Thoughts on a bike for touring

[Badrabbit]

All bikes vibrate at some point. I haven't found the 500X to be excessive. I will give you that up to and around 4k (which in top gear nets 88-90km/h or 55 mph) it is extremely smooth. Since those are the usual speed limits most places it makes sense that Honda made it that way.

I've put in 1000 km days on the 500X. They've gotten a lot easier since I installed the Airhawk; but it is definitely doable. Also check and make sure your gloves have some padding on the palms. A necessity for touring; in spirited riding you want as little as possible between you and the controls, but a slightly more vague feeling when eating up the distance is a good trade off.

Yes up to 100km/h it is very pleasantly smooth. That means for citiy commute style riding it's a very good bike. Very good bang for the buck. Power is sufficient and for up to 1h the seat is comfortable enough. No real complains there. Also very reliable, it never let me down in 30k kilometers.

Strange. I had no problems on high rpms with my cbr500r.

possibly, you squeeze the handle bars and hold them tight more than needed. Just relax and try to grab the bike with your knees and thigh, your problems will be over.

Never got a numb hand with cbr500r even at speeds above 160 kph for hours. Just once slighty during the brake in i remember. But just once.

I toured many kms also and it is very comfy and capable even two up.

If they give new versys xt650 with all those mods in the photo, it will be a great valur at 360 k thb. It is an updated version with an updated engine and components.

Yea I was squeezing the handle bars a bit tight indeed. You can probably work around the numb hands with better gloves and riding more relaxed. But the vibrations are still felt through your knees and the seat anyways. I ride two up nearly all the time, maybe that increases vibrations as engine has more load? But just because of the lack of torque at 120+ km/h I'd go for something else with more cc for touring.

As a side note: at trips with Honda Bigwing, virtually no 500s are to be seen anymore here, everyone upgraded to either the 650s (the majority) or NC750X (a few). A year ago the 500s dominated. Obviously the 650s were not around then yet, just saying that a lot of people eventually feel the need to upgrade (for various reasons).

sometimes I really hate the gear box of the CB500F, the CBR650F is so much better and smooth...

the bike is not worth the 90K baht difference, anyone going for the CB500 new i would call a dumb a s s

agreed. But 500 series is great for beginners - and experienced alike - and cbr650f might be too much for such a person. so starting on a honda 500 series is safe and fun.

CB/CBR650 is a very fast bike! great value!