Honda CB500 Lands in India as a 28.1 PS Thumper

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India put the CB500 on sale on September 21, 2026, from Rs 2.75 lakh, with a 501cc air-cooled single rated at 28.1 PS. The made-in-India roadster is the bike many riders have waited on since Royal Enfield pulled its 500cc UCE range in 2020.

The India bike uses an air- and oil-cooled single, a different layout from Honda’s overseas CB500 twins. Peak torque is 43.3 Nm, in the same neighbourhood as those old Enfields, while a 349cc Triumph Speed 400 makes 37 PS and pays a lower tax.

Honda Priced the Alloy Bike at Rs 2.75 Lakh

Honda showed the CB500 on July 24, 2026, as part of a 10-product wave, then opened BigWing bookings the same month. The ADV160 and Rebel 300 went on sale on August 25. The CB500 is the third of seven all-new products from that show to reach stores.

All three versions share the same engine and core kit. The gap is wheels and paint. Prices below are ex-showroom.

HONDA CB500 EX-SHOWROOM PRICES

The spoke bike sits Rs 25,000 above the Alloy. Exclusive colours and graphics add another Rs 2,000, so the spread from entry to top is Rs 27,000. Honda is selling the motorcycle through BigWing stores, and the company says it is proudly made in India.

The 501cc Single Makes 28.1 PS

This is Honda’s largest air-cooled single in India. Output is 28.1 PS and 43.3 Nm, sent through a five-speed gearbox and an assist-and-slipper clutch. The motor is built for shove at everyday revs, not a high-rev rush.

Royal Enfield’s last 499cc UCE made 27.2 bhp and 41.3 Nm. Honda has, in effect, walked back into that power band with a new 501cc lump and a much higher sticker. The Classic 500 listed at Rs 2.02 lakh in 2020. The CB500 Alloy is Rs 2.75 lakh before registration.

Torque is the number Honda is selling. It still trails the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650, which makes 47.4 hp and 52.3 Nm from a 648cc parallel twin. Riders who wanted a big single back in the showroom get one. Riders who wanted middleweight pace do not.

Honda describes the CB500 as a heritage roadster with styling drawn from the CB750: round LED headlamp, teardrop tank, ribbed seat, chrome exhaust. Under that silhouette sits a conventional Showa fork with gaiters, twin gas-charged rear shocks, and discs at both ends with dual-channel ABS.

Why Honda Built a 501 After the Tax Split

Local assembly is how Honda kept the CB500 under the Interceptor 650, which starts at Rs 3.39 lakh ex-showroom in Chennai. The tax wall is still there. From September 22, 2025, finance ministry FAQs state that motorcycles exceeding 350 cc attract 40% GST. The same note keeps 18% GST on motorcycles up to 350cc.

Before that change, big bikes paid 28 percent GST plus a 3 percent cess, 31 percent in all. Smaller bikes paid 28 percent. The new split treats a 501cc roadster as a luxury good and a 349cc roadster as regular transport.

GST 2.0 IN THE SHOWROOM

• The cheap slab: Motorcycles at 350cc or less pay 18 percent GST, down from 28 percent.
• The demerit slab: Motorcycles above 350cc pay 40 percent, up from an effective 31 percent.
• Volume below 350cc: SIAM recorded 7.83 million units from October 2025 to April 2026, up 18.3 percent from 6.62 million a year earlier.
• Volume above 350cc: The same window rose 1.2 percent, from 93,978 units to 95,104, and April 2026 sales in that class fell 15.4 percent year on year, from 14,148 to 11,963.

That is why Triumph cut the Speed 400 and Scrambler 400 X from 398cc to 349cc, and why Bajaj trimmed the Pulsar NS400Z from 373cc to 349cc. Honda went the other way. It built a 501cc single in India and accepted the 40 percent rate in exchange for the thump those downsized bikes no longer offer.

Mid-size and large cars, motorcycles of engine capacity exceeding 350cc, aircraft, airplanes for personal use are all under 40%.

Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister, GST Council briefing

Saket Mehra, a partner at Grant Thornton Bharat, has argued that premium-bike buyers care more about brand and feel than a moderate tax rise. The SIAM run of figures still shows the class above 350cc crawling while the class below it grows. Honda is betting the CB500’s character is enough to live on the expensive side of that line.

Royal Enfield Left This Slot in 2020

The Classic 500, Bullet 500 and Thunderbird 500 all used the long-stroke 499cc UCE. Royal Enfield did not take that motor to BS6, which took effect on April 1, 2020. Retail of the 500s in India stopped on March 31, 2020. Exports continued for a time.

Demand had already collapsed. In January 2020 the three 500s sold one unit between them in India, against 1,127 in January 2019. Updating the UCE would have pushed the Classic 500 even closer in price to the then-new 650 twins, which already made more power and ran smoother. Royal Enfield chose the twins and the 350s, and left a hole between them.

THE ROAD BACK TO A 500CC SINGLE

1. 2008: Royal Enfield puts the Classic 500 on sale with the 499cc UCE.
2. January 31, 2020: The company says Indian production of the 500cc UCE will end, and offers a Classic 500 Tribute Black as the last batch.
3. March 31, 2020: Retail of the Bullet 500, Classic 500 and Thunderbird 500 stops in India, a day before BS6.
4. September 22, 2025: GST 2.0 splits two-wheelers at 350cc, 18 percent below, 40 percent above.
5. July 24, 2026: Honda unveils the made-in-India CB500 as a 501cc air- and oil-cooled single.
6. September 21, 2026: Honda prices the Alloy bike at Rs 2.75 lakh and opens sales at BigWing stores.

Vinod Dasari, then CEO of Royal Enfield, called the 500s the machines that “set the stage for the middle-weight motorcycling segment in India.” Honda is now the brand putting a large air-cooled single back on that stage, at a price the 2020 500s never had to carry.

A 349cc Triumph Makes More Power for Less Money

There is still no other 500cc air-cooled retro roadster in India. The bikes that share a showroom with the CB500 either undercut it on tax, undercut it on price, or outgun it with a twin. The Speed 400 is the awkward neighbour: a 349cc liquid-cooled single at Rs 2.34 lakh that makes 37 PS and 32 Nm.

HOW THE CB500 STACKS UP

The Hero-built X440 is the closest mechanical cousin, a 440cc air- and oil-cooled single making 27 hp and 38 Nm. The Vivid starts at Rs 2.36 lakh, the S at Rs 2.59 lakh and the T at Rs 2.84 lakh. Honda beats it on torque and engine size, and loses on the sticker.

Honda’s own CB350 remains the cheaper retro in the same family, with 21 hp from 348.4cc and a starting price of Rs 1.97 lakh. The CB500 is the step above that bike, not a replacement for it. Buyers who want the 650-twin experience still pay from Rs 3.39 lakh for the Interceptor and take home 47.4 hp.

On paper the CB500 loses that fight. The case for it is the thing a dyno sheet does not capture: a 501cc single’s idle, the way it pulls from low revs, and an exhaust note people already asked Honda to publish. That is the job this motorcycle has, because 28.1 PS will not win a brochure war with a 349cc Triumph.

The Spec Sheet Adds HSTC and RoadSync

Honda BigWing India posted the launch film on September 21, 2026, and pointed buyers to bookings. The hardware list is the same across Alloy, Spoke and graphics bikes.

If you like your roadsters with retro roots and cool moves, this one might just get your heart revving.

Proudly Made in India. Meet the Honda CB500.

With a 501cc air-cooled engine with oil cooler, Honda Selectable Torque Control, all-LED lighting, 3 variants, an analog-digital… pic.twitter.com/NYm3a6doDT

— Honda BigWing India (@BigWingIndia) September 21, 2026

WHAT SITS ON THE CB500

• Rider aids: Honda Selectable Torque Control, a slipper clutch, and dual-channel ABS on discs at both ends.
• The meter: An analogue-digital console with Honda RoadSync, which Honda says offers navigation, music control and phone calls over Bluetooth.
• Lighting: A full LED set, including the round headlamp that carries the CB750 cue.
• Wheels and tyres: A 19-inch front and 17-inch rear, with Maxxis rubber; higher bikes use tubeless cross-spoke rims.
• Paint: Five colours in all, with the Alloy bike in Pearl Deep Ground Grey or Pearl Igneous Black, the spoke bike in Mat Steel Silver Metallic or Rebel Red Metallic, and the top bike in Pearl Igneous Black with gold stripes.

The first reply that mattered on Honda’s own post was not about horsepower. Someone asked to hear the exhaust. That is a fair request for a 501cc air-cooled single, and it is the test the CB500 has to pass on a BigWing floor, because the tax slab and the power figure already tell you what this bike is not.

Bookings are open at Honda BigWing dealerships. The Alloy, Spoke and graphics bikes share the same 501cc engine, and the cheapest of them is Rs 2.75 lakh before the 40 percent GST that comes with a motor this large.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the On-Road Price of the Honda CB500 in India?

Early Bengaluru listings put the on-road price from Rs 3,52,098 for the Alloy bike, rising to Rs 3,84,795 at the top, and quote an EMI from Rs 10,187 over 36 months at 9.7 percent. Those figures include RTO and insurance in that city and will differ by state, so the ex-showroom range of Rs 2.75 lakh to Rs 3.02 lakh is the number Honda has actually published.

Is the India Honda CB500 the Same as Honda’s Global CB500 Twins?

No. Honda’s overseas CB500 family, the CBR500R, CB500F and CB500X, uses a parallel-twin. The India CB500 is a separate 501cc single with air and oil cooling, built here for BigWing, and it is not a rebadged version of those twins.

What Colours and Wheels Do the Honda CB500 Variants Get?

The Alloy bike wears cast rims in Pearl Deep Ground Grey or Pearl Igneous Black. The spoke bike switches to tubeless cross-spoke rims in Mat Steel Silver Metallic or Rebel Red Metallic. The range-topper keeps those rims and adds Pearl Igneous Black with gold stripes, which is the only graphics option Honda has listed.

Why Did Royal Enfield Discontinue Its 500cc Motorcycles in India?

Royal Enfield did not recertify the 499cc UCE for BS6, so the Classic 500, Bullet 500 and Thunderbird 500 left Indian retail on March 31, 2020. The last special was the Classic 500 Tribute Black, sold online on February 10, 2020, with an ‘End of Build’ plaque, after January 2020 sales of the whole 500 range had already fallen to one bike.

What Tyre Sizes Does the Honda CB500 Use?

The bike rolls on a 19-inch front and a 17-inch rear, with Maxxis tyres measuring 100/90-19 up front and 150/70-17 at the back. Honda fits tubeless cross-spoke rims on the two dearer variants, so a puncture on those bikes does not mean a tube job.