Honda recently launched the Africa Twin Adventure Sports with a BS6 emission compliant engine in India which is the brand’s first BS6 motorcycle under the premium ‘Big Bikes’ category. Now the brand is said to be evaluating the Honda CB500X adventure tourer and the Honda Rebel 500 cruiser motorcycle to be introduced in the Indian market.
In terms of styling, the Honda CB500X gets its design inspiration from its bigger sibling the Honda Africa Twin and features an LED headlamp unit, a clear tall touring visor, a mild beak with slender but angular fairings, an ergonomic scooped-up single-seat, upright single piece handlebar, up-swept twin-tipped exhaust, a sleek tail with LED tail lamp units and a fully digital negative LCD instruments console.
The Honda CB500X is powered by a 471cc liquid-cooled 4-stroke DOHC parallel-twin engine that produces 47 hp of power and 43 Nm of torque matched to a 6-speed gearbox with assist and slipper wet multi-plate clutch.
In the mechanical department, the CB500X features 41mm preload-adjustable conventional telescopic long-travel front forks and a ProLink 5-stage adjustable mono-shock mounted on the steel square pipe swingarm. The bike gets 19-inch front and 17-inch alloy wheels shod in dual-sport tyres. Braking power comes from a single 310mm front disc with a two-piston calliper on the front and a 240mm single disc with a single-piston calliper on the rear armed with a dual-channel ABS.
The other motorcycle, the Honda Rebel 500 with the model id CMX 500 is powered by the same engine as the Honda CB500X but makes slightly less 45 hp of power and an increased torque output of 44.6 Nm as compared to the CB500X. The CMX 500 is built on a completely different design characteristic and in terms of styling the low riding cruiser features a round headlamp unit, teardrop-shaped fuel tank, relaxed handlebars position, split-seats, low slung exhaust, circular digital negative LCD display etc. In the mechanical department, the CMX 500 gets 41mm conventional telescopic front forks, twin Showa shocks on the rear, 16-inch alloy wheels on both ends etc.
The CB500X and the CMX500 (Rebel 500) are likely to be brought to the Indian market as CKD (Completely Knocked Down) imports and if launched in the Indian market they will open a new middleweight space for the brand in our country.
