Honda as a manufacturer has been extremely efficient in keeping their prospective launches under wraps. For instance, when was the last time one came across a Honda test mule doing test rounds on the highway? Difficult to recollect, isn’t it.
Come March 11th2013, and Keita Muramatsu (President & CEO, HMSI) would be unveiling a new motorcycle for the Indian market. The million dollar question would be “which bike”? If there is anything to go by the news doing rounds in cyberspace for some time now, the only motorcycle we could think of at the present would be the Honda CB150R Streetfire.
Though Honda has been tight-lipped about the bike at the moment, a statement related to the launch reads “It rides untamed integrating legendary Honda technology with great mileage”. The word “great mileage” might hint more towards another commuter motorcycle, but 150cc motorcycles aren’t bad at drinking habits either.
If launched, the Honda CB150R Streetfire minus the plastics would play a worthy competitor to the Yamaha R15 which has been the stumbling block for the more expensive Honda CBR150R. Retaining the same motor from the CBR150R, the Streetfire spells performance at the outset. The 150cc liquid cooled engine produces peak power of 17.5 bhp @ 10,500 rpm and torque of 12.5 Nm at 8500 rpm. The perimeter frame of the CBR150R has been replaced by a tubular steel diamond frame on the Streetfire. All these deductions would only be pushing the cost down paving way for a cheaper performance motorcycle.
So does this mark the Honda Streetfire CB150R India launch? We hope so! The results would be out in a week’s time.
Guys! Its called Honda Trigger and its confirmed that the same is street fire..rebadged as TRIGGER for India market…
In acceleration, lets see. Still I doubt it beating 200NS(what the real competition should be – naked & similar priced) in either of them.
Duke doesn’t have standard tabular frame (that rumored bike is supposed to have), instead it has trellis frame & I’m sure people know what trellis are.
Navpaaji,
Slower maybe in terms of top speed, what about acceleration?
The Duke doesn’t have a perimeter frame..but handles well enough?
More over, if its priced close to the price of 200NS, why would anyone buy it?
After all, just like 200NS, its also naked & will be down on performance at a similar price.
But then many people buy a bike just by the logo it got, so you never know. 🙂
“worthy competitor to the Yamaha R15”? 🙂
– Minus fairing = slower than not only R15 but also CBR150
– Minus perimeter frame = down on handling to R15 & CBR150.
Yes, will surely be cheap than R15 but then there are many cheaper 150cc bikes already.