Honda has quietly registered a new name in the USA which has raised the exciting possibility of a new 500cc single cylinder engine from the Japanese company.
- Original GB500 used an air-cooled single-cyl engine
- Honda also has a 471cc twin-cyl engine, seen on NX500
- GB350 sold overseas is made-in-India, sold here has H’ness CB350
Honda GB500S expected launch details
The name in question is the GB500S and it's a nameplate that Honda has used in the past. The original GB500 was a retro-racer looking motorcycle that used an air-cooled single cylinder engine. It was sold in the Japanese and USA markets, as well as some international markets under a different name in the late 1980s. Back then, the bike was available in 400cc and 500cc variants and it had a short stroke design with a power output of over 30hp.
In the modern era, the GB name was resurrected by Honda for the Japanese spec of the CB350 H'ness, which has also recently been launched in Europe. The GB350 is made in India and the differences between it and the H’ness are mostly down to a few small visual elements.
Honda having recently registered the GB500S name in the USA, raises a couple of interesting possibilities. The first is that the company may launch a new retro-themed bike with the parallel-twin engine from the CB500 family, but this is less likely given that the GB name has been used on single cylinder bikes so far.
The second, more exciting possibility is that Honda is, in fact, working on a new air-cooled thumper in the 500cc capacity ballpark. If that were the case, it would make Honda the only manufacturer to do so, given that RE has not made a 500cc single since the J platform came in and does not seem to have one in the works either.
If Honda does make an air-cooled, 500cc, single-cylinder engine expect to see performance figures somewhere in the ballpark or slightly higher than the Harley-Davidson X440, which puts out 27hp and 38Nm of torque.
Also See: Harley X440 vs Triumph Speed 400 vs RE Classic 350 comparison: Battle Royale
Hero Mavrick 440 vs Royal Enfield Bullet 350 vs Honda CB350: Retro Rumble