Honda Working on Two New Scramblers?

Rumour is that Honda are developing two scrambler motorcycles based on their Rebel cruiser siblings to rival offerings from Royal Enfield and Yezdi.

Scramblers seem to be the flavour of the season, especially in the entry-level segment. Now, even Honda are apparently formulating plans to join their rivals in this rising trend. Based on leaked information from a website in Japan, it was revealed that Honda will be adding two scrambler motorcycles to their line-up and had already created drawings for these models back in 2018. These drawings make it clear that the scramblers will be based on their successful cruiser siblings, the Rebel 250 and Rebel 500, respectively.

Although the drawings seem to be centred on the Rebel series, the bikes are expected to carry the name tags CL 250 and CL 500, since the drawings show them to be inspired from Honda’s famous C series bikes, the CL72 250-cc and CL450K1 scramblers, launched between the 1960s and ’90s.

It is speculated that the CL500 will be powered by the same 471-cc parallel-twin DOHC four-valve engine as on the Rebel 500 cruiser. The engine churns out 46 hp at 8,500 rpm and 43 Nm of peak torque at 6,500 rpm and probably will come on the CL 500 mated with the same six-speed constant mesh gearbox as the Rebel. Besides the chassis and engine the CL 500 Scrambler is also likely to borrow the suspension setup of the Rebel 500 which comprises telescopic forks upfront and dual shock absorbers at rear.

Render based on the patent drawing of the CL 500

The CL 250 Scrambler is also likely to follow the same path and borrow the Rebel 250’s 249-cc DOHC, four-valve, single-cylinder motor that dishes out 26 hp at 9,500 rpm and 22 Nm of peak torque at 7,750 rpm. This motor will also be mated to the same six-speed constant mesh gearbox. Some overseas media reports have confirmed that CL 250 could make its official global debut toward the end of this year with CL 500 to follow sometime next year.

The two upcoming scramblers should allow the Japanese giant to inherently compete globally in the new and rising scrambler trend. However, Honda are unlikely to launch them in India anytime soon.

Story: Alshin Thomas

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