Honda CL500 scrambler

[BigKev72]

Got to swing my leg over one today. My father in law came home with one.
Overall, it’s a great little bike. Pulls well, smooth too. Not much vibration at all.
It’s basic, just the bare minimum for the instruments, nice looking cluster. Control switches were well laid out and seem to be high quality.
It’s got some decent torque, had it in 6th at around 45mph and rolled on the throttle. It didn’t complain, just accelerated.
Seat height is low, I was able to flat foot it easily with a 32” inseam.
Seat was pretty comfy, a little on the hard side but overall not too shabby. I took my daughter (11) for a ride, it had no difficulty with me and her.
Turning radius is good, was able to make a steady uturn well within the boundaries of a small county road.
It’s stable on dirt roads even with the mostly street oriented tires it came with.
Standing position is comfortable.
Honda did good with this one.
I was not able to take it to 70mph but I imagine that would be a little buzzy.
Overall it was a fun little bike and would make a great commuter or short trip bike.
Almost forgot. The brakes work well. They aren’t going to toss you over the handlebars but they were pretty decent.

 

[TNC]

That's a proven powertrain, so I don't expect any problems out of that. However, that's the most hideous muffler I've ever seen. IMO scrambler style models should have a little more style on the exhaust as that's one of the cool things about scramblers even though it's pretty much just an esthetics thing. Honda could have put the catalytic converter under the engine like Kawasaki has done on some of their models which would have resulted in a much slimmer and svelte muffler appearance. Also, did you get a look at the passenger seat to passenger pegs relationship? While I'm no longer interested in toting a passenger on my bikes, some are and the scrambler appears to have a horrible passenger accommodation. Again, maybe no issue for many. I don't even have the passenger pegs on my bikes anymore. I'm also fond of scramblers that use twin cylinder engines that have two pipes and at least the appearance of two mufflers. But yes...looks are highly preferential, and we all get that.

 

[BigKev72]

That's a proven powertrain, so I don't expect any problems out of that. However, that's the most hideous muffler I've ever seen. IMO scrambler style models should have a little more style on the exhaust as that's one of the cool things about scramblers even though it's pretty much just an esthetics thing. Honda could have put the catalytic converter under the engine like Kawasaki has done on some of their models which would have resulted in a much slimmer and svelte muffler appearance. Also, did you get a look at the passenger seat to passenger pegs relationship? While I'm no longer interested in toting a passenger on my bikes, some are and the scrambler appears to have a horrible passenger accommodation. Again, maybe no issue for many. I don't even have the passenger pegs on my bikes anymore. I'm also fond of scramblers that use twin cylinder engines that have two pipes and at least the appearance of two mufflers. But yes...looks are highly preferential, and we all get that.

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The passenger pegs/seat arrangement are probably not ideal if you have an adult on the back. But my 11 year old is pretty small and no problems with it. I’m with you on the muffler aesthetic, I think all the scramblers are pretty silly on that front, plus it severely limits the luggage bearing ability of the bike. But for bimbling around back roads or a town commuter this this is hoot. I was overall very impressed with it on the fun factor front, and that green color it comes in is gorgeous too.