The Honda CRF300L is a dual-sport motorcycle sold in international markets. A recently filed design patent indicates that we might just be getting the motorcycle for the Indian market.
The CRF300L dual-sport motorcycle is essentially an off-road or a motocross bike that has been equipped with all of the necessary parts to make it road-legal. In the Indian market, we have a fair share of adventure motorcycles, but no dual-sport motorcycles as of now. With this new patent, things could change very soon if the bike does indeed go into production.
The predecessor to the Honda CRF300L was the CRF250L. It was discontinued as it was not able to comply with the Euro 5 (BS6) emission norms and soon after, Honda bumped up the displacement of the engine and introduced the CRF300L. The 286-cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected engine makes 27.3 hp and 26.6 Nm of peak torque. It is mated to a six-speed gearbox paired with a slipper clutch.
The bike sports a 21-inch wire-spoked wheel at the front and an 18-inch wire-spoked wheel at the rear with approximately 260-mm suspension travel at both ends. Like a proper motocross bike, the CRF300L gets a ground clearance of 284 mm with a seat height of 880 mm. The only point that might be a disadvantage to Indian consumers is the tiny 7.8-litre fuel tank that the bike sports. Honda have given a claimed efficiency figure of 32.3 km/l which should be good for running the motorcycle around 250 km on a full tank.
As mentioned earlier, this is a proper motocross machine so one should not expect to see the many features that we get on many road going motorcycles today. The CRF300L sports minimal bodywork with lights, indicators and mirrors to keep it road legal and in turn keep the weight to a minimum which will ensure more motocross air time.
It would be a good move from Honda if they are able to price it right and if this actually does manage to be produced in India. There have been various patents from Honda in the previous years which we have never received for our market so we will just have to wait to find out. In the US, the bike is priced at $5,249 which translates to around Rs 3.84 lakh.
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