Picture: Honda Jade CBX250(homeyard-pannala)
Why Honda Jade
Honda Jade vs. Honda Hornet
The author originally test the two Honda bikes for their performance and evaluates the features from his own experience. Author uses his own art of writing and is eagerly wishing to share his experience with yours.
When it comes to two bikes Jade is believe to be the Elder brother of Hornet and indeed Hornet is believe to be that the cute successor of the Jade Family. You may not find brand-new original Honda jade(120-) from the Market after 93-99 and now you should find Honda Hornet originally instead. But when comparing the both bikes they derive from the Same CBR250 family which inherit CBX250 Engines. So I did not find big performance boost in Hornet Compared to the Jade on the basis of Engine, Ignition cycles and the basic Ignition Control power Unit . But I understand a huge Structural and materials Improvement in Hornet when Migrating from Jade. I principally believe the single bow like back bone chassis of the Hornet is a top design combination of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. It should be Honda which originally introduced this revolutionary change with Mono socks.
It seem that Honda Specifically design the Jade by extracting features of its own old 400cc. So they might some time feel that the huge old 400cc bike is not gaining enough demand and even not easily maintainable, and not good for hard roads because of it heavy weight, low chassis and the emerging price hike in fuel. Then they perhaps improved this by introducing the Jade with monosoks and same old 400cc look but with a 250 Engine. When Honda feels that Jade is not enough to gain the hearts of Asian lads they introduces the Fancy Hornet with a mind boggling look. So Honda won its target by fascinating the people with the Introducing a series of beautiful hornets. But I have tried only hornet 250 and 600
Hornets with Its Rear wheel and chain drive seems to bit big compared to the Jade principally enforcing a big fuel consumption but not a notable improvement in controlXbalance. But for the track drive it is handy and bulky enough to get the attraction. Any way Jade/Hornet were not designed for racing. But I saw people Tune them for Racing in several occasions. So when tuning the bike for racing I could recommend Jade because of friction factor for the tires’ seems too much good, and the riding control seems to be much better. But It is again not worth for the money you pay. These bikes performs very well in tropical conditions and seems well durable with that climate. With no argument I should accept Honda provides the best durable and best reliable bikes. This is common for Hornet and jade as well. When compare to the Zeal and Bandit, Even the Yamaha same 250s cannot even think reaching that level of reliability. The bikes like Bandit and zeal are not capable for the tropical dry hard roads with spreaded inhomoginities. Any way we should not use them for traditional motor cross tracks.
When it comes to riding position Jade provides the best, and it is true that both these bikes are originally design for 5-6” to 5-8” height and a 70 -85 weight of single ride and 150Kg weight of doubles. Truly the rear part of the seat is originally designed for girls, and not for guys. So that is why you see foot rest design is very uncomfortable for boys. And the design at the same time keep both the loads much tight so that the bike as whole can come to the most stable position compared to the center of gravity.
I found the First 100km is very comfortable, and I learn that second hundred is bit hard at 80-100 kmph due vibration fatigue,the case is for single driving. But when you are driving at the speed of 120-130 you might feel that the bike will reach its optimum functionality. So for high speed drives it is inevitable that you use 95%octane or better. Otherwise the vibration will take you off road with the uncontrollable wind turbulence if you are not experienced for high speed ride. It is notable that when you exceed your speed over 100 kmph the wind resistance is unbearable. So you should bend body, lay your chest much parallel to the cowling and should keep the eyes straight on the road. You will be having a very limited time to judge the other object movements in the road when you drive insanely fast. When you exceed 140 sometime even it is very hard to breath if you are not wearing an appropriate helmet. I didn’t still reach 160 with neither of these bikes and When I reach 140 I feel that the bike is over performing with the normal setup. The vibration is very uncomfortable and If you didn’t continue to reduce I don’t think you can perform more than 2 minutes continually. But if you use the Super level engine Oils (synthetic oils with the proper viscosities) You will reach 150 at its best, and I reach that speed at the straight road(Negombo-Kurunegala) by the Pannala racing track with a 250 Hornet. But I know you can tune your Jade/Hornet even to exceed the Maximum meter speed. Personally with my Jade I have reached only up to 140 and at the time the speedometer cable broke down, and I give up speeding more. Then after I found no opportunity to reach that speed in narrow Sri Lankan Highways.
Finally Honda Jade and Honda Hornet have no big difference compared to performance. But the price is bit high of a Hornet but the difference is not more than 30000/= Rs when you are buying recondition bikes with the same quality. Remember Hornet is new, and bit fascinating so it earns a good attraction and will have a reliable second hand market, but if you are not a crazy lad and you mind performance, passion and long rides, the money you pay for Jade is worth, even it is very high for a quite old bike.
