IN
THE
WIND
P38
2017 HONDA CBR250RR BREAKS COVER
I
t looks like the
international little
bike market just
got a bit sharper
overnight, with the
release of the highly
anticipated Honda
CBR250RR in Indo-
nesia.
Originally un-
veiled as a concept
at the Tokyo Motor
Show last year, the
response has been
such that Honda has
fast-tracked produc-
tion in a move that
will eventually see
the machine push
out the single-cylin-
der CBR300R from
the lineup.
The new Honda will come with a Throttle by
Wire (TbW) system with three separate maps,
a first for the category. The CBR250RR is
graced with some serious bad ass styling and
that could hint at the future direction of Honda
sportbikes (including as yet unseen, all-new 2017
CBR1000RR), with twin LED headlights sitting in
a sharp race-style fairing, a twin outlet right side-
mounted muffler, inverted forks and ABS with
petal-style discs.
Powered by a 250cc four-stroke, eight-valve
parallel twin, Honda is claiming "class leading
performance" from the Honda Indonesia website
but this is against bikes like the Yamaha R25 and
KTM RC250, two machines that don't make it to
the USA. Visordown.com has noted that should
the CBR make it to Europe and the U.S., it is
expected the capacity will be
increased to at least 300cc to
be on equal footing with the
twin-cylinder Yamaha YZF-R3
and single-cylinder KTM RC
390.
But it doesn't look like the CBR250RR will be
making the trip from Indonesia to the U.S. any
time soon.
"The CBR250RR was developed primarily for the
Indonesia market," says American Honda's Motor-
cycle Media Coordinator, Tony DeFranze. "It will be
manufactured there and begin sales by the end of
2016. Honda is planning to release the CBR250RR
in Japan at a later date but there are no plans at this
time to sell the CBR250RR in the U.S."
So for now, the closest you'll get in the U.S. to
a CBR250RR will be these pictures. Bummer. CN
The new mini-CBR
certainly looks the
business but we
won't be getting it
here–for now.
