Honda cbr250r vs Yamaha yzf-r15

[Benno13]

hey guys,

i am a learner rider looking to purchase my first road bike and was wondering what everyones thoughts were on the new yamaha r15, compared to the honda cbr250?

i have looked around a fair bit and was leaning towards the cbr over the ninja as it fit me a little better (being 188cm tall).

but now that i have heard about the r15 which is close to $2000 cheaper than the cbr ($4500, onroad) i am very interested as money is a little tight.

if anyone has any information or has ridden the r15 i would love to know as i have only seen pictures.

cheers

[Goldmember]

Your best bet would be is to look at second hand bikes as you are on a budget, if you got the r15 you will get tried of it very quickly as it only has a 150cc motor.
there are many second hand bikes that will last your 1 year before you upgrade have a look on here and Used & Second Hand Motorcyles, Motorbikes & Scooters For Sale | Perth Region | Gumtree Classifieds.

Also welcome to PSB

[Commander Keen]

If you absolutely must buy a new bike go with the CBR

[Benno13]

cheers for the advice guys, yeah i was tending to lean towards a newie cus i like the look of the faired sporty bikes and the ninja and hyosung were the only ones i could find second hand??? i will keep looking around. thanks

[Goldmember]

Good luck on your search

[brandonberg]

cheers for the advice guys, yeah i was tending to lean towards a newie cus i like the look of the faired sporty bikes and the ninja and hyosung were the only ones i could find second hand??? i will keep looking around. thanks

Chances are you will not find any second hand YZF-R15s or late model CBR250Rs because they havn't been out long enough. Given the recent price reduction in the Ninja 250R you might find a good decent 1 year old second hand model for under that of a new CBR250R. Being an inline-2 250cc it would have more pull than the new CBR250R or the YZF-R15.

[Steve-o]

Given the recent price reduction in the Ninja 250R you might find a good decent 1 year old second hand model for under that of a new CBR250R. Being an inline-2 250cc it would have more pull than the new CBR250R or the YZF-R15.

...in the upper end. cbr having alot more pull down low/same amount of pull no what rev range your in.

I've just finished running in my 2011 cbr250 so i can give it a bit now and it has a fair amount of go in it, wouldnt want any less so wouldnt go the 150. Also im 6'3 and fits me well and i'm assuming the 150 would be a fair bit smaller

[killswitch54923]

yea my ninja pulls away from the hyo pretty well, which is supposed to have a fair amount more torque down low. I love it and definitely don't regret it, if i had to do it again i would go old school cbr250rr or a zx2r just for the bit of extra grunt and the scream ya guts out 19000 rpm hehe

[shaynoinsano]

nothing beats the scream of the inline 4 cbr250cc comming on around 14,000 up to 19,000rpm best bit is i blow the doors of all those new fart in a jar 250's

[darkfibre]

nothing beats the scream of the inline 4 cbr250cc comming on around 14,000 up to 19,000rpm best bit is i blow the doors of all those new fart in a jar 250's

I agree with you, but not all riders wan't noise and revs on their daily commute. And if you are not trying to race others and want to be quiet (so no above 14,000 rpms) The inline 4 250s are average. In fact below 10,000rpm the singles and twins will probably do better.
Hors for courses.

[shaynoinsano]

agree on that one too.. they are pretty low on hp's under 10,000rpm, i save the race for the track or some goon that thinks there king of the road on there shinny 250 lol..
would like to see a dyno read out on the new 250's

[Spike139]

Cycle Torque April 2011 - Cycle Torque April 2011
have done a bit of a write up on the yamaha,

but as usual ride them see what you like, and in the end i guess it comes down to what do you actually want to do on it and how long are you going to keep it????

and for a cheap commuter, a claimed 45k per liter on a 12 ltr tank? 540k per tank?? not many bikes can do that......

[OppLocker]

Chances are you will not find any second hand YZF-R15s or late model CBR250Rs because they havn't been out long enough. Given the recent price reduction in the Ninja 250R you might find a good decent 1 year old second hand model for under that of a new CBR250R. Being an inline-2 250cc it would have more pull than the new CBR250R or the YZF-R15.

So many people on the internet will tell you the Ninja has more power, but instead of looking at the tech specs go and ride both bikes back to back like I did to make your decision.
I almost bought the Ninja based on internet reviews and I found in reality the CBR was noticeably quicker through the overall rev range than the Ninja.
Fuel injection, nicer instrument cluster, and better riding position (IMO) are even more benefits of the CBR even though my primary goal was on buying the bike that felt the quickest / most powerful overall.

Just remember (for the Ninja) a slightly higher peak power figure , is just a statistic from a small part of a rev range on a dyno graph, and if another bike (the CBR) has better pull throughout the overall rev range then it can often be the quicker of the two. Same applies to cars, and obviously power to weight comes into play as well but for these two bikes the weight is close enough that it's not a major factor.

I'm glad I bought the CBR two days ago, as I almost went and bought the Ninja without even riding the CBR

[out_in_front]

Depends how you ride them - keep it high in the rev range and the ninja will be quicker no doubt - yes it doesn't make as much power in the low rev range, but you only need to be there for one gear. I went on a very spirited ride on a ninja250r - was the only 250 and kept it up with the majority of 600+ bikes - with the wife on the back... personally the leg room on them is the only thing that i didn't like about them. Still switched it for a ZXR250 - which is by far a better and faster bike (if you get one in good nick). Also the feel of the pickup in each gear can be changed by changing the rear sprocket - I have a feeling the CBR is geared much lower than the Ninja - meaning great pickup but lower top speed / higher cruising rpm.

I am sure the CBR is a nice bike - but in the hand of a decent rider, there is no doubt the Ninja is quicker - more power - little bit less weight... pity we dont get the injected one here though would be more of a difference.

For the OP - if finances are tight - get a second hand bike! plenty of Ninja250r's out there for around 4k - VTR's are an alright option too - decent older inline 4's can be had for 3k (although expect to pay an extra $100 for servicing it - and more regularly than the 1/2cyls) If you want really cheap - get a gpx250, although they have crap tyres (16in). Not too many CBR250's out there yet - and personally I would steer away from all the 150's as they are gutless.

[OppLocker]

Depends how you ride them - keep it high in the rev range and the ninja will be quicker no doubt - yes it doesn't make as much power in the low rev range, but you only need to be there for one gear. I went on a very spirited ride on a ninja250r - was the only 250 and kept it up with the majority of 600+ bikes - with the wife on the back... personally the leg room on them is the only thing that i didn't like about them. Still switched it for a ZXR250 - which is by far a better and faster bike (if you get one in good nick). Also the feel of the pickup in each gear can be changed by changing the rear sprocket - I have a feeling the CBR is geared much lower than the Ninja - meaning great pickup but lower top speed / higher cruising rpm.

I am sure the CBR is a nice bike - but in the hand of a decent rider, there is no doubt the Ninja is quicker - more power - little bit less weight... pity we dont get the injected one here though would be more of a difference.

Theory makes sense but have you personally ridden the CBR though?

[out_in_front]

No I havent, but from the engineering side, power is power and cannot be changed, torque is related to power and can be changed by changing the gearing (power cannot). What is the top speed of the CBR? about 150-160 if I remember correctly? meanwhile the ninjas is over 175 - bet if you geared it so they both had the same top speed the ninja would be much quicker in acceleration terms too.

In the same vein- when you look at the power for the ZX10 (new) it's graph is not to dissimilar from the other bikes it competes against (BMW S1000 / jap 1000's) but when you look at the torque graph it is significantly down - about 5-10% if think. Now you can change the sprockets and get more torque and make it the same as the other bikes, and the power will remain unchanged. I bet that most people would not complain about the lack of torque if they did that mod, I also bet that it is geared like that to pass an emisisons or sound test.

[Stavtech]

nothing beats the scream of the inline 4 cbr250cc comming on around 14,000 up to 19,000rpm best bit is i blow the doors of all those new fart in a jar 250's

for shiz! owns new ninjas/hyos etc.

that said, it sux as a daily. real noisy and rough, at 100kph she's sitting at 10k!

if you want a daily rider definetly go the newer bikes, less break downs and hassels.

as darkfibre said hores for courses

steve
steve