Remember the Honda ‘Light Weight Super Sports’ concept that was shown of at last year’s Tokyo show? Well according to various media outlets it looks like it could be going into production as early as August of this year. Sporting an inline twin motor and high spec componentry (including rumoured ride modes and even traction control), the RR would put Honda on a more competitive stance than the current very capable but lowly powered CBR300R.
And what of Suzuki I hear you ask? Jumping into the 250 cc game a day late and a dollar short with the decent, but ultimately doomed GW250 (dropped from the line up this year), they missed the starting gun and now have to do something spectacular to rejoin the party. According to Japanese magazine Auto By, expect that to be a new GSXR250RR with an inline twin motor and a splashing of high spec parts.
But don’t get all hot and squeaky just yet. 250 cc is the hot capacity in the massive Asian motorcycle market, so the bikes are likely to be made available there first, though an obvious boost in capacity to 300+ cc would make them viable contenders for the growing sub-400 western markets too.
source: Visordown.com
Doubt the twin will be anything near as cool as the MC21-MC22 4 cylinder 18000 rpm red-line.
These high spec machines were created because of former cc limits on new riders.
Everyone says they want it, until it comes time to purchase.
Who is ‘everyone’ MM ?
Younger riders, at least here in urban setting, can buy and insure such machines for something less than the gross national debt of Guatemala.
The successes of the CBR125R, CBR250/300R and EX300 are pretty fair indicators.
I hope so too.
It all depends on price. CBR250R’s, Ninja 300’s and R3’s sell well because they are $5K. Would an updated version of the 1990’s high end CBR250RR sell well here? Probably not. Keep it to 1 or 2 cylinders and a steel frame for a nice budget machine. Give it four cylinders with ample titanium, aluminium, magnesium and carbon fibre for a poor selling (but seriously cool) machine.
Let’s hope so.