Honda CB500X 2021: India’s first ride of Honda’s sensible adventure bike

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. The Honda CB500X is the first model from that range to come to our market, and I think it’s the most viable, practical bike of it for us.

This is a motorcycle I hadn’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.

Design

The Honda CB500X is not a full-on adventure bike. It’s a sort of on-off, light-trail-riding adventure bike. Honda gave it an update with a 19-inch front wheel, a little knobbier tyre and more suspension travel, and that has 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 and whatever you touch feels high quality.

Specification

Transmission	6-speed manual
Number of cylinders	2
Displacement	471.03cc
Kerb weight	199kg
Colours	Grand Prix Red; Matte Gunpowder Black Metallic
Max power	46.93bhp @ 8,500rpm
Max torque	43.2Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel capacity	17.7 litres

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 seemed 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 have done everything with this motorcycle to make it easy, inviting and comfortable.

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

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 a TFT 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 quickshifter features you’re getting on other bikes. And you can’t even turn off the rear ABS.

Engine

But this bike is not about the frills. It’s about the riding experience, and a large part of that comes down to this 470cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin engine. The body text of the original gives it as 47.5 horsepower, while the specification panel above gives 46.93bhp. It’s not impressive on paper. But it took five minutes to realise 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 at 20 kilometres an hour, and in 6th gear by 50. You can carry 2nd gear over speed breakers comfortably. Really flexible, and that’s a joy in our riding conditions. But it’s not boring, because there is a lot of performance on hand.

There’s a lot of twin-cylinder grunt. It’s not a high-revving engine — it sort of ends at about 8,700rpm, but you don’t really want to go that high, because above 7,000rpm you start feeling vibrations in the bars, and especially in the footpegs.

This engine is all about the midrange. Anything upwards of 3,000rpm is beautifully linear. There are no steps in the performance anywhere. As a novice, beginner-friendly motorcycle — a 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 here, a 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 cruising speeds, it can hold about 100kph at just about 4,000rpm. 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 120 or 130kph all day without much discomfort.

As for riding in the city, we didn’t spend too much time there, but this is a very friendly motorcycle. The six-speed gearbox is smooth with just the right amount of precision. Again, the tractability 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 commuter, if you want this to be a do-it-all bike, I think it could be — even in India’s biggest and busiest cities.

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, grabbing it by the neck — that’s not what it wants to do. Ride this at about 70 to 75 per cent 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 noticed that the rear 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.

Brakes

As for the brakes, they’re good too. Plenty of bite from the front. The rear works well. Dual-channel ABS is standard. There is a bit of dive under braking, 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.

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.

I would say the CB500X will take you wherever you want to go. There’s enough ground clearance at 181mm, and a 19-inch front wheel. You’ve got nice Dunlop Trailmax tyres, 50-50 on- and off-road tyres. They worked well on the road and they are okay 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 and I really like it. It’s a very easy bike to recommend to someone because it does so many things right. 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 to upgrade to their first adventure bike, this is the formula you need. The problem is the price. This thing is a little too expensive. We were hoping it would be priced around ₹5 to 5.5 lakh ex-showroom.

Price

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

And yes, the Versys is a bigger, taller, heavier motorcycle. Not as easy as this bike to ride. Costs are more expensive than Hondas tend to be. But beyond that, the 650 Versys has a much higher level of capability than this bike, and the Honda CB500X is out of its depth at ₹8.5 lakh on-road.

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

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A note added in 2026

The original page’s title promised mileage and images; neither was in the article body, and the photographs did not survive the archive, so this page publishes without them rather than substituting anything. The prices above are April 2021 figures and are not quotations. The current MotoSutra Honda coverage is /brands/honda/; there is no CB500X catalogue record, which makes this ride the only place on the site the model is discussed.