The price difference is massive between these two cruiser motorcycles
Honda recently launched their retro-modern cruiser motorcycle in India, called the Rebel 500. One of its alternatives is the Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650. Lets compare these modern cruisers in images:
Design
The Honda Rebel 500 looks like a proper cruiser style motorcycle with its low seat height, well sculpted fuel tank and chunky tyres. In India it is available in a single colour option called the Matt Gunpowder Black Metallic. This dark paint scheme gives the Rebel 500 quite a subtle yet desirable look.
The Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 on the other hand, looks like an American style cruiser with its bulky proportions and chrome elements all around. It gets a tear drop shaped metal fuel tank with a fairly low seat and wide tyres. One of the key highlights about the design surely has to be the neat looking twin exhausts. It is available in seven colour options: Astral Green, Astral Blue, Astral Black, Interstellar Grey, Interstellar Green, Celestial Red, Celestial Blue. All in all, the Super Meteor is a lot flashier than the minimalist-looking Rebel.
Engine
The Rebel 500 gets a 471cc liquid-cooled, parallel-twin motor which makes 46.2PS at 8,500rpm and 43.3Nm at 6,000rpm. This is the same engine which does duty in the NX500 and it has been praised for its smooth power delivery along with the famed Honda reliability.
The Super Meteor 650 uses Royal Enfield’s tried and tested 648cc parallel-twin motor which now powers six motorcycles in its line-up. This air-oil-cooled engine produces 47PS at 7,250rpm and 52.3Nm at 5650rpm. On paper, despite having a much bigger engine, the Super Meteor 650 makes only 9Nm more torque. As far as the looks of the powertrain is concerned, the Super Meteor’s heart is cleaner and is uncluttered as compared to the Rebel 500’s blacked-out engine.
Underpinnings
The Rebel 500 uses a steel diamond type frame along with conventional telescopic fork and twin rear shock absorbers from Showa. It runs on 16-inch alloy wheels at both ends with a 130/90-16 front and a 150/80-16 rear tyre. Along with this, it also gets a 296mm front and a 240mm rear disc brake setup with dual channel ABS. At 191kg (kerb), the Rebel 500 is 50kg lighter than the Super Meteor 650. This cruiser also gets an 11.2-litre fuel tank which is quite small for touring.
The Super Meteor 650 uses a double cradle frame with a more butch-looking 43mm inverted fork and twin rear shock absorbers. It runs on a 19-inch front and a 16-inch rear alloy wheel, with a 100/90-19 front tyre and a 150/80-16 rear tyre. This cruiser gets a 320mm front and a 300mm rear disc brake setup with dual channel ABS. The Super Meteor 650 weighs 241kg (kerb) making it a quite heavy motorcycle for its class. The saddle height on this cruiser is kept at 740mm, which is taller than the Rebel 500. It also gets a larger 15.7-litre fuel tank.
Features
The Rebel 500 gets an all LED light setup along with a LCD screen which shows all the necessary information but misses out on smartphone connectivity. However, Honda does offer a USB charging port as an optional accessory, near the instrument cluster.
The Super Meteor 650 also gets LED all around with an analogue speedometer along with a center-mounted LCD screen which shows every other crucial information. It gets Royal Enfield’s tripper navigation pod which comes with a TFT screen and supports smartphone connectivity along with turn-by-turn navigation and SMS/call alerts. This cruiser also gets a USB charging port, but is located inside the side panel, which isn’t all that practical to access.
Price & Verdict
|
Rebel 500 Variant |
Price |
Super Meteor 650 Variant |
Price |
|
Standard |
Rs 5,12,000 |
Astral |
Rs 3,68,085 |
|
Interstellar |
Rs 3,83,485 |
||
|
Celestial |
Rs 3,98,885 |
||
All prices ex-showroom Delhi.
In terms of the pricing, the Honda Rebel 500 is Rs 1,13,115 more expensive than the Super Meteor 650 which is quite a lot. On paper, the Super Meteor is a more powerful, much bigger and feature loaded retro-modern cruiser than the Rebel 500. That said, the Rebel 500 will be easier to manage (as it is considerably lighter), while offering comparable levels of performance.
However, considering the massive price difference, it is fair to say that the Super Meteor 650 offers a much better value for money. That said, if you’re looking for a bulletproof 500cc Japanese cruiser, the Rebel ticks all the right boxes. Note that the Rebel is available only in three states in India: Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra, whereas the Super Meteor is sold pan-India.
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