01-05-2016, 10:00 AM
In the never-ending search for something to ride that is lighter than the CB, still has OK power, and ideally, would also allow me to do some light duty off-roading (i.e. dirt roads, fire roads, etc.), I headed out over the holidays to my Triumph dealer, of the mind that I'd be riding their last 2015 Scrambler home. And the one they had left was black, my favorite Scrambler color.
On the way, I stopped at the local Honda dealer (who had a used black '14 CB11 for sale with a bunch of farkles), then the multi-line mega-dealer that's less than a mile from Triumph. The Honda dealer didn't have much of interest, but the mega-store was another story...after wandering around, and trying on the FZ-09 and FJ-09 for the nineteenth time, the wee-Strom, etc., I wandered over to the Honda area, where I really wanted to check something out. (The first bike that caught my eye there was a new black '14 CB11! Funny to still see them on showroom floors.)
I've had an NC700 in the back of my mind for a while. The reviews have always been fairly glowing on it, and I know a few members here have made positive remarks about it, too. It's pretty comfortable for me size-wise, it fits the other parameters of my search, and it even has a small fairing, which I really like, but the lack of power has kept me from jumping on it. Luckily, they had three in stock - one an automatic, which didn't interest me, but they were all on sale - like discounted $1,600-$2,000, which interested me a lot. I walked around them, sat on them, really tried them on for size. Then I noticed another one over behind them with some graphics along the side that broke up those acres of grey plastic on the other three. As I looked closer, I noticed the name tucked under the side of the fairing: "CB500x". I hadn't heard of that one; I knew about the naked CB500 (I have the mirrors off that bike on my CB1100), and the sportier CB500R, but not this pseudo-ADV style version. I quickly threw a leg over it, and it was like stepping into your favorite pair of old Levis...it just "fit", and the seat was MUCH more comfortable than the one on the NC700 (which felt like it was pushing me forward into the frunk-tank). The legroom was good, the reach to the bars was perfect, I actually really liked the looks a lot, and the price was even way lower than the NC...the only "BUT" was the 500 engine. If I felt the NC was going to be underpowered, the 500 was certainly going to be even moreso. But I kept sitting on that bike, reveling in how great it felt, pushing it back and forth, leaning it way over (something I'd never do on the CB11), getting off to look it over...I was hooked. I could see myself in the reflection of the sales offices, and it was even large enough it didn't make my 6' frame look like I was on a clown bike.
Knowing better than plopping my money down right then and there, knowing nothing about the bike, I took off for home after a brief visit at the Triumph dealer to say hello to the great staff there, and started my research. Turns out the bike has nearly identical hp to the NC, the larger displacement NC just has more torque. All the written and video reviews I found - from both England and here - loved the bike, talked about how it was no literbike, but felt like it had much more power than sounded like it should, and found it supremely comfortable, even on longer rides. I was completely sold.
I got up the next morning, December 31st, hoping that even though the 500 didn't have the same sale tag that the 700s did, that maybe I could make a similar deal on the the last day of the month AND year!
Long story short, got the bike for $2,200 less than asking price, OTD (no doubt helped by the fact that I didn't realize they were also closing early that day, and wanted to get the deal done and get out of there!), and am the new owner of a CB500x!
Was this a dream-bike buy? No, but man, what fun. I haven't had something as small as 500ccs since 1979! I've never been a proponent of the whole "a slow bike is more fun to ride fast than a fast bike is to ride slow" way of thinking; I really like being able to grab a handful of throttle and GO! - but this may have finally changed my mind. It's so light and narrow and maneuverable. I took about a 45 or 50 mile detour on the ride home, and loved it. It felt a bit rough at first, and the gearbox was a bit vague, but both of those things are smoothing out a lot already as it's breaking in. It's not as "cut-from-a-solid-block-of-metal" feeling as the CB11, but for the price, it seems very acceptable. As for power, it is pretty much maxed out at California freeway speed, but I very seldom ride on them anyway. In the canyons I normally ride, it seemed to be sufficient. I'll be looking into what I can do to pep things up a but after it's broken in, but for what I want it for, I think it's going to work just fine. I'm loving the easily-manageable weight, how "flickable" it feels in the twisties and the biggest joy of all is how incredibly confident I feel on it, even at low, slow speeds. I hope I continue at this level of satisfaction with it, because right now, I'm amazed at how much I love this little bike!
Anyway, enough of my blabbing, here she is:
[url=http://s157.photobucket.com/user/mustangfeverrr/media/2016-1-5%20082_zpswl1n2c5y.jpg.html]![[Image: 04406c5af4799f7f59168b7e9cc94a53.jpg]](https://cb1100forum.net/forum/uploads/imp/201601/04406c5af4799f7f59168b7e9cc94a53.jpg)
[url=http://s157.photobucket.com/user/mustangfeverrr/media/2016-1-5%20084_zpste1mdrxq.jpg.html]![[Image: 1ef3c134bddca9e6c4e6a8be552df7f3.jpg]](https://cb1100forum.net/forum/uploads/imp/201601/1ef3c134bddca9e6c4e6a8be552df7f3.jpg)
[url=http://s157.photobucket.com/user/mustangfeverrr/media/2016-1-5%20083_zps7jpenkrl.jpg.html]![[Image: 0589f8f8694d4ec07be2390d8c5ede17.jpg]](https://cb1100forum.net/forum/uploads/imp/201601/0589f8f8694d4ec07be2390d8c5ede17.jpg)
[url=http://s157.photobucket.com/user/mustangfeverrr/media/2016-1-5%20095_zpspnjoejpr.jpg.html]![[Image: ddecd1914a72fd263c1e58990e98675f.jpg]](https://cb1100forum.net/forum/uploads/imp/201601/ddecd1914a72fd263c1e58990e98675f.jpg)
On the way, I stopped at the local Honda dealer (who had a used black '14 CB11 for sale with a bunch of farkles), then the multi-line mega-dealer that's less than a mile from Triumph. The Honda dealer didn't have much of interest, but the mega-store was another story...after wandering around, and trying on the FZ-09 and FJ-09 for the nineteenth time, the wee-Strom, etc., I wandered over to the Honda area, where I really wanted to check something out. (The first bike that caught my eye there was a new black '14 CB11! Funny to still see them on showroom floors.)
I've had an NC700 in the back of my mind for a while. The reviews have always been fairly glowing on it, and I know a few members here have made positive remarks about it, too. It's pretty comfortable for me size-wise, it fits the other parameters of my search, and it even has a small fairing, which I really like, but the lack of power has kept me from jumping on it. Luckily, they had three in stock - one an automatic, which didn't interest me, but they were all on sale - like discounted $1,600-$2,000, which interested me a lot. I walked around them, sat on them, really tried them on for size. Then I noticed another one over behind them with some graphics along the side that broke up those acres of grey plastic on the other three. As I looked closer, I noticed the name tucked under the side of the fairing: "CB500x". I hadn't heard of that one; I knew about the naked CB500 (I have the mirrors off that bike on my CB1100), and the sportier CB500R, but not this pseudo-ADV style version. I quickly threw a leg over it, and it was like stepping into your favorite pair of old Levis...it just "fit", and the seat was MUCH more comfortable than the one on the NC700 (which felt like it was pushing me forward into the frunk-tank). The legroom was good, the reach to the bars was perfect, I actually really liked the looks a lot, and the price was even way lower than the NC...the only "BUT" was the 500 engine. If I felt the NC was going to be underpowered, the 500 was certainly going to be even moreso. But I kept sitting on that bike, reveling in how great it felt, pushing it back and forth, leaning it way over (something I'd never do on the CB11), getting off to look it over...I was hooked. I could see myself in the reflection of the sales offices, and it was even large enough it didn't make my 6' frame look like I was on a clown bike.
Knowing better than plopping my money down right then and there, knowing nothing about the bike, I took off for home after a brief visit at the Triumph dealer to say hello to the great staff there, and started my research. Turns out the bike has nearly identical hp to the NC, the larger displacement NC just has more torque. All the written and video reviews I found - from both England and here - loved the bike, talked about how it was no literbike, but felt like it had much more power than sounded like it should, and found it supremely comfortable, even on longer rides. I was completely sold.
I got up the next morning, December 31st, hoping that even though the 500 didn't have the same sale tag that the 700s did, that maybe I could make a similar deal on the the last day of the month AND year!
Long story short, got the bike for $2,200 less than asking price, OTD (no doubt helped by the fact that I didn't realize they were also closing early that day, and wanted to get the deal done and get out of there!), and am the new owner of a CB500x!
Was this a dream-bike buy? No, but man, what fun. I haven't had something as small as 500ccs since 1979! I've never been a proponent of the whole "a slow bike is more fun to ride fast than a fast bike is to ride slow" way of thinking; I really like being able to grab a handful of throttle and GO! - but this may have finally changed my mind. It's so light and narrow and maneuverable. I took about a 45 or 50 mile detour on the ride home, and loved it. It felt a bit rough at first, and the gearbox was a bit vague, but both of those things are smoothing out a lot already as it's breaking in. It's not as "cut-from-a-solid-block-of-metal" feeling as the CB11, but for the price, it seems very acceptable. As for power, it is pretty much maxed out at California freeway speed, but I very seldom ride on them anyway. In the canyons I normally ride, it seemed to be sufficient. I'll be looking into what I can do to pep things up a but after it's broken in, but for what I want it for, I think it's going to work just fine. I'm loving the easily-manageable weight, how "flickable" it feels in the twisties and the biggest joy of all is how incredibly confident I feel on it, even at low, slow speeds. I hope I continue at this level of satisfaction with it, because right now, I'm amazed at how much I love this little bike!
Anyway, enough of my blabbing, here she is:
[url=http://s157.photobucket.com/user/mustangfeverrr/media/2016-1-5%20082_zpswl1n2c5y.jpg.html]
[url=http://s157.photobucket.com/user/mustangfeverrr/media/2016-1-5%20084_zpste1mdrxq.jpg.html]
[url=http://s157.photobucket.com/user/mustangfeverrr/media/2016-1-5%20083_zps7jpenkrl.jpg.html]
[url=http://s157.photobucket.com/user/mustangfeverrr/media/2016-1-5%20095_zpspnjoejpr.jpg.html]
Like the rider on the Honda said "I just made 5 perfect shifts (alluding to the DCT)...how many did you make?" 