According to the Japanese Autoby, Honda is working on a Scrambler based on the Rebel 500. A 2019 patent seems to confirm this rumor.
The seasoned (read: elderly) motorcyclist may not be very enthusiastic about it (and then in Belgium even more than with us), but among the hipster generation, retro and scrambler models are completely ehh… hip. It is therefore not surprising that more and more brands are moving in that segment in order to appeal to the new generation of motorcyclists.
Ducati, Triumph, Yamaha, Benelli, Mash and last but not least Royal Enfield are already represented in that segment and, according to Japan’s Autoby, Honda may soon be added. According to the Japanese magazine, Big Red is working on a vintage-inspired CL250 and CL500.
Autoby is so convinced that it has put designer Shinji Miyakubo to work to render a render of what a CL500 could possibly look like. The potential Scrambler would have been derived from the 500 Rule, which in turn is part of the CB500 platform.
The render made by Autoby shows quite a lot of similarities with the patent that Honda applied for in 2019 for a bike with retro/scrambler looks. The flat seat, the double rear shocks and the high exhaust system give the patent drawing a high scrambler content.
Time will tell whether the drawings submitted in 2019 will indeed lead to a Scrambler production model. It would not be the first time that nothing is done with a patent pending, but given the growth Royal Enfield is currently making in Europe, it seems quite plausible that we can indeed expect a Honda Scrambler soon.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.