With Royal Enfield’s 650cc offerings taking over the 500cc+ motorcycle segment, rivals have started to catch up with similar products. Challenging the Super Meteor 650, we have Vulcan S and Eliminator 500 from Kawasaki and the recently launched Rebel 500 from Honda. Rebel 500 is the latest one here which was launched recently.
Honda’s Rebel 500 is a strategic launch for India as it is priced quite aptly for what it offers. Speaking of, Honda Rebel 500 was launched last month in May 2025 and is priced at Rs 5.12 lakh (Ex-sh). Units have started arriving at showrooms and a recent video by Machine Rules demonstrates the same. Let’s take a closer look.
Honda Rebel 500 Cruiser Bike
Last month, Honda launched Rebel 500 in India, which was quite a surprise for the automotive fraternity and enthusiasts alike. That’s because Rebel motorcycles of different displacement classes were being patented in India for more than a decade now. They were only launched last month at a somewhat reasonable price tag of Rs 5.12 lakh (Ex-sh).
Units have started to reach showrooms and Rebel 500 directly takes on Royal Enfield’s Super Meteor 650, which is priced from Rs 3.68 lakh to 3.98 lakh (Ex-sh). In comparison, Kawasaki Eliminator 500 is priced at Rs 5.76 lakh (Ex-sh) and Vulcan S costs a whopping Rs 7.1 lakh (Ex-sh).
As in the walkaround video, Honda Rebel 500 adheres to its textbook cruiser bike design and silhouette. It even has a retro charm accentuated by its circular headlights with quad projector LED units and circular LED turn indicators. It has a low seat height, front set footpegs along with pulled-back style handlebars.
The pillion seat is located on rear mudguard and it looks like an afterthought. That doesn’t matter as it is a cruiser motorcycle primarily designed to cater just for the rider. Instrument cluster is a fully-digital unit housed in a circular pod with Blue backlighting and it even gets a gear position indicator.
Specs & Features
Wheels are 16-inchers at both ends, wrapped with 130/90-16 front and 150/80-16 rear tyres. Front gets RSU telescopic suspension, while rear is suspended by twin shockers. Sculpted fuel tank can hold 11.2L worth of fuel and it tips the scale at 191 kg. Which is not as light as Eliminator 500’s 176 kg, but is far better than Super Meteor 650’s 241 kg kerb weight.
Powering this vehicle is a 471cc parallel-twin liquid-cooled DOHC 4V/cyl engine that is capable of generating 45.5 bhp of peak power and 43.3 Nm of peak torque, mated to a slipper clutch and a 6-speed gearbox. Dropping anchor on this motorcycle are single disc brake setup at both ends with Nissin callipers and dual-channel ABS.
Source: Bike - rushlane.com
