Duc
Me Gusta :O
Me Gusta :O
Honda CBR250R vs Ducati 748 comparo
Just finished my first back to back ride of my 250 and 748 and thought that you guys and gals might be interested in a comparo (Disclaimer: this is my personal comparo. No certified testing devised were used, and no laywers were present to witness any of it
)
First, let start off with some pics. Here is my 250, 748, and them together in my garage.
Set up:
-1 hr ride on each bike
-Identicle routh (combination of freeway, local roads, and through some turns and twisties)
-NOT an all out go-as-fast-as-you-can ride, but more of sprited morning run out (but didn't try to stay within speed limits either)
-Both bikes are stock from the performance stand point (the Duc has mild cosmetic upgrades)
-Hardly any traffic through out the entire ride
Bikes:
-2011 CBR250R, 137 miles at start of the ride
-2002 Ducati 748, 6068 miles at the start of the ride
First up, the 250
-It starts up so quite and hardly any vibration to speak of. Give it some throttle in my garage and it sounds a bit like a scooter, but it's way early in the morning and my little girl is a sleep, so that's a good thing! lol.
-Started the ride with a 30 mph cruise through my neighborhood to get the bike warmed up. Got out on the local road (with 45 mph speed limit, hardly any traffic) and gave it a go. First gear; bounced off the rev limiter, second gear; bounced off the rev limiter, third, fourth, fifth....to 88 mph. Whew, that was work!!
-Jumped on the highway, and cruised for about 10 miles at between 60-92 mph (i didn't want to stay at constant speed as I'm still trying to break in the bike). Bike felf stable, handle lane changes with no problems, but felt a bit buzzy at high speed. Not much excitement there so i was glad to get off the highway.
-Now the fun part. After getting off the highway, I went through a golf course community with a winding twisty roads around the golf course. The bike was FUN!! Nothing really exciting, but fun. It handled the twisties great and was super easy to ride. I really like the second and the third gear on this bike.
The Duc
-The start up: the rumble and the sound of the L-twin and the dry clutch is intoxicating!! I had to keep myself from giving it some gas so I don't end up waking up my little one (My Duc has a dry clutch, instead of a wet clutch in the CBR. Dry clutch gives the Duc it's charateristic "bolts in a paint can" sound. Some hate it, some love it. I LOVE it!)
-Went through my neighborhood again to warm up the bike...left the neighborhood, got on the street, and gave it a go. First gear; 8500 rpm, second gear; 8000....and I'm doing 85...lol. The main difference here is not so much the number of up-shifts I had to make, but more of the wait time between the gear changes. The Duc will get you up to speed in a hurry, while it takes a bit of wait on the CBR for it to come up to speed.
-Highway ride on the Duc is ROCK SOLID. It does have a stiffer suspension set up than the CBR so you do feel the road quite a bit more. Took it up to 127 mph on a short burst but mainly cruised around 75 mph.
-Got off the highway and went through the golf course. The Duc forces you in to one of the MOST committed riding positions of any bike. It does put a lot more weight on your wrists and could be quite uncomfortable for some, but it puts you in a perfect position to attack the turns. Good smooth power delivery (btw, not a whole lot of power for a 748cc bike. It's rated at 97 hp), requires very minimal control movements, and the riding position all works together to help you attack those turns. No need to shift gears too much. Just leave in gear and use the gas.
Overall
CBR250R
Pros: light, comfortable, easy to ride, fun, and cheap! (bought mine with 90 miles on it for $3000, and the maintenance and insurance is pocket change. I do my own maintenance BTW)
Cons: Too slow, good torque in first but the gearing is too short (IMHO).
Ducati 748
Pros: Looks, feels, and sounds so sexy, makes me want to cheat on my wife! jk! Committed riding position instantly puts you in an attack mode. Controls are almost telepathic (requires very little hands and feet movement to change the gears). Great torque (this is in my opinion the main difference between the L-twin and the 4-cyl engines. Twins provide good torque down low, where as the 4-cyl engines provide good hp up high)
Cons: Expensive to buy and maintain (I think it was like $16K 10 years ago...doesn't sound like much but that was a lot back then! Also, the maintenance and parts costs are super high! If you were to take it to a dealer for maintenance, the cost to maintain the Duc for the first 12K miles would pay for my CBR250R). Committed riding position.
Hope you guys enjoyed the read! I'll do another comparo of my CBR250R and my CBR600RR some other time
)First, let start off with some pics. Here is my 250, 748, and them together in my garage.
Set up:
-1 hr ride on each bike
-Identicle routh (combination of freeway, local roads, and through some turns and twisties)
-NOT an all out go-as-fast-as-you-can ride, but more of sprited morning run out (but didn't try to stay within speed limits either
)-Both bikes are stock from the performance stand point (the Duc has mild cosmetic upgrades)
-Hardly any traffic through out the entire ride
Bikes:
-2011 CBR250R, 137 miles at start of the ride
-2002 Ducati 748, 6068 miles at the start of the ride
First up, the 250
-It starts up so quite and hardly any vibration to speak of. Give it some throttle in my garage and it sounds a bit like a scooter, but it's way early in the morning and my little girl is a sleep, so that's a good thing! lol.
-Started the ride with a 30 mph cruise through my neighborhood to get the bike warmed up. Got out on the local road (with 45 mph speed limit, hardly any traffic) and gave it a go. First gear; bounced off the rev limiter, second gear; bounced off the rev limiter, third, fourth, fifth....to 88 mph. Whew, that was work!!
-Jumped on the highway, and cruised for about 10 miles at between 60-92 mph (i didn't want to stay at constant speed as I'm still trying to break in the bike). Bike felf stable, handle lane changes with no problems, but felt a bit buzzy at high speed. Not much excitement there so i was glad to get off the highway.
-Now the fun part. After getting off the highway, I went through a golf course community with a winding twisty roads around the golf course. The bike was FUN!! Nothing really exciting, but fun. It handled the twisties great and was super easy to ride. I really like the second and the third gear on this bike.
The Duc
-The start up: the rumble and the sound of the L-twin and the dry clutch is intoxicating!! I had to keep myself from giving it some gas so I don't end up waking up my little one
(My Duc has a dry clutch, instead of a wet clutch in the CBR. Dry clutch gives the Duc it's charateristic "bolts in a paint can" sound. Some hate it, some love it. I LOVE it!)-Went through my neighborhood again to warm up the bike...left the neighborhood, got on the street, and gave it a go. First gear; 8500 rpm, second gear; 8000....and I'm doing 85...lol. The main difference here is not so much the number of up-shifts I had to make, but more of the wait time between the gear changes. The Duc will get you up to speed in a hurry, while it takes a bit of wait on the CBR for it to come up to speed.
-Highway ride on the Duc is ROCK SOLID. It does have a stiffer suspension set up than the CBR so you do feel the road quite a bit more. Took it up to 127 mph on a short burst but mainly cruised around 75 mph.
-Got off the highway and went through the golf course. The Duc forces you in to one of the MOST committed riding positions of any bike. It does put a lot more weight on your wrists and could be quite uncomfortable for some, but it puts you in a perfect position to attack the turns. Good smooth power delivery (btw, not a whole lot of power for a 748cc bike. It's rated at 97 hp), requires very minimal control movements, and the riding position all works together to help you attack those turns. No need to shift gears too much. Just leave in gear and use the gas.
Overall
CBR250R
Pros: light, comfortable, easy to ride, fun, and cheap! (bought mine with 90 miles on it for $3000, and the maintenance and insurance is pocket change. I do my own maintenance BTW)
Cons: Too slow, good torque in first but the gearing is too short (IMHO).
Ducati 748
Pros: Looks, feels, and sounds so sexy, makes me want to cheat on my wife!
jk! Committed riding position instantly puts you in an attack mode. Controls are almost telepathic (requires very little hands and feet movement to change the gears). Great torque (this is in my opinion the main difference between the L-twin and the 4-cyl engines. Twins provide good torque down low, where as the 4-cyl engines provide good hp up high)Cons: Expensive to buy and maintain (I think it was like $16K 10 years ago...doesn't sound like much but that was a lot back then! Also, the maintenance and parts costs are super high! If you were to take it to a dealer for maintenance, the cost to maintain the Duc for the first 12K miles would pay for my CBR250R). Committed riding position.
Hope you guys enjoyed the read! I'll do another comparo of my CBR250R and my CBR600RR some other time
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