Honda CB500F

The Honda CB500F is not revolutionary in terms of features, as it is not bringing anything new to the table. However, the motorcycle looks sharp and edgy and has got the much-required big bike appeal people to look out for in a middleweight offering.

At the front, the Honda CB500F has a very sharp-looking front fascia, which houses a wide V-shaped full-LED headlamp within an edgy-looking cowl. The upper edges of this headlamp come with daytime running LEDs, which give a very great look to the motorcycle when it is viewed head-on. The upper edges of this front fascia have sleek-looking LED turn indicators, while there is a small triangular blacked-out visor sitting above the headlamp.

The Honda CB500F has got the right amount of muscle when viewed from the side. The fuel tank looks beefy and comes with nice-looking wide tank extensions with air inlets integrated into them. The engine of the Honda CB500F is fully exposed and looks beautiful with the golden finish for the engine casings. The radiator is placed just ahead of the cylinder block, from where the two exhaust pipes flow out towards the single-sided exhaust pipe, which looks compact and has a silver shield and tip at the back.

The Honda CB500F has a split seat arrangement over the minimalist and sleek-looking side body panels, which flow back towards the sharp-looking tailpiece. At the back of the tailpiece, the Honda CB500F gets a compact LED tail lamp. Fixed to the tailpiece is a small aluminium bracket, which serves as the rear fender and on which is placed the license plate. The motorcycle gets multi-spoke alloy wheels, which could have looked a bit fancier.

The Honda CB500F gets a very simple-looking fully-digital LCD instrument console, which packs in all the necessary information you might need on the go, such as speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, odometer, trip meters, gear indicator, and clock. As it is with every other Honda big bike, the fit and finish levels of all the body panels are exemplary.

The Honda CB500F gets the right suspension setup of a 41mm upside down separate functioning hydraulic telescopic forks from Showa at the front and pro-link mono-shock with a five-stage pre-load adjuster and steel hollow cross swing-arm at the back. Even for a new rider, the Honda CB500F feels easy to ride and composed in its handling qualities. Riding on 17-inch alloy wheels, the Honda CB500F comes with 120/70-17 front and 160/60-17 rear tubeless tyres. For braking, Honda has equipped the CB500F with dual 296mm discs at the front and a single 240mm disc at the rear.

The Honda CB500F sources its power from a four-stroke, liquid-cooled, parallel-twin, 471cc engine, which also powers a couple of other middleweight motorcycles like the CB500X and CBR500R. Paired to a 6-speed gearbox, this refined engine produces a maximum power output of 47.6 PS and a peak torque output of 43.2 Nm. Honda claims a fuel efficiency figure of 28.6 kmpl for the CB500F.

Except for a dual-channel ABS, the Honda CB500F doesn’t get any other modern-day electronic riding aid, which for a middleweight motorcycle of its price, is a big miss.

For someone new to the world of middleweight motorcycles and don’t’ want much power and performance on tap, the Honda CB500F is a perfect motorcycle to grab hands on. The motorcycle scores good on the fronts of visual appeal, the engine is torquey, refined, and has enough grunt across the rev range and it feels friendly to ride even at lower speeds.