[TusharK]

Honda recently conducted a private feedback session, wherein riders got to experience three 300cc ADV motorcycles. The event was held at the BigRock Dirt Park in Bangalore.



Honda is probing the sub-400cc adventure segment in India and brought along the CRF300L, CRF300 Rally and Sahara 300 for the riders to test out and share their opinions.



The CRF300L and CRF300 Rally are powered by a 286cc liquid-cooled single-cylinder engine that produces 27 BHP and 27 Nm. The latter gets a high-rise handlebar, dual headlamps with a tall windscreen and a rugged sump guard.



The Honda Sahara 300 is an off-road-focused touring bike. It comes in three trims – Adventure, Rally and Standard. The 293.5cc single-cylinder air-cooled engine produces 24.4 BHP and 26.5 Nm and is paired with a 6-speed gearbox.

As ADVs gain popularity, more brands are entering this segment of the market. Honda clearly doesn't want to be left behind.

Source: @bigrockdirtpark

Link to Team-BHP News

[prakash_ajp]

Hope they are serious about the Sahara and brings into the showrooms in the next year or so. All I want Honda to do is to provide a seat as comfortable as the ones in the 310 GS or the NX500 and price it below 3L ex-showroom. I have my cheque ready.

I have been thinking of replacing my otherwise stellar H'ness with an adventure tourer and trying out the 310 GS, the Strom 250 SX, a used CB500X etc. but either they are short on features/power or out of my budget and/or hard to find.

Just one thing that caught my eyes - doesn't it come with USD? To my eyes, it appears like telescopic suspensions.

Originally Posted by maverick029

I suppose they are a little too late for this segment. The sub-400cc segment now offers bikes with decent electronics and good usable power. In my opinion, purchasing these Honda ADVs solely for Honda's reliability is not something many will do, considering the competition.

For the reasons I just said, there's still a lot of space for a reliable adventure tourer. As you can see, I have left out the Himalayan from my options for the simple reason that it's not reliable and doesn't have a smooth engine.

[maverick029]

I suppose they are a little too late for this segment. The sub-400cc segment now offers bikes with decent electronics and good usable power. In my opinion, purchasing these Honda ADVs solely for Honda's reliability is not something many will do, considering the competition.

[kkSolo]

Is the Sahara engine the same as the one in the CB300F and are the CRF units the same as the one in the CBR300? If it is does that mean all 3 are headed our way?

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by kkSolo

Is the Sahara engine the same as the one in the CB300F and are the CRF units the same as the one in the CBR300? If it is does that mean all 3 are headed our way?

Sahara seems to be having the engine from cb300f.
The other 2, have the engine from cb300r.

[SoumenD]

The Sahara 300 looks pretty interesting. Hope honda produces it here and price it competitively. I know, honda & sensible pricing are oxymorons

[Senotrius]

Bring the standard 300L with the bigger engine. Purely down to cost as the rally version would be 60k more atleast. The rally version is also heavier with a higher seat. Ideally, a sahara version with its safe looks and the 300L engine would have been good. Either way, they have done this kind of thing earlier as well. No point holding breath or expecting vfm pricing.

That they have more suitable models like CRF450L and XR650L(old continuation model) is irrelevant of course.

[loki]

The Sahara has got the same engine (more or less) as the current CB300F. So I guess its an easier task bringing that in versus the CRFs which are relatively more complicated.

But Honda will do the usual thing. Overprice it at launch, ensure its a flop, give it a huge price cut a year down the line so that the folks who bought at launch price look like idiots.

[Nilesh5417]

Feasibility / feedback study and with such limited set of riders - really for what? Am lost on how this exercise helps take Honda a decision on whether to launch a 300cc bike or not. They have been in India for a decade+ and they have bikes across all segments already here. They should know everything by now based on their own experience (plus other manufacturers) and its not like they are introducing some high-end tech laden / niche bike. What are they really studying?

[maverick029]

Just curious, CRF 300L retails for approx 6K pounds in the UK (Found the price in the Honda UK website). How can they reduce the price to sub or equal to 4Lakh INR for India to be competitive. I guess pricing it any higher will make it insanely priced instead of just overpriced.

[7000plusrpm]

I am bored with Honda's little games now.
They will launch something at a very high price, when the product doesn't sell, make them unavailable and then re-launch at a lower cost. The CB500X, CB300R, NX500 - all are result of little to no market research.

I hope these won't face the same fate here.

[b16h22]

Originally Posted by maverick029

Just curious, CRF 300L retails for approx 6K pounds in the UK (Found the price in the Honda UK website). How can they reduce the price to sub or equal to 4Lakh INR for India to be competitive. I guess pricing it any higher will make it insanely priced instead of just overpriced.

I don't they think are going to import them from UK. It's mostly probably going to be from Thailand if it's indeed a CBU import. Previously it's sibling, the CB300R was imported to India and it was sub 2.5L. That was 5 years ago so ideally the CRFs should be around 3-4L to have any chances of success. The base CRF300L is around 149,000 THB (3.4L) and CB300R is around 155,200 THB (3.5L), in Thailand. NX500 is around 227,900 THB (5.2L) and it is retailing around 5.9L in India. So do the math.

They should bring the Sahara 300 as it has more chances of having some success in India. It's based on the same CB300F motor and it's a far simpler dual sport. It can be the perfect middle ground between an Xpulse and a Himalayan. And it is practical with more accessible seat height (still tall) and pillion accommodation. It can be the bigger brother to the Impulse which we never got. 6 speed and about 25hp is ideal for our roads.

[maverick029]

Originally Posted by b16h22

I don't they think are going to import them from UK. It's mostly probably going to be from Thailand if it's indeed a CBU import. Previously it's sibling, the CB300R was imported to India and it was sub 2.5L. That was 5 years ago so ideally the CRFs should be around 3-4L to have any chances of success. The base CRF300L is around 149,000 THB (3.4L) and CB300R is around 155,200 THB (3.5L), in Thailand. NX500 is around 227,900 THB (5.2L) and it is retailing around 5.9L in India. So do the math.

Thanks for the reminder; I completely forgot about the Thailand route. The prices quoted, I guess, are ex-showroom, and on-road prices differ significantly due to additional taxes in our country. For example, the NX500 costs 7.62 L in Pune as it's a CBU import. Taxes will be lower for the CKD route, but they will still be on the higher side considering what the machine offers, and any kind of localization will lead to cost-cutting. I think Honda probably will opt out of launching these machines in India.

[The Pianist]

Seems like the 2w enthusiasts in India are getting more options and well made machines from Honda than the 4w enthusiasts.

Hope the situation improves

[whencut86]

This will be a no-brainer for a lot of people once it is launched in our market. Absolutely no competition for the CRF300L and CRF300 Rally in today's market from a fit and finish standpoint, capability perspective and power-to-weight ratio. These bikes weigh 138/148 kgs based on the version and the rally version gets a 13 litre tank as well. The power to weight ratio is insane for these bikes and that makes these super fun to take it on all roads. If launched in the 3-4 lakh price bracket, there will be many takers for this bike even over the new Himalayan purely because it weights 140 kgs approximately. The seat height may be the only worrying factor for a lot of people though. The upcoming Adv390 with close to 50PS power and 160-170kgs weight will also be a better option but the rideability of the Honda will be much better than the new 390 engine.