Japanese cruisers are a bit like radio waves: just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Honda built a new CL500 with its parallel twin that floats somewhere between a cruiser, a scrambler and a street bike. With the same effort, the Japanese aimed a Batwing-style fairing and a set of hard side cases at a CMX1100 Rebel to turn it into a touring cruiser.
Honda brings the CL500 itself among the Street models, so between the CBs, although the CL500 with its retro looks and 19” front wheel does not quite fit in that list. The heart of the CL500 is the 471cc parallel twin that we know from the CB500X, the CB500F, the CMX500 Rebel and the CBR500R. Directly derived from the two-cylinder as used in the CMX500 Rebel, Honda made a few changes to the power source. The intake and exhaust were redesigned in the quest for a little more torque (43.4 Nm at 6,250 rpm) while the Rebel’s 40-tooth rear sprocket was swapped out for a 41-tooth one to give the CL500 a little sharper acceleration. . The engine hangs in a tubular steel frame that is supported at the front by a non-adjustable front fork with 150 mm of travel. The stereo rear suspension offers 145mm of travel and is adjustable in five levels of preload. The saddle height is 790 mm, the CL500 weighs 192 kilos when ready to ride. The front wheel is braked by a combination of a two-piston caliper and a 310mm floating disc, at the rear a 240mm disc and a single-piston caliper form a pair. The ABS is optimized for ‘asphalt and dirt tracks’, according to Honda. That’s ambitious.
CMX1100T Rebel
The CMX1100 Rebel – available with a classic gearbox and with DCT – remains unchanged in the catalog, but is joined by the CMX1100T Rebel. It will have a Batwing-style head fairing on the front fork, including the well-known Harley-Davidson letterbox that is intended to reduce the turbulence behind the fairing. The hard side cases offer 35 liters of storage space: 16 liters on the right and 19 liters on the left.
#Honda #cruising #CL500 #CMX1100T #Rebel #Motokicx