Honda Starts Countdown For CBR500 Unveil

Honda has started a countdown on its official website, which points to a 12th November unveil for a range of motorcycles. Although Honda remains silent on the upcoming motorcycles, the covered motorcycles above are none other than the CBR500, CB500 and CB500X. The Japanese automaker will showcase these 500cc machines at the upcoming EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, which is open to the public from 15th to 18th November. These 500cc motorcycles are specially developed for emerging markets like Thailand and India.

All the three upcoming 500cc bikes from Honda are different in terms of styling but share most of the parts to offer aggressive pricing. The Honda CBR500 is a full faired machine, while the CB500 and CB500X are naked versions of the CBR500. Honda will offer combined ABS as an option on all these machines, which are likely to be launched in the Indian market in 2013. Prices are expected to start at around Rs. 3.5 lakhs for the CBR500, while Honda might bring in the CB500 at a later date.

Powering the Honda CBR500 is a 470cc, parallel-twin, engine employing liquid cooling. This twin-cylinder engine comes from the CBR250R (two engines joint in parallel format) to produce 46.9 BHP of peak power and 40.65 Nm of peak torque. Top speed is expected to be 169 km/hr while a 0 – 100 km/hr timing should be dealt with in less than 7 seconds. In order to keep costs in check, Honda has not given the CBR500 any high tech hardware. The Honda CBR500 will compete with the Kawasaki Ninja 650.