Barely a few hours after the news of Honda accepting pre-bookings of the NX500 broke out, the Japanese brand has launched its latest adventure tourer in India. Priced at a hefty Rs 5.90 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi), the NX500 comes to India as a fully-imported CBU model, just like its predecessor– CB500X– it replaces.
Like all Honda big bikes, the NX500 will be retailed via the company’s BigWing dealerships across the country. Deliveries of NX500 are slated to commence next month. It joins the likes of other flagship ADVs in the BigWing lineup like Transalp 750 and Africa Twin.
Commenting on the launch of NX500, Yogesh Mathur, Director, Sales and Marketing, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, said, “We are pleased to introduce the all-new NX500 in the Indian market within three months of its global debut at EICMA 2023. As we embark on this exciting journey, we are confident that the NX500 will surely excite the ADV buyers in India.”
Honda NX500: Design & features
Based on Honda’s ‘Daily Crossover’ theme, the new NX500 gets a contemporary adventure tourer look with compact dimensions. Visual highlights include a slightly larger fairing, a new LED headlight, and a taller windscreen up front. The dual-tone paint scheme with blacked-out internals give it a slightly sportier edge. It has a seat height of 830mm.
The floating tail section of NX500 houses split pillion grab rails, as well as a revised taillamp. It rides on new cast aluminium Y-shaped 5-spoke alloy wheels. Honda is offering three distinct paint schemes for NX500 including Grand Prix Red, Matte Gunpowder Black Metallic and Pearl Horizon White.
As far as features go, NX500 gets a new LED headlight with better illumination, a new 5-inch digital TFT instrument console that comes with Bluetooth connectivity via Honda RoadSync, in-built navigation, and a backlit four-way toggle switch. The 5-inch TFT instrumentation comes with IOS/Android smartphone connectivity of Honda RoadSync along with a backlit 4-way toggle-switch.
The screen is customizable, and the rider can select a display style between Bar, Circle & Simple along with a background colour from White, Black & Auto. Other novelties include emergency stop signal and switchable traction control system.
Honda NX500: Powertrain & mechanical specs
Powering Honda NX500 is the same 471cc liquid-cooled, parallel-twin engine that did duties on the outgoing CB500X, However, this unit gets a fair share of updates including a new ECU which Honda claims to make this unit smoother in addition to a crank counterweight and balancer shaft. The motor pumps out 47 bhp at 8,600rpm and 43 Nm at 6,500 rpm of peak torque while being paired with a six-speed gearbox via a slip and assist clutch.
