Who's Thinking of Buying the New CBR250R this Spring?

I am a soon to be new rider. Taking my MSF course this spring and will be in the market for a 250. Now, Kawa has been improving their ninja250, but Honda I am sure has put sufficient R&D into this option-I am now torn ... So I am sking who is cosidering the Honda CBR250 over the Kawai and why?

Thanks!  

Moved to the New Riders section.  

Sorry, thanks for moving it kento1.  

Just FYI: We'll be doing a comparison soon between the CBR, the Kawasaki Ninja 250, and the Hyosung GT250R.  

Ok, I will wait for that then ...  

A question for you and anyone else interested in the CBR250R: If you decide on the Honda, would you consider the ABS model ($4,499) over the standard model ($3999)? Would an additional $1500 be a major deal-breaker?  

Do you feel ABS is necessary on a bike of this size? Would ABS give a new rider the proper braking skills? What would happen when this rider decide to move up to a bigger bike that does not offer ABS? Would he/she be able to handle the more responsive brakes of a Super Sport 600? I'm not saying that there are'nt any advantages of ABS, just want some opinions on these concerns.  

Actually, for beginner/novice riders, I do believe that ABS is a good feature to have.

Today's ABS setups are a far cry from the earlier, much more primitive systems. The majority of the modern systems have much higher thresholds (meaning they don't intervene until much later in braking envelope), allowing a rider to feel how the suspension/chassis reacts to very aggressive braking without ever activating the ABS. The high activation threshold (and quicker cycling rates) also means that their chances of becoming "dependent" on it are drastically reduced; because a motorcycle's single-track handling/steering dynamics are so much more complicated than the "stomp and steer" ABS characteristics of an automobile, the vast majority of novice riders still won't dare tread into the upper reaches of that braking envelope on anything approaching a consistent basis.

Thus, the only thing ABS will do is save their bacon in a panic situation. Which just might keep another person in motorcycling, instead of a crash resulting in another "I tried riding motorcycles, but they're too dangerous..."  

Thanks for explaining the way ABS brakes work. I was under the impression that they worked similar to a cars' ABS system. In that case, if I was in the market for a 250, I would spend the extra $1500 for the ABS  

As with traction control, it depends on how good the ABS is.  

I definitely have my eye on it, especially with ABS as an option. I'd like to take it for a spin and compare it to my Ninja 250.    

Question ... If you are riding for recreation, and start with a bike with ABS then move up to another bike with ABS, wouldn't that just allow a person to potentially be safer?  

Why would that allow them to "potentially be safer"?  

Note: Sorry everyone, made a mistake here: the CBR250R ABS model is only $500 more (CBR250R ABS is $4499, standard CBR250R is $3999), not $1500 more. Apologies for the confusion.  

My wife and I are thinking about the new CBR250R. She now rides a 2009 Kawasaki 250 Ninja. She loves the bike because of the light weight and how easy it is to ride.
She saw the new CBR and became very interested.

The problem is, this is a first year model and we have no information for this machine except for the specifications.

I have been to a few dealerships to get an up close look at the bike and maybe a test ride....but none of the dealers have one on the floor.

I think we may wait until the following year to do our evaluation.

On another note, why don't the rest of the manufacturers get on the 250 band wagon so we will have more choices in this class?