When an OEM designs a new bike platform, it usually likes to wring every ounce of possible model identity out of that platform that it can. Take, for example, Honda’s CB500 trio. They move as a pack, they all share the same beating heart, and yet the CB500X, CB500F, and CBR500R have distinctly separate personalities. It’s a moto family that’s kind of like a human family that way: Genetically related, but each playing by its own rules.
Engines are certainly important, but they’re far from the only thing that distinguishes a given motorcycle model. With all that in mind, the idea that Honda could be planning to expand its Rebel 250 and Rebel 500 into modern scrambler territory isn’t all that surprising. Would a new 2020s-era CL 250 and CL 500 make sense? Japanese publication Autoby seems to think so—and we would love to see it.
