2025 Honda Rebel 500 Launched: Better Than Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 & Kawasaki Eliminator?

Quick Highlights

• 2025 Honda Rebel 500 launched at Rs 5,12,000 (ex-showroom, India)

• Available only in Gurugram, Mumbai, and Bengaluru for now

• Gets the same 500cc twin-cylinder engine as the Honda NX500

The 2025 Honda Rebel 500 is finally here, after years of rumours going back as far back as circa 2017. While the longing of the Japanese cruiser enthusiasts have finally been laid to rest, things are not as good as it seems. Times have changed, and the Rebel has two stiff competitors – Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 and the Kawasaki Eliminator. To that end, it’s like a threeway Rumble Mania between the three cruisers. 

Round 1 - Show Of Strength

First and foremost, the Honda Rebel 500 comes in at Rs 5.12 lakh (ex-showroom). It gets a 471cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin engine that makes 46.22PS and 43.3Nm, and which is mated to a six-speed gearbox. With that, it gets an upper hand over the Eliminator (45PS, 42.6Nm), but the Super Meteor takes the cake with a 650cc air-cooled parallel twin that makes 47PS and 52.3Nm. 

On the other hand, the Rebel is 50kg lighter than the Super Meteor, but 15kg heavier than the Eliminator. That makes the Eliminator a whopping 65kg lighter than the Royal Enfield bike in contention. This also negates all the performance advantage the Super Meteor has on paper. In the real world, the lighter weight of the Japanese bikes will mean they are as quick as (if not quicker than) the Meteor 650. Their lighter weights will also mean that the Japs would be easier to handle – moving around in parking lots, tight traffic spaces, U-turns, etc. 

Talking about usability, the Rebel has a ground clearance of just 125mm, which should make it a bit worrisome over taller speedbreakers. The Super Meteor isn’t too far off that number with its 135mm ground clearance. Both of those make the Eliminator’s 150mm ground clearance look comfortable. 

Round 2 - Beauty Of The Beasts

Coming to the looks, the Rebel has the shortest length, while the Super Meteor and the Eliminator are almost neck-to-neck; the Super Meteor stretches 10mm more at 2,260mm. Overall, it's a bigger and bulkier bike than the Japanese cruisers here, which gives it a chunky road presence. Continuing with the underpinnings, both the Japs have a conventional telescopic fork while the Super Meteor has an inverted fork; all the three bikes have dual rear shocks. The Meteor has the biggest brake discs of the three, but that’s also since it's considerably heavier than the other two. 

All the three bikes have the same rear-wheel size – 150/80 R16. The Rebel’s front wheel is also 16 inches in diameter, followed by 17 inches on the Eliminator, and 19 inches on the Super Meteor. How that affects the ride and handling is something we would only comment on once we get to ride the three bikes back-to-back. Talking of riding, getting on the Rebel will be the easiest with its 690mm seat height, followed by the Eliminator’s 735mm and then Super Meteor’s 740mm. That said, from our experience, the Super Meteor is also easy to get on to. 

Round 3 - The Finisher

With all of that, it might seem like the Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 is getting pummeled by the specs of the Jap bikes. However, it strikes back hard and heavy with its price. Its top-end Celestial variant is priced at Rs 3,98,885 (ex-showroom, Chennai). That is cheaper by about Rs 1.13 lakh than the Rebel and about Rs 1.77 lakh affordable than the Eliminator (both ex-showroom). It also throws in a successive punch with a more widespread dealer and service network. It continues on to a triple-punch combo with the Tripper pod (with turn-by-turn navigation), standard windshield & cushioned pillion backrest, not to mention its suite of official customisations. Also, the Super Meteor should have lower maintenance costs and cheaper, more readily available spares. 

However, the ace up the Rebel as well as Eliminator’s sleeve will be their engine refinement. Not to say the Super Meteor isn’t, but the other two would have an edge with their liquid-cooling. In this triple conundrum, the new Honda Rebel 500 positions itself as the middle ground, except that it’s only available in three cities – Mumbai, Gurugram, and Bengaluru. 

That said, if you are a hardcore Honda Fan living in any other city who wants the Rebel 500, you might be able to get the bike shipped to you for an additional cost; however, you might have to sort the registration formalities yourself. Honda’s service is also generally pretty sorted, and the spares aren’t known to be as expensive as Kawasaki’s. All said, the Super Meteor 650 would have easily taken the proverbial championship belt, if it was not bogged down by its own weight.