Quarter Liters Sportbikes: Best Beginner Sportbikes in the World?

By pure logic, why wouldn’t they be? A 250cc engine is powerful enough to keep things interesting for the most part while it isn’t mad enough to scare the pants off the rider either. This is what an amateur rider needs who is starting on his Sportbike journey, isn’t it?

Long before Honda made this segment mainstream with their single cylinder CBR250R, there was just the Kawasaki Ninja 250R with a two cylinder engine that kept the segment alive after the production of inline 4 250cc Sportbikes were stopped in 1990s. A much more sedate (and practical apparently) 250cc motorcycle offering thrilling performance, sporty riding position and a full faired Sportbike styling to enthusiastic riders. Honda has been an active player in this segment since 2011 and recently Yamaha has joined in as well.

They are fast, sporty, and fairly comfortable. They look good enough to pose around as well. That is all fine, but what makes them the best Sportbikes to start your sport biking journey?

While the latest offerings from the Japanese look closer to their bigger siblings than ever before as they are able to implement the essence of their design, they are much more comfortable for a day long ride in comparison. Ergonomics are favored more towards a comfortable ride with a nice touch of sportiness involved with two piece handlebars and rear-set foot-pegs. The front and rear sections of these motorcycles have an amazing balance of drop and incline respectively. And with twin headlights clearly mimicking the bigger Superbikes, they absolutely look the part.

While the aesthetics are good for the look and feel and to increase the reach of the motorcycle among the buyers, it is the performance that has to strike a fine balance between fast, aggressive and controllable power delivery, something that can be mastered fairly easily.

Take these motorcycles for example – CBR250R, Ninja 300 and the YZF-R3. Although CBR250R is the least powerful motorcycle in the group, power delivery of all three motorcycles is something that an inexperienced Sportbike rider can easily relate to while at the same time providing satisfying levels of overall performance even for the seasoned riders. 

The combination of torque and the way these motorcycles accelerate provide an excellent opportunity for a rider to understand how a similar but a faster motorcycle can behave. Also, their handling characteristics are athletic and the chassis design is created with the intention of providing an involving riding experience that further enhances the feeling of riding a Sportbike. The idea is to explore the capabilities of the frame and suspension. Basic preload adjustments, on the rear shocker, are provided so that riders can further learn and understand how minor alterations in settings would change handling dynamics.

These are beginner steps to the full-fledged Supersports and Superbikes. Quarter Liter motorcycles are a great way to start that journey. While it also depends on the rider’s own exposure and experience of riding various motorcycles that can enable or restrict his ability to ride big Sportbikes, it is usually the safest approach to start with smaller motorcycles like the CBR250R, Ninja 250/300 and R25/R3.

In the recent past, KTM, in collaboration with Bajaj, has joined the small Sportbike segment as well and offer some very interesting and typical to their image, playful motorcycles in the form of Duke 200, 390 and RC 200 and 390. They have indeed helped expand the Quarter Liter segment beyond the 250cc limit. Thanks to all these motorcycles, the Quarter Liter segment is no more a set of words specific only to the 250cc, the segment is much wider today.

Manufacturers also offer and promote track days and certain national level championships as a way to highlight the sporty capabilities of such motorcycles and a great chance for riders to explore this form of motorcycle riding. So if you are one of those motorcycle enthusiasts who has an inclination towards Sportbikes and has little experience in that regard, then any of these these Quarter Liter Sportbikes are great to start with.