IF I WAS GOING AROUND THE WORLD…
Bigger is better. That’s become the mantra of the adventure bike the world over the last 10 years. And to be honest, big bikes help us get places quickly, in comfort – and with a bit of skill even the big bikes can be ridden off-road and taken on extreme adventures.
Not everyone wants or needs a big bike though, nor can everyone afford one. With the average rider growing older there’s also going to come a point where smaller and lighter bikes are more desirable to more people, and you can already see that with bikes such as the Suzuki V-Strom 650 and Royal Enfield Himalayan growing in popularity.
The Honda CB500X has been another such bike that has simmered away since its launch back in 2013 and become something of an unsung hero of the adventure bike world. It’s never been a brilliant adventure bike, especially with the cast aluminium wheels and short travel suspension, but it’s been cheap, reliable and competent on short and long trips alike.
UK engineering company Rally Raid certainly saw the potential in the mid-size Honda and set about making improvements to it not long after it was launched, offering an enlarged 19-inch front wheel, spoked rather than cast aluminium, along
