Every Honda Naked Bike, Ranked By Power

These days, we motorcyclists are like kids in a candy store. Meaning spoiled for choice. No matter what your favorite type of riding is, be it adventure or the track, there’s a cornucopia of choices available to you. When you look at the likes of Yamaha, Triumph, or CFMoto, there’s a great chance that you’ll find a model best suited for you. Another key name in the list is none other than Honda.

Among its popular categories, the naked (or roadster) remains at the top of the heap. After all, there’s just something so appealing about taking these wind-blast-loaded offerings, with sharp riding dynamics, more comfortable ergos than sports bikes, and an overall more practical living experience. The Japanese bikemaker comes with a long history of naked standards, and things are no different today. Its current lineup of naked standards consists of five outstanding models, and to help our readers be more informed, we’d ranked them by their power output.

In order to give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from Honda Powersports and other authoritative sources, including MotorcycleNews.com.

5 CB300R

Power: 31 HP

If you’re new to the motorcycle lifestyle, there’s no better place to start than with one of the best naked beginner bikes on the market. Designed to resemble its bigger, more powerful siblings, the CB300R is a compact neo-classic streetfighter. Housing a liquid-cooled thumper for a heart (with 31 horsepower on tap), this bike will never get away from you. Its relaxed seating position, relatively low seat height (31.6 inches), and tame around-town manners make it an ideal starting point, too.

Regardless of whether you’re a new rider, or someone returning to the sport after years of absence, the CB300R is unlikely to scare you off and make you feel always in control. And once you’ve moved past the beginner stage, and decide to move up in power and displacement, you’ll know exactly what to expect from Honda’s other naked offerings.

Engine Specifications

4 SCL500

Power: 46 HP

Hoping to capitalize on the latest scrambler craze, Honda took the ever-popular Rebel 500 platform and restyled it as a more upright naked bike. The results are fantastic. Drawing on its rich off-road history, Honda delivered a retro urban scrambler that’s able to compete with Royal Enfield’s Scram 411 as well as Triumph’s Scrambler 400 X. Is it good enough to ride off-road? Only maybe, as it is more of an aesthetic exercise.

But it does come with dual-purpose rubber and an elevated exhaust, so you can chart deep water bodies. The SCL500 (if done right) should get you through gravel, dirt, and grass with no issues. However, keep in mind that the ground clearance is a relatively low 6.1 inches, meaning tackling any highly technical areas would be ill-advised.

Engine Specifications

3 CB500F

Power: 47 HP

Keen on a Honda 500 naked, but the scrambler looks of the SCL500 are a turnoff? Then, this is the Honda option for you to consider. The decidedly more modern-looking CB500F is a naked based on the CBR500R sports bike. As with a lot of naked bikes, the sports platform of the CBR500R was put on a diet. Fairings were shed, clip-ons were replaced by a flat bar, and out came a perfectly serviceable commuter.

The best way to describe the CB500F is that it is sensible. Sure, it’s not flashy like the Kawasaki Z500, or as loaded as the CFMoto 450NK, but it does provide similar mechanicals. It also comes standard with just about every basic feature most intermediate riders expect from their new bikes. Fuel-injected? Check. Anti-lock brakes? Got em. Slipper assist clutch? You bet. And for under $7k, that’s about as good as it’s going to get. You should know, however, that Honda has announced a new CB500 Hornet in Europe and Britain. It’s essentially a CB500F, wrapped in new clothes and with better features like a TFT. No news on when America will receive it, though.

Engine Specifications

2 CB650R

Power: 92 HP

Honda has a long tradition of putting out bikes with the CB designation, going as far back as the early 1960s. One of the most famous nakeds ever made was the CB750. It changed all the rules upon arrival and continues to be a popular choice for riders seeking a vintage bike to ride. Honda’s current mid-capacity offering, the CB650R doesn’t really recall those historic bikes from the past. Unlike the Triumph Bonneville (which looks authentically retro), the CB650R doesn’t reach the same level of nostalgia.

But Honda did make a smart choice in developing the same design language throughout its CB line, starting with the aforementioned CB300R. The CB650R is a substantial jump in power from its little brother while keeping most of what made it great the same. It also houses in its chassis something that’s becoming increasingly rare in the motorcycle world: an inline-four engine. Its biggest competitors – the Triumph Trident 660 and the Aprilia RS 660 – have a triple and twin, meanwhile. What that means is 92 horsepower with a peaky top-end enough for 135 miles per hour. And that’s not anything to scoff at. Like 500F, the CB’s been updated across the pond for 2024.

Engine Specifications

1 CB1000R

Power: 144 HP

For a hot minute there, Honda had released what looked to be a true successor to the vintage CB line of bikes: the CB1100. It was as close as Honda had gotten to making a modern classic in the Triumph Bonneville mold. But it had pulled back a bit, without committing totally to the concept. And the result was a powerful bike, with somewhat generic looks that were neither fully modern nor retro. Needless to say, the CB1100 wasn’t the smashing success that Honda had hoped for.

At the same time, Honda had the CB1000R in their lineup, a bike that was its answer to the Yamaha MT-10. Perhaps recognizing that it had missed the boat with the CB1100, it had redesigned the CB1000 from the ground up, rechristening it (unofficially) as a neo-sports cafe naked bike. Deciding that being stuck between vintage and modern wasn’t necessarily a good spot to be in, Honda had designed the CB1000R to look mostly contemporary, with some retro flourishes like the round headlight. It was a smart stylistic decision, an antithesis to the divisive, futuristic looks of the MT10. In the end, Honda succeeded in creating a stylish, powerful, and comfortable liter-class naked people love worldwide.

Engine Specifications