Urban Sophistication

The Honda CB300F is the latest motorcycle to join India's premium Honda Big Wing dealerships. We spent a day with the motorcycle in Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad, to tell you what this new motorcycle is all about

-  Azaman Chothia 

THERE WERE many rumours about what Honda would bring to our market once they revealed the teaser for this new launch. "The Formidable" tag led to some expecting to see the Forza 350 maxi-scooter, while others hoped to see the CRF300L dual-sport motorcycle. All that speculation was put to rest when Honda Big Wing India launched a new naked bike called the CB300F. You might think that this is a modern take on the neo-retro CB300R, but this is an entirely different motorcycle. For this first ride review, we have the CB300F in the "Sports Red" colour scheme. The other two colour options on offer are "Mat Marvel Blue Metallic" and "Mat Axis Grey Metallic".

The CB300F makes use of a new 293-cc single-cylinder motor that is air-cooled and gets an oil-cooler. This motor puts out 24 hp at 7,500 rpm and 25.6 Nm of peak torque at 5,500 rpm. It is paired with a six-speed gearbox with a slipper clutch as standard. When compared to the 286-cc liquid-cooled motor in the CB300R, this one makes around seven hp and two Nm less. As soon as I got going on the CB300F, I could feel the linear power delivery and the engaging nature of the mid-range. It produced a nice grunt from the exhaust when revved to the high rpm range. The clutch action is light and the six-speed gearbox worked seamlessly. A slight surge in power is felt past 5,000 rpm and the motor is fairly tractable; it was able to do speeds of around 55 km/h in fifth gear. There are a few vibrations that creep in at the handlebar and pegs once you cross around 110 km/h. On the one open stretch that I found, I was able to get to an indicated 134 km/h with a little power left in reserve. The motorcycle should be able to attain an indicated top speed of approximately over 140 km/h.