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Paultergeist

Honda CB500X, anyone?

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Greetings,

I was hoping to solicit some thoughts and opinions regarding my next motorcycle purchase.  At the top of my "possible candidates" list is Honda's CB500X -- from what I can read on-line, it appears to be a fairly-competent adventure-type bike at a budget-sensitive price.  I am surprised that I am not encountering much reference to it on this forum -- but perhaps the CB500X is more street-oriented than the main focus found here (off-road).

At any rate, assuming I am able to buy a new bike this coming year, it will have to be a bit of a Swiss-Army knife of a motorcycle.  I would need to be able to ride it to work, I would want it to be reasonably adept at doing a couple of hours on the freeways, and I would want to still be able to explore some of the off-road areas and dirt trails found in the general area.  I hope that makes sense; I confess that I do not have a lot of off-road riding experience, so my perspective might be limited by not having yet ever been to some of the places I hope to ride.  Regardless, however, any motorcycle I might purchase would have to get me TO the off-road areas prior to actually beginning any off-road riding.  I am just trying to think this through carefully.

I would be very interested to hear observations and thoughts from any forum members who might have owned or ridden the CB500X.

Thanks for any insights.

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Hmmmm, I didn't know this model existed....  That being said, I looked it up.  Looks like a fairly heavy bike, 376 pounds.  That's more than my 800 cc road bike weighs.  It is priced nice and low, but if I wanted something at a decent price, I'm afraid I'd have to choose one of the SWM 600s.  They weigh in at about 317 pounds.  They cost about 2k more than the Honda, but I'd want the lightest weight machine I could find.  And they make two versions of it.  One is mostly street oriented and has a lower saddle height, and one is more dirt oriented, but taller overall.  They both have 4.8 gallon fuel tanks, so you can top them off for miles and miles of fun.  Just sayin' that you get what you pay for.

https://www.motomandistributing.com/swm-models

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I’d shop around for a lightly used KTM 990 - 1090 -1190. They’re out there. 
Very good on and off-road. 

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On 12/26/2019 at 6:27 PM, Wierdrider said:

 

Some of us here ride with with Jaun , Me ,Van , CID, Bagster, Also Jaun attended a ride out to the Dez last year . He is a straight shooter . Contact him for any questions on the bike. I think he has two. One modified and a stock one. Also a member here HM berg ? has one and hauls ass on it. I think this bike is underrated and may be a good choice for a regular rider. 

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I saw lots of them in Canada and Alaska last year.  A few on the Dempster Highway, one bone stock but most had some level of Rally Raid kits.

 I think it’s a solid smaller bike, definitely something that I would be interested in with some modifications.

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Paul,

  You are going to get a good deal more intel over at ADVrider. They have a major thread on all the merits. One thing it has going for it is that it is a Sharp looking bike. Not going to be a Sand Master or a Rock Climber, but that is not what you are looking for. Pavement plus some Smooth Forest Service exploration is the design spec. I would imagine the bike will get you to the trail head in style.

   Dave

 

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Greetings everyone,

Thank you most kindly for the helpful thoughts.  I started to quote and reply to some of the posts individually (above attempt), but there is some sort of glitch or incompatibility with this forum and my computer.  I'm not going to try to sort that issue out.

Thank you for the recommendation of the SWM brand -- I hadn't seen one that before.  I am, however, probably going to need something more street-oriented.

Thanks also for the videos, and for the other recommendations as well.  I also went over to the ADVrider forum and got some more info.

Still considering the CB500X as one of my leading options.  I hope I become skilled enough with it to join you folks on some of the easier rides...?

Thanks again.

 

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