First there is the NC700X and now a CB500 that is to be released into Canada and is to be a sorta dual sport: http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/11/12/preview-2013-honda-cb500/ Guess Honda is still in the motorcycle business. Still like my XL100VA though. I have considered trading in the DR650 for a NC700, will have to look at this new CB500 I suppose. Sounds a little cheaper too.
Hoping to buy one of the 700's for my wife as her first bike. She currently rides a scooter and it seems like a logical next step.
There is a 7 page tread over in Road Warriers about this bike. Looks like the news just hit mainstream today. The two bikes the NC700X and this CB500X shoud give Honda something to sell into this market. Sounds like they are making the CRF450 dirt bike into a Dakar bike as well this year. To me this is all good news. To bad that they quit the XL1000 though, good bike too. Honda makes good bikes, always have.
I had a chance to throw my leg over a Honda NX700 this summer. First impressions were 1) this ain't no dual sport, and 2) I'm way too big for an NX700. I'd say it's a sport touring machine, but it just feels small to me, of course most bikes are small compared to the 1200 GS.
again , adventure? adventure to 7-11? anyway.... honda can do it, they just need some thought and ACTiON to come up with a worthy adventure dual purpose bike...think GS if you must Mr Honda.
I took another look at the page linked in the first post and looked beyond the picture (CB500R), read the whole article. (The way the page is formatted it was easy to stop at the ad, I didn't look at the scroll bar to see there was more to the page below the ad.) Quote: "there will be three variations of the CB500 — a “naked” F, an adventure-touring X and the racy, crotch-rocket-inspired R." end quote. The "X", as with the 700, is the adventure version. Article on CB500X here: http://www.ultimatemotorcycling.com/2013-honda-cb500x-preview CB500X picture:
How did the Tenere turn out for Yamaha this season? I saw ONE on the road all season. This Honda is an entry level bike not something for doing an RTW on. It will be priced accordingly.
Damn Honda! They could build 2 Adventure bikes in a heartbeat. An 800 AND a 1200. But recently Honda has shown they are WAY behind the times. The Fury came out AFTER the chopper craze was over.........
I'm not overly enthusiastic about Honda's current bike range. This particular one could very well be the one that pushes Honda Canada over the financial cliff, as they are on sensitive shoes right now. Of course, stocking 4 yr old $10,000 scooters nobody wants [DN01] and 5 yr old Honda dual sports, never mind high priced cruiser choppers 5 yrs after the chopper fad has thankfully faded away. One of this bikes' biggest selling features is it's fuel economy. I personally know of no-one who buys a full sized bike who gives a crap about fuel economy.
