The CBR Family just got bigger! The first speculations and pictures were not so clear, but now, crystal clear spy shots of CBR 500 have finally made it to the internet. It seems like the shots were taken while Honda was shooting for its advertisement of the new bikes. As you can see, there are three different bikes which look similar to each other if we consider the parts like chassis and suspension. However, the engines might have been differently tuned from each other keeping in the mind that they all belong to different categories. The fully faired one is the CBR 500 which looks very similar to the CBR 1000RR. Then there are the naked CB500 and the CB500X which are inspired from the new NCX model from Honda.
As far as specifications go, these bikes are powered by 470cc parallel-twin, liquid-cooled engines. It is basically nothing but the two cylinders of the CBR250R combined together which produces 46.9 BHP of power and 40.65 Nm of torque. It is capable of a top speed of 169 km/h. A kerb weight of 195 kg (wet) may not sound much as the expectations were a bit high from a 500cc motor. Honda is keeping the cost low in every single form. As we can see, there are no goodies like USD forks, double discs brakes and braided lines at the front, which these category of bikes deserve. Honda is offering the basic telescopic suspension and single petal rotors at the front and the rear, which is rare thing on the Honda road bikes.
We can expect these bikes to be launched with the HRC colors from day one and they will also come with the option of Honda’s Combined ABS System. (Embossed front mudguard of the CB500X). Competition? Well it already has it from Kawasaki’s loaded new Ninja 300 which is bound to come to Indian market by late 2013 and the Duke 390 which will produce similar power and torque figures. Expect the Duke and the CB 500 to be priced competitively while Ninja, CBR 500 and CB 500X will be priced higher. This is what the market and the bikes say, what we say is, God bless Competition!
Source – Hell For Leather