25th February 2016

For Honda bike lovers across the United Kingdom, 2016 has brought good news, especially when it comes to the Honda CBR500R and the Honda CB500F.

Both the power weights in the Honda stable have come in with a new styling bang and improved suspensions to make sure that the bike is not only sporty and performance oriented, but also gives you the best bang for your buck as far as the ride quality is concerned. Honda has launched the newly designed and more aerodynamic Honda CBR500R for the track bike enthusiasts in the country.

Honda has worked on removing the few minor glitches that most riders complained about when it came to the rev of the engine and the bike ride quality. Critics had last year mentioned that even though the bike was well designed and powerful from an on-lookers perspective, it did very little when it came to comfort and handling from the riders perspective, which should have mattered more. The rider felt every single inch of power in the bikes, but not in a good way. This year Honda has done away with the ride problems and made the ride a lot less cumbersome.

The new suspensions

The CBR500R is a more aerodynamic and sporty bike that has additional power and is more suited to be a powerful sports and performance bike. The CBR has been a signature series of sports racing bikes in the Honda line-up, and the move to make the bike into a commercial sports vehicle had its fair set of challenges. The CB on the other hand, has always been largely a touring bike that has been set to cruise around open country roads and give a comfortable ride quality. The CB still packs quite a power punch for the kind of bike it is meant to be.

In general, Honda has worked on the bikes air flow design, and suspension, which make the ride a lot comfortable than its previous year predecessor. The improvements allow for a better ride on the initial stroke of the vehicle. Honda had expected the CBR to sell a large number of units last year; however, quite surprisingly the F naked version seemed to have done much better in sales figures than its CBR partner. The Cb500F 2016 has had additional work done on its handle bar. It has been widened by 40mm making the handling a lot more controllable thank before.

Ride quality and price

The CB500F is also 4 kilos lesser than the CBR500R which makes the bike slightly quicker than the CBR500 in a straight line. However, the racing dynamics and the track platform built of the CBR500R makes the bike a lot more manoeuvrable and quicker around a circuit track. Both bikes are powered by the same engine and make for a fun ride. The CB500’s brakes have also been redone and the ABS system seems a lot more responsive than last year’s version. This also makes the bike score higher when it comes to safety concerns. The CBR is the costlier version coming in at 5,599 pounds while the CB500comes in at 5,099 pounds.

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