Honda CB500X Price, Review, features, Images, Mileages

Honda CB500X Overview

Honda has been producing a range of 500CC motorcycles overseas for almost 10-years. But we’ve never had them in India. But Honda CB500X is the first model to come to our market. And I think it’s the most viable Practical bike off that range for us.  

This motorcycle I haven’t ridden before. But the people who have come back raving about what a sweet, lovely, and enjoyable bike it is. And after Riding it, I’m in absolute agreement. This is a nice bike, and it’s almost perfect for our road conditions.  

Honda CB500X Design

Now Honda CB500X is not full-on an adventure bike. It’s a sort of on-off light trail riding adventure bike. They give it an update with a 19-inch front wheel. A little knobbier tire, more suspension travel, and that have made it a bit more adventurous.  

If you look at it, I think it has a nice stance. It does look like an adventure bike. There is a lot of mass. But the proportions are nice. It is not a very large motorcycle and not a small bike either, It has a good stance, It commands attention, and the quality is typical Honda levels. Nicely, finished all over, nothing extravagant. But whatever you see, whatever you touch feels high quality.

Honda 500X Specification

Honda CB500X Riding Position

The main aim of this motorcycle is to be versatile, practical, and comfortable. Comfort-wise, you have a seat height of 830MM. I thought that would be a little off-putting. But people on this ride who are 5 feet 5 inches tall seem to be managing fine.  

The point to note here is that the seat is quite slim down here. The bike is not top-heavy, it is not very tall. It’s not hard to manage. Honda seems to do everything with this motorcycle easy, inviting, and comfortable. 

Seating position-wise very upright. The handle was not too wide, not wide, like an adventure bike. but not narrow like a street bike either. And the footpegs a slightly rear set, but this is a very comfortable all-day riding position.  

Honda CB500X Features

You have a tall windscreen. It is adjustable, but you’re going to have to undo a couple of Allen Bolts. This means you do it once you set your position and you leave it at that. 

In terms of features and frills, I think this is a fairly simple motorcycle. We don’t get the EFI display, it is a simple negative LCD, quite easy to read. There is a decent amount of information, but nothing fancy. No electronics, no traction control. None of the new Quick Shifter features you’re getting on other bikes. And you can’t even turn off the rear ABS.  

Honda CB500X Specs

But this bike is not about the frills. It’s about the writing experience. And a large part of that comes down to this 470CC liquid-cooled parallel-twin engine. It makes 47.5 horsepower. It’s not impressive On paper. But it took five minutes to realize that this is a gem of an engine.

Performance

The first thing about this engine is that it’s flexible. I found myself in 3rd gear 20 kilometers an hour, 6th gear by 50. You can carry 2nd gear, you’re comfortably over speed Breakers. Really flexible, and that’s a joy in our writing environment. But it’s not boring because there is a lot of performance on hand.  

There’s a lot of twin-cylinder grunts. It’s not a high-revving engine sort of ends at about 8700 RPM, but you don’t really want to go that high. because above 7000 RPM you start feeling vibrations in the bars, especially in the footpegs.  

This engine is all about the midrange. Anything upwards of 3000 RPM, beautifully linear. There are no steps in the performance anywhere. I think as a novice beginner-friendly motorcycle. First-time adventure bike, that’s a really good character to have. 

This engine really reminds me of the Kawasaki Versys 650. It sounds similar. It has a similar thump, but it has a little more character. You do here, bit more burbles and pops in the exhaust. Similar sort of engine, but I’d say this is a more entertaining motor. 

Riding Comforts

As for closing speeds, it can hold about 100 KPH in just about 4000 rpm. We haven’t had enough time with the bike to see what it’s like on a long day ride? I suspect you could hold 121 or 130KPH, all day without much discomfort. 

As for riding the city, we didn’t spend too much time there, but this is a very friendly motorcycle. 6th gearboxes smooth with just the right amount of precision. Again, the tracked ability is great. I don’t know about heat, we didn’t spend that much time in traffic, but I don’t think this is going to get very hot. 

The steering is light. There’s plenty of turning radius. You can take tight U-turns. As a daily motorcycle, even a computer, if you want this to be or do it all bike, I think it could. Even in India’s biggest and busiest cities.  

Honda CB500X Handling

Now let’s talk about the handling. This bike is primarily Road oriented, and it’s good fun on a Winding Road. It’s important to remember not to try and ride it like a sports bike. Flat-out you know grabbing it by the neck, that’s not what it wants to do. Ride this at about 70-75% pace, and it can carry great speed through corners. It feels very calm and composed. It is very comfortable. 

The preload-adjustable suspension setup is great in most situations. And it eats up bad roads with absolute ease. We also notice that the reader can get a little unsettled by mid-corner bumps if you ride aggressively. Perhaps bumping up some preload would help. But it reminds you that this bike appreciates being ridden at a quick pace rather than flat out. 

Honda CB500X Brakes

As for the brakes there good too. Goodbye from the front. The rear works well. There are dual-channel ABS that is standard. There is a bit of fog dive under breaking, especially if you grab the front brake hard. It’s something you have to get used to, and it’s something you’ll find on most adventure motorcycles.  

Honda CB500X Off-Roading

And speaking about adventure bikes. Well, you do want to take it off-road from what I’ve experienced with this bike, and I haven’t spent enough time with it. It can go everywhere. But this is not the sort of bike I’ll buy if off-road riding was a big part of my motorcycling ride. 

I would say the CB500X we take you wherever you want to go. There’s enough ground clearance 181MM. 19-inch front wheel. You’ve got nice Dunlop Trail Max tires 50-50 on & off-road tires. They worked well on the road there are ok on this surface. But other things remind you that it’s not really a hardcore off-road bike.  

For one, there’s no backspace. The other thing is you cannot deactivate the rear ABS. The footpegs are rubber mounted. There are no teeth on the footpegs. These are all little reminders not to take it too hard on this bike. 

Suspension travel is decent. It’s not up there with the KTM 390 adventure. The Honda CB500X will take you all the way. Just don’t go bashing it down too hard.

Conclusion 

I am very impressed with this motorcycle & I really like it. and it’s a very easy bike to recommend to someone because it does so many things right. like it has just enough performance for our roads. It’s very comfortable. It’s very easy to get along with and it never demands too much from you. 

For someone looking up to upgrade to their first adventure bike, this is the formula you need. The problem is the first adventure bike. This thing is a little too expensive. We were hoping it would be priced around 5 to 5.5 lakhs Ex-showroom. That’s still a lot more than the KTM 390 Adventure, which it’s sort of competes with. 

Honda CB500X Price

But the Honda does come in the CKD kits, so that’s fine. The reality, however, is that it costs 6.87 lakhs ex-showroom. In some states, that price works out about 8.5 lakhs on Road. Which is right up there with the Kawasaki Versys 650.

Book Honda CB500X

And yes, the versus a bigger, taller, heavier motorcycle. Not as easy as this bike it’s running. Costs are more expensive than Hondas tend to be. But beyond that, the 650 Versys have a much higher level of capability than this bike. And Honda CB500X is out of its depth at 8.5 lakhs rupees on-road.  

The thing is, I know so many people who wanted to buy this motorcycle. So many people, enamored by the idea of the CB500X. And if Honda can correct the price, bring it down to a more reasonable level, I can assure them this bike is a winner.