Which 250cc Bike Gives You The Most Bang For Your Buck?

We calculate value for money using a little creation of our own

As a rule of thumb with bikes, the greater the displacement, the more expensive it tends to be. A 250cc sportsbike costs more than a 100cc commuter and less than a 750cc cruiser. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule: the price you pay for a 300cc Japanese or European bike might get you a 400cc Korean bike, or a 1,200cc cruiser may be more affordable than a cutting-edge 1,000cc superbike. But on average, this rule holds true.

It’s also true that if you’re looking to buy a 250cc motorcycle then engine output is a fairly high priority for you. If it wasn’t then you’d be rummaging around in the 125cc or 150cc segments. ‘Value for money’ is a term that gets thrown around a lot when purchasing a new bike, so today we’re going to take a very simplistic approach to VFM. Which 250cc bike gets you the most power for the least cash?

To do this, we’re going to use a metric we call ‘price per PS;’ or in other words, the amount of cash that you have to pay for each pony that the engine produces. What you see down below is a table of all the 250cc bikes available in India (yes, the CBR250R is FINALLY dead) ranked in descending order or price per PS.

Unsurprisingly, it’s the most expensive bike that sits at the top of this list: the KTM 250 Duke. Yes, it’s the most powerful bike here along with the Huskies at 29.91PS, thanks to a sophisticated liquid-cooled, DOHC 4-valve engine, but all this also means that it’s the most expensive bike here and by quite a margin. It’s over Rs 20,000 more expensive than the next bike, and for this reason, it attracts the highest price per PS this segment.

What is a bit surprising is that the second bike on this list is the most affordable option here. The Yamaha FZ 25 costs only Rs 1,34,680 - that’s a whole 33 per cent less than the Duke. But its power output is also a paltry 20.9PS, meaning that you have to shell out a steep Rs 6,444 for each pony.

VFM takes a huge jump when we come to the Suzuki Gixxer 250. Yes, it’s over 28,000 bucks more expensive than the FZ, but the extra 5.6PS on tap means that you only have to pay Rs 6,166 for every PS.

It’s narrowly edged out by the brand new Husqvarna 250cc twins. They’re powered by the same 248.8cc seen on the Duke but their attractive price tag of just Rs 1.80 lakh means that each PS costs you just Rs 6,018.

The king of the mountain when it comes to value, though, is a Bajaj. Yeah, what a surprise, right? The Dominar 250’s motor is based on the KTM unit but is slightly detuned, so output is only 27PS. But at just Rs 1.60 lakh, it’s a whole 40,000 bucks cheaper than the Duke and even manages to undercut the Huskies. As a result of this, price per PS falls below the Rs 6,000 mark (by quite a bit) and each PS on the Dominar 250 will only make a Rs 5,925 sized dent in your wallet.