The hornet 250 uses a cbr250 engine regeared to 16,000 rpm (cbr 18,000).Its also one insurance group higher, top speed appears to be 175-180 kmph.Seems to be a little quicker off the mark than cbr. Jap import only so after market parts are a nightmare even an exhaust, i managed to find a japanese company on the web called yamamoto who do a twin exhaust system for around 700 pounds i have one ordered allready (hand made).Specs are very hard to find on this bike unless you can read japanese, other than that www.hondahornet.co.uk is a very good site,more for the 600cc bike, still has loads a trick bits on it though.ps. its the most sexy 250 on the road.