Its been three years since I first walked into Bigwing’s inaugural Gurgaon showroom. 80+ recent shops later, Honda completely looks extra recent — nonetheless for anyone drawn to larger than single-cylinder ‘Royal Enfield-killers’, the clock looks to have stopped.
In all this time, Bigwing hasn’t successfully released too considerable out of doors of the CB350 interior the sub-600cc section. There’s the as much as this level BSVI CB300R and the CB500X — both of that have been CKD fashions at initiating and at closing plagued by non-competitive pricing, Covid-delayed aspects logistics, and lukewarm gross sales figures.
So, when we heard that Honda change into ready to initiating a recent top rate bike in mid-2022, we started brainstorming straight — what would work totally for the Jap manufacturer in this day’s Indian market, and what stoked our fanboy proclivities? Our expectations had been completely in all places, with some clamouring for the CRF, a thoroughbred off-roader, others thinking about the chance of a single-pot CB300X, and even a few hopeful whispers concerning a recent CBR. Individually, I change into hoping for the Revolt 500.
None of this discourse mattered too considerable to Honda, nonetheless. The impress has made up our minds to play it real for 2022 with the CB300F — a bike that, quite frankly, I’ve yet to peep on anyone’s wishlist.
With an invite to Hyderabad’s Ramoji Movie City and a put of using tools in hand, we headed off for a four-hour, 50-irregular kilometre flirtation with Honda’s ‘Formidable’ recent streetfighter, now not realising that there change into larger than met the respect with this understated newcomer to the Bigwing line.
Ramoji Movie City is a quite surreal order to test a bike. Constructed atop hills, and that comprises masses of tight lanes, swift elevation modifications, and nicely-paved roads, it also gave our event of automotive journalists a differ of quirky, picturesque movie areas in which to peer the bike’s looks and solutions — although the pristine asphalt change into a chunk too factual to bid common Indian using conditions.
With that in solutions, let’s dive in.
At First Gape – Honda’s ‘Formidable’ Styling
I’ll be the first to admit — when photos of the CB300F had been circulated earlier this August, I approached the bike’s styling with a wholesome dose of scepticism. It appeared extraordinarily ‘commutery’ for a bike positioned as a ‘formidable’ streetfighter, with venerable trimmings that recalled photos of the sub-200cc Hornet 2.0.
In person, while I peaceable mediate the styling brings nothing recent to the table, it offers a lithe, muscular frame that’s straightforward on the eyes, in particular when sculpting the 14.1L tank alongside the CB300F’s shrouds/quarter panels.
There’s masses of tech on provide, too. Honda’s bid-activated smartphone tech HSVCS is quite straightforward and uncomplicated to put up, and belongs to a suite of recent solutions geared around security and rider friendliness. Traction preserve watch over, twin-channel ABS, facet-stand detection, and the addition of the CB300R’s tools indication and slipper grab solutions all spherical out a completely unusual equipment. They’ve even added in a hazard light swap and fashion-C port — thanks for listening, Honda.
The Elephant In The Room
Winding by faux airports and initiating quite a bit as vacationers started to pour in, the CB300F proved itself with the identical chuffed, easy handling traits I’ve attain to query from the manufacturer. Aided by a pair of twin USD forks by Showa and axial callipers by Nissin, the CB300F felt planted and grippy, lending ample self assurance to try a few wheelies and tight slaloms, while encouraging me to transfer the extra mile when it came to taking pictures camera-friendly lean angles.
In case you’d have seen, there are a range of fashion parallels between the CB300F and the older CB300R. Some are evident, akin to the upmarket Jap brakes and suspension. Others, akin to the 17-jog alloys, LED lights, and rear footpeg designs would stand out to a ‘300R proprietor, akin to yours in actuality.
The greatest incompatibility, nonetheless, between these two fashions are their engines, which utilize an in every other case similar ride into vastly diverse zones. The CB300R engine — a bored out 283cc version of the indestructible powerplant in the support of the CBR250R — offered a no-BS linear powerband, masses of torque in the mid-to-increased rev band, liquid cooling, and most of all, unbelievable phases of refinement.
The CB300F, on the opposite hand, has a impress-recent, oil-cooled 293cc engine designed nearly a decade after its counterpart. Preliminary speculation advised that the engine would be a bored-out Hornet 2.0 unit, or the very identical stalwart I’ve mentioned above — so I change into quite uncommon to utilize Honda’s most up-to-date single-cylinder to its limits.
The Movie City route led out of doors of the gated premises and true into a pre-marked hill-climb route stuffed with straights, occasional hairpin turns, and thrilling views. It change into on one amongst these straights, while pushing the CB300F to my recorded top jog of 130 kmph, that I realised a tragic fact about this bike:
While nimble, decently-crafted, and feature-encumbered, the CB300F is considerably let down by its engine, which I mediate is at wretchedness of disappoint anyone taking a watch to mosey aggressively and push the bike beyond everyday commuter responsibilities… which is your entire level of a streetfighter, isn’t it?
Ranking the figures into tale. The CB300R draws a top torque of 27.45 Nm at 7500 RPM, while the CB300F draws a quite weaker 25.6 Nm at an incredibly low 5500 RPM — totally the CB350 H’Ness offers a decrease top 30Nm @ 3,000RPM from Honda’s roster. These figures put sense given the respective bikes’ natures — the CB300R is a ‘Neo-Sports activities’ thought focusing on zipping by city streets and city highways, while the CB350’s relaxed cruiser dynamics provide a chuffed, laid-support procedure to the identical activity.
Stuck bang in the center, the CB300F is a nicely-made machine, nonetheless at the muse mosey, comes off as having a chunk an id disaster. From its marketing and marketing to its feature put and styling, the bike offers the promise of a troublesome, aggressive streetfighter, and yet looks happiest while plodding alongside at commuter speeds and weaving by visitors.
The vitality curve, blended with considerably short gearing, blueprint that the CB300F struggles when being pushed and clearly dislikes being wherever north of 80 kmph, retaliating with indubitably wide phases of vibration, in particular from the front footpegs. There’s also the a chunk anaemic 24.7 PS on tap, which makes these unhurried-tools sprints closing for some distance longer.
Blended, all of these factors put a rider desire to rethink yanking support the throttle on an initiating boulevard and as a replacement, return to the compact, city conditions the CB300F feels most at-home in.
Verdict
And then there’s the price.
The CB300F is available in at Rs. 2,25,900 for the DLX model and Rs. 2,28,900 for the DLX PRO, the latter of which offers the recent connectivity system. This makes it Honda Bigwing’s 3rd-cheapest providing at roughly 30ample increased than the CB350 and CB350RS, and a total half-lakh much less expensive than the CB300R.
This leaves the ‘300F in a precarious order interior the market, contending with heavy hitters akin to the Duke 250, Dominar 400, Suzuki Gixxer 250 and extra. The pricing technique has been a routine criticism from Honda hopefuls for years now — merely utilize the CB500X’s rate decrease from this February, the put Honda change into compelled to gash the price by over a lakh.
Is the CB300F a factual bike? Completely. It offers a obvious commuter-on-steroids ride, and is able to quick and successfully