Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650-rivalling Honda Rebel 500 Launched At ₹5.12 Lakh

Honda has expanded its premium bike portfolio in India with the Rebel 500 launched at ₹5.12 lakh (ex-showroom, Gurugram). The cruiser will be available in select few cities – Gurugram, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, and it will be retailed through Honda’s BigWing Topline dealerships exclusively. Bookings for the middleweight cruiser have commenced, and deliveries will start from June onwards. 

The new Rebel 500 boasts a very muscular and laid back aesthetic. The 11.2-litre fuel tank swoops up pretty high towards the handlebar, and that’s the only radical aspect here. The rest of the bike has a very simple outlook that is very typical of cruisers in this segment. There are no pretentious bits here, and Honda has kept it very non-fussy by providing it with just one colour option called Matt Gunpowder Black Metallic.  

With that simplistic mindset, the Honda Rebel 500 does not pack a lot of features. The LED headlight, turn indicators, and the taillight are the only modern bits. The reverse LCD display is the other modern equipment, but there's no connectivity feature on offer. 

The Honda Rebel 500 is powered by a 471 cc, liquid-cooled, parallel-twin mill which produces 45.59 bhp and 43.3 Nm. This is the same motor that powers the NX500 but it makes 1.4 bhp less, but 0.3 Nm more on the cruiser than the ADV tourer. The bike gets a stubby exhaust, which Honda claims will help deliver “a suitable cruiser soundtrack.” 

The engine is nestled inside a tubular steel frame which is suspended by telescopic fork and Showa-sourced dual-shock absorbers. It rides on 16-inch wheels at both ends wrapped by 130/90- and 150/80-section chunky bobber-styled tyres. The wheels are equipped with 296/240 mm disc brakes (front and rear) with dual-channel ABS available as standard. 

Its chief rival remains the Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 (₹3.68 lakh, ex-showroom, Chennai), which might not be quite as punchy but it certainly gives you that big burly cruiser feel, especially in the top Celestial trim. There’s also the Kawasaki Eliminator 500 (₹5.76 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi), which is more or less a similar package as the Rebel. The Eliminator will be the lightest of the lot but crucially, the Rebel is almost 50 kilos lighter than the Super Meteor 650. So, that would make the Honda a lot more manageable in the process.