Honda CL500 Scrambler

The CL500 is the fifth motorcycle built on the  blueprints of Honda’s middleweight, 500cc platform that incudes a range of motorcycles. It was unveiled at the EICMA 2022 in Milan, Italy, and you can read all about it here.

It’s styled like the iconic CLs of the 60s and 70s while packing sufficiently modernity for this day and age. It features a round all-LED headlight, muscular fuel tank and minimal body work for that scrambler look. But elements like the ribbed single-piece seat, fender mounted taillight and high-set side slung exhaust are what give it that proper scrambler stance. 

The CL500 is powered by Honda’s proven 471cc, twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled motor which makes 46.6PS and 43.4Nm. It’s the same engine we’ve seen on the CB500X, CB500F, CBR500R and Rebel 500. The motor is mated to a six-speed gearbox and gets a slip and assist clutch.

Underpinnings include a 41mm telescopic fork and a preload-only adjustable twin shocks at the rear. Braking is handled by a 310mm floating disc with a two-piston calliper at the front, and a 240mm disc with a single-piston calliper at the back. Dual channel ABS is offered as standard, which Honda claims is optimised for both on- and off-road riding. It rolls on a 19/17 inch alloy wheels front and back, and comes shod in dual-sport-ish tyres. The seat height is an accessible 790mm but the ground clearance of 155mm is a bit disappointing. In India the CL500 will it rival the Benelli Leoncino 500.