2023 Honda CL500 Scrambler Review

2023 Honda CL500 Review

Honda CL500 Scrambler Test by Wayne Vickers
Images by RbMotoLens

We’ve been big fans of Honda’s little 471 cc parallel-twin platform for a good while here at MCNews and for good reason. Sweet little mill, well mannered and happy to have its ringer revved off when you feel the need.

It’s seen success in a number of different lightweight options from the CB500X Adventure Tourer as well as the CB500F and R, all the way to the CMX500 Cruiser. The latter being essentially the sister bike to the new CL, which takes a retro scrambler direction than the cruiser oriented CMX. And while the CMX has seen decent sales success, I’d wager the new CL will prove more user friendly than the low-slung cruiser.

While the engine, main steel frame and surrounds are shared between the two, a new sub-frame and swing-arm on the CL enables a much more generous 150 mm of suspension travel. And with that of course comes much better bump compliance.

It also nudges the seat height up from 690 mm on the Rebel to 790 on the CL. It’s still very low by anyone’s standards with standover on the bike being a cinch and manoeuvring the bike around at a standstill dead easy.

I found the fuelling on this brand new bike (it literally had zero kilometres on it when I picked it up), to be a little on the sensitive side compared to most other Honda 500s I’ve ridden – it wouldn’t surprise me if it that disappeared as it gained a few more kays and settled in. I do wonder if it’s a by-product of this models new air-box or higher exhaust set-up. Though I’m told it has some other minor adjustments including a smoother bottom end and slightly better top end. Hard to pick either without being back to back to be honest..

That new exhaust I mentioned? Hard to miss eh.. There’s a fair bit of it. And its typical Honda super duper quiet. There’s already a bunch of fairly cool retro styled accessories available from Honda but I didn’t spot any mufflers. So, look after-market. Surely that’d be high on the wish list.

The dash display is also shared with the Rebel and much like the one on the CB500F I tested a while back, it’s nigh on impossible to read in a lot of conditions.  Form over functionality here I’m afraid.

I also found the right hand side of the engine cover touched the front of my boot when riding which, while technically not getting in my way as such, still felt odd in a ‘cramping my style’ kinda way.

Other than that though, I reckon it’s mostly good news. The suspension works well enough. It’s non adjustable on the front and adjustable for pre-load on the rear (handy if you’re planning on loading it up or taking pilions with you).

While it’s on the ‘comfort’ side of things in terms of set-up, it’s in the ballpark. As long as you don’t have grand visions of doing jumps or hitting whoops on these things, it’ll soak up most bumps pretty well and only starts to run out of capability at about the two inch pothole mark. Of which there are plenty out my way lol. Light gravel corrugation and smaller potholes? Tick. But it has its limits.

As do the brakes on gravel. The rear ABS in particular tended to not do much at all really on anything that wasn’t a full grip surface. On the tarmac they’re fine, even the single disc front, but just go steady away from the sealed stuff.

Again – fine for what the bulk of newer riders who are likely to be into one of these I think. If you’re looking for an aggressive gravel/off roader – I don’t think you’ll have read this far. Besides, you wouldn’t want to risk dropping it off road on the left hand side with the key being located there… or is that just me that thinks like that?

The reality though is that most of these will never see anything other than tarmac and that’s just fine. Because I think that’s where they do their best work. Handling-wise it steers quite well actually. The front end feels surprisingly light and accurate for what is approaching the 200 mark in terms of weight at 192 kg. I was surprised to read that figure after my first few rides. It doesn’t feel that heavy and is quite the pleasant thing to peel through corners and roll on the throttle.

Other notable mentions? The switch-gear does look a little basic, but it all functions well enough. That said, I did manage to accidentally fat finger the horn a number of times when trying to go for the indicator instead… Take that with a grain of salt as I’m jumping from bike to bike a bit. But it does show up that it’s not quite in the zone where my left thumb expects it to be.

All in all though – I think the CL makes a lot of sense – even more so than the CMX to me anyway. It’ll be more comfortable, easier to ride everywhere with better vision too. Better, rough-road soaking suspension and still that great little Honda twin at its heart. And even though it only has a 12 litre tank, that should still put you past 300 kilometres between stops. The little twin is pretty frugal on the go-juice.

They’re available in a bunch of colours, the Matt black on my bike was particularly well finished, though I do love the look of the ‘Candy Energy Orange’ in the pics. Very retro.

For just on ten grand ride away, with Honda build quality and dealer support, I expect to see more than a few out there pretty soon with riders grinning like Cheshire Cats.

Throw a couple of options at it, maybe the 14 litre saddlebag that mounts on the left side and balances out the right hand side muffler – and I’d have to throw a slip-on on there. I’m not sure you’d need to do much else but clock up the kays.

I like the CL500 Scrambler because:

• Great proven twin-cylinder engine and box
• A little more ride height and travel over the Rebel for a smoother ride
• Nice and light to ride, nice steering, super simple to just get out and ride.

I’d like the Scrambler 500 more if:

• That dash. Do something with the readability. Please
• If the footpegs were a few centimetres back would that stop my shin front hitting the right side engine cover?
• The stock muffler set-up looks ripe for replacement

Honda CL500 Specifications

Honda CL500 Images