Honda launched the CB 300R in India in February and the deliveries began a short while ago, however, now there are reports coming in that the naked street bike from the company is sold out for the year 2019. It means that the new buyers will have to wait for another full year for their CB 300R. The company had decided to bring the bike in India through the Completely Knocked Down route and assemble it locally. Now that the bookings for the bike have crossed the 500 units mark, the company has stated that the stock for the bike for this year has been sold out. To let you know, the Japanese maker imports this bike from Thailand as Completely Knocked Down kits and then assembles it in the country. This is also the reason behind the high price of the bike in Indian market. However, the bookings show that the customers are not that bothered with the pricing of the bike in India. Further information is awaited from the company as to whether the it will ramp up the import and assembly of the bike in India.
The Japanese company has priced the Honda CB 300R at Rs. 2.41 lakhs, ex-showroom India. The bike is not in the same league as the KTM Duke 390 (another naked sport that has oodles of performance) but almost matches the Austrian bike in terms of pricing. The engine of Honda CB 300R has a displacement of 286cc and this liquid cooled unit now produces 31 Bhp and 27.5 Nm. This engine has been mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox.
The front of the naked sports has upside down forks whereas the rear comes equipped with a 7-step adjust mono shock absorber. As far as safety is concerned, the bike has dual channel ABS as standard and both the alloy wheels of the bole are adorned by petal disc brakes equipped with Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) to optimize the braking on the bike. The bike is sold in India in two shades -- Matte Axis Gray Metallic & Candy Chromosphere Red.
As the readers may be aware that Honda sells its premium sports bikes through only 22 dealerships all over India, the brand is giving the same treatment to the CB 300R as the naked sports bike is being sold through these 22 dealerships only. Perhaps, this signifies that the Japanese bike maker is aiming to instill a premium feel in the CB 300R customers via the dealership and service experience. The Honda CB 300R gets a pretty relaxed riding positon that makes it appropriate for daily usage and the performance if the bike also makes it good for longer runs.
The company has also released the official accessories with the prices for their latest offering. Ranging from a price of Rs. 341 to Rs. 15,009, the accessories list is very expansive. As is the case with any other bike, one can go for individual upgrades or bundle them together in a kit. The massive popularity of the bike at such a price point indicates that the customer base in India is ready to shell out good bucks for a properly refined motorcycle in the entry level performance segment. Perhaps this is the reason why Suzuki is also planning on launching the 250cc version of Gixxer in India and brands like Husqvarna are also gearing up to bring neo-cafe racers to India.