Honda CBR500s?
Are Japanese bike companies moving away from the prescribed classes of 250, 600, 1000? A mass market 500cc Honda might be proofAs Kawasaki continues to 'up-size' it's popular road bikes, the 2013 Ninja 300 and Ninja 636 ZX-6R prime examples of the 'bigger is better' ethos, it would seem that it's not alone in its bid to develop larger engined, more rideable bikes.
These two leaked images are reportedly from Thailand and add weight to rumours of a new Honda range of learner-legal parallel-twin motorcycles that would slot in between the 250 and 600cc classes.
Honda forums such as CBR250.net recently lit up with news that the big 'H' is developing a pair of affordable 500cc road bikes in Thailand, potentially CBR500 and CB500 models. And they could be shown in concept form as early as next month at the 2012 EICMA motorcycle show in Milan.
It's possible that we could see a production version of the new Honda bike/s in the third quarter of 2013, with a 500cc version tipped to be good for nearly 50hp and 40Nm.
Though Honda is making no official comments, there is talk that Honda wants to follow up the successes of the CBR250R, which dethroned the previous most popular road bike in this country, the Ninja 250R.
An affordable new Honda CBR/CB model with a 400 or 500cc engine would allow the company to rival vehicles such as the new Ninja 300 and even restricted learner LAMS bikes in the middleweight 650cc category.
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