On Throttle New Zealand

There’s no denying it’s a fine line to walk when designing a factory custo m – the name itself is  an oxymoron  after all  – even more so when designing one which fits in the LAMS segment.   Honda took a lot of risks when it came to producing the new CMX500 Rebel. Even the name raises expectations of a bike that won’t conform to the norms  and will take the fight to ‘The Man’ . But when it comes to the reality, does the bike live up to the name? Well, yes and no.   Falling into the Bobber category by virtue of its minimalistic design and ‘bobbed’ mudguards, the Rebel certainly has the lightweight looks associated with the movement, but what exactly is it meant to represent?   Based around the far less rare  modern  CB500 family, the Rebel shares the same 475cc parallel twin that makes those bikes such a joy, and at 190kg, it’s the same weight as the CB500 , b ut the Rebel shares much more than just an engine and kerb weight. T he Rebel may be under