CBR 250 model history question

15907 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by davez, Dec 4, 2009

muharizj

Discussion Starter · Dec 3, 2009 (Edited)

I am from a region where CBR's were never officially sold hence there is a lot of misinformation regarding the topic. I am hoping to have most of these questions answered on this forum. You should also know that 250's are the biggest bikes that can be "Legally" registered in my country. Anything more than that no matter which year/make/model is considered an exotic and is technically illegal - hence they too are registered as 250cc bikes.

When I was researching for a beginner bike I was suggested to get a CBR 250 to learn on before stepping onto anything bigger (There's an R1 in the garage I'm itching to ride lol).

Getting to my question, when researching CBR's, I found out that the CBR 250 model was only manufactured between 1986-1999. source - Honda CBR250 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, people in my market advertise CBR 250's as being 2001 all the way up to 2008. You will know what I mean by checking out the following advert links for CBR's
1) AutoMart.lk | Honda CBR hurricane aero 250 Motorcycle for sale @ Colombo, Sri Lanka

2) This guy says his bike is a 2003 and says its the MC22-105 chassis, i thought that chassis was between 1990-1994?
AutoMart.lk | Honda CBR250RR(N) Motorcycle for sale @ Colombo, Sri Lanka

3) AutoMart.lk | Honda CBR Motorcycle for sale @ Colombo, Sri Lanka

4) This guy CLAIMS this 250cc bike is a 2004 "FIREBLADE"
AutoMart.lk | Honda CBR FIRE BLADE Motorcycle for sale @ Colombo, Sri Lanka

^^ I was under the impression the fireblade titles were reserved for the 900RR, 954RR and the 1000RR???

Actually people here sell there CBR 250 bikes by classifying it either as a "Gullarm" or a Fireblade. What gives?

Did they just have different names for the South Asian Region or did these guys simply start inventing names?

appreciate any solid info...

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davez

· #2 · Dec 3, 2009 (Edited)

If you browse this page you will see the CBR250 was made from approx April 86 upto around 2001 going through the various models, from CBR250four to the last model CBR250RR, note there appears to be no model change from June 24th 1994 .

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As far as the year goes, possibly in Sri Lanka when the bike is imported the year is taken from the day of import? unlike in the majority of UK greys who posses backdated reg plates.

The Fireblade name was added to later (94) CBR250s and CBR400 nc29s, usually with the Urban Tiger design, just a marketing ploy I suppose, captalizing on the CBR900s fame.

Gullarm is the correct term for later models which appear to have the gullarm swinging arm, again similar to CBR400 NC29s.

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muharizj

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 4, 2009

davez said:
If you browse this page you will see the CBR250 was made from approx April 86 upto around 2001 going through the various models, from CBR250four to the last model CBR250RR, note there appears to be no model change from March 1993.

..................

Thanks davez for the valuable info, I guess they DO put down the import year as the YOM back here. Great site - Cheers!

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Surffrog

· #4 · Dec 4, 2009

muharizj said:
I am from a region where CBR's were never officially sold hence there is a lot of misinformation regarding the topic. I am hoping to have most of these questions answered on this forum. You should also know that 250's are the biggest bikes that can be "Legally" registered in my country. Anything more than that no matter which year/make/model is considered an exotic and is technically illegal - hence they too are registered as 250cc bikes.

When I was researching for a beginner bike I was suggested to get a CBR 250 to learn on before stepping onto anything bigger (There's an R1 in the garage I'm itching to ride lol).

Getting to my question, when researching CBR's, I found out that the CBR 250 model was only manufactured between 1986-1999. source - Honda CBR250 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, people in my market advertise CBR 250's as being 2001 all the way up to 2008. You will know what I mean by checking out the following advert links for CBR's
1) AutoMart.lk | Honda CBR hurricane aero 250 Motorcycle for sale @ Colombo, Sri Lanka

2) This guy says his bike is a 2003 and says its the MC22-105 chassis, i thought that chassis was between 1990-1994?
AutoMart.lk | Honda CBR250RR(N) Motorcycle for sale @ Colombo, Sri Lanka

3) AutoMart.lk | Honda CBR Motorcycle for sale @ Colombo, Sri Lanka

4) This guy CLAIMS this 250cc bike is a 2004 "FIREBLADE"
AutoMart.lk | Honda CBR FIRE BLADE Motorcycle for sale @ Colombo, Sri Lanka

^^ I was under the impression the fireblade titles were reserved for the 900RR, 954RR and the 1000RR???

Actually people here sell there CBR 250 bikes by classifying it either as a "Gullarm" or a Fireblade. What gives?

Did they just have different names for the South Asian Region or did these guys simply start inventing names?

appreciate any solid info...

Tri-arms were the first series CBR 400s and gull-arms came later. The 250s may have followed suit - I don't know.

The CBR 400rr was the first bike to carry the Fireblade name (regardless of whether people think of them that way) and came out well before the 900s. You could argue that the 400rr got Honda started on the path which produced the CBR 900rr et al.

By the way, any CBR 400rr you see outside Japan is a gray import. They were never officially sold internationally. The reason for them existing in the first place was because that was the largest engine size allowed to be sold in-country at the time.

If you were Japanese and wanted a bigger bike, say a Honda, you would have had to gray import the bike that had already been exported. Crazy, eh?

If you are looking for spare parts for the 250, I would recommend you look in Australia as they were very popular there. I think this was due to the fact that new riders weren't allowed to ride anything bigger for the first year and because of tax breaks on engine size.

davez said:
If you browse this page you will see the CBR250 was made from approx April 86 upto around 2001 going through the various models, from CBR250four to the last model CBR250RR, note there appears to be no model change from March 1993.

ƒXƒ|�[ƒc�^CB�ECBX�ECBRŒn

As far as the year goes, possibly in Sri Lanka when the bike is imported the year is taken from the day of import? unlike in the majority of UK greys who posses backdated reg plates.

The Fireblade name was added to later (94) CBR250s and CBR400 nc29s, usually with the Urban Tiger design, just a marketing ploy I suppose, captalizing on the CBR900s fame.

Gullarm is the correct term for later models which appear to have the gullarm swinging arm, again similar to CBR400 NC29s.

Davez is absolutely right. It's the same as Thailand. The only difference is that CBRs have been imported (most of the time) illegally here, so there are a hell of a lot of them and the Thais know exactly which bike you have when they see it.

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davez

· #5 · Dec 4, 2009

Just to add I typed the wrong date for the last model made, it should be June 24th 1994, not march 93 as I originally put.. doh!!

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