing very well in countries like Indonesia and Thailand, and is an awesome bike for the performance enthusiasts as well a direct rival to the Kawasaki Ninja, as it is powered by a 286cc, liquid cooled, single-cylinder engine with a maximum output of 30.4 BHP and 27 NM of torque, and now, Honda which till now only had full-faired low capacity, high performance motorcycles has now turned its attention to naked versions of the low capacity, performance motorcycles.
Honda has recently confirmed that they will eventually launch the CBR 300F which is a naked version of the CBR 300R, which means the CBR 300R will be following the footsteps of its elder sibling, the CBR 500R, of which there is a naked version named the CBR 500F, an adventure version and a newer Enduro version too. If this can be taken as an example, it can be observed that Honda has been creating a new platform with a few of its motorcycles, and now it is the turn of the CBR 250R.
The Honda CBR 250R is the basic platform upon which the CBR 300R is based, and even the engine used in the CBR 300r is a ‘bored out’ version of the CBR 250R’s engine, even the weight reduction has taken place, by streamlining the CBR 250R’s chassis for the CBR 300R, and now it looks like this platform will spawn off yet another motorcycle in the form of the CBR 300F.
There has been no official details regarding the design of the CBR 300F, but we suspect it will be based on similar lines as the CBR 500F which is a great looking motorcycle and if done right, it should have customers lining up at the showrooms to place their orders for the motorcycle.
Honda has had a pretty good history with regard to naked motorcycles, but they always make the mistake of not launching it in India. Case in point is, the Honda Hornet. The Hornet was a very popular motorcycle in the Indian biking community, and yet it was never launched in the Indian market, and it looks like history is repeating itself with the CBR 300F, as Honda has confirmed that it will be launched eventually, but will not be making it to the Indian market.
Honda will be losing a big chunk of customers if they do not launch the CBR 300F in India alongside the CBR 300R, as we feel that Indian biking enthusiasts would love the CBR 300F. It is now only a matter of time, before we see what Honda decides to do about this.
