We are literally marking time until Big Red debuts the Honda CBR250RR, the sportier sibling to the Honda CBR250R, which should rev to the moon and make more power with its two-cylinder engine.
We have seen the prototype of the Honda CBR250RR already at trade shows, and the new CBR250RR is definitely on the edgier side of things, which is surprising coming the ever-conservative minds at Honda.
How much of the edgy design will remain in the production version has yet to be seen, but we do have our first glimpse of some of the machine.
The headlight shape has been filed with European patent offices, which is sort of a weird thing to be reporting on, but it does show insight into where Honda is headed.
To our eyes, it looks like the headlight will fit perfectly into the Honda “Light Weight Sports Concept” which should mean that Honda’s production design won’t stray too far from the concept design.
While the machine won’t be like the small-displacement beasts of yore, we do expect the Honda CBR250RR to pack more punch than Honda’s current 250cc/300cc offerings.
The two-cylinder engine will likely rev higher than the thumper the CBR250R and CBR300R currently use, and we expect the machine to be a in higher state of tune, making more peak horsepower, while sacrificing power lower in the rev range.
The chassis and components also look more sport-oriented, and we expect Honda has hopes of the RR model being the dominant small-displacement race bike for club racers.
As such, it will be interesting to see how Honda markets the new machine, and defines it from the company’s current crop of bikes. Price will be a huge factor too.
Expect to see something closer to a production model appear later this year, during the industry trade show seasons.
Source: Motorcycle.com
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