USA - Honda CBR300R priced at $4,399, sales begin in August

The Kawasaki Ninja 300 succeeded the widely acclaimed Ninja 250 as the new king of compact sport bikes, making it necessary for Honda to step up. The Honda CBR300R is the company's reply to the Ninja 300.

The Honda CBR300R's engine is same as that of the CBR250R albeit with a longer stroke. As a result, the engine displacement has been increased by 37cc to 286cc. The increase in the engine capacity is indeed accompanied by increase in the output as the new motorcycle produces 30.4 hp and 27.07 Nm of torque, up from the CBR250R's 26 hp and 22.9 Nm of torque. Power is transmitted via a 6-speed gearbox.

Where as the CBR250R borrowed its single headlamp design from the VFR1200R, its successor settles for a twin headlamp setup that aligns it with other siblings of the CBR family. The silencer has become slightly longer but the rest of the bike remains largely the same.

After several delays, global sales of the CBR300R commences next month and in the US in August. Honda's US website has already been updated with the details of the bike. The non-ABS version is priced at $4,399 (around Rs. 2.60 lakhs) while the ABS equipped variant costs $4,899 (around Rs. 2.9o lakh).

We expect Southeast Asian markets like Indonesia to get the Honda CBR300R much before India. When the bike eventually comes here, we expect the CBR250R to hang its boots, just like how the Ninja 250 gave way for the Ninja 300.