Honda CB500 Super Four Rumored

The presentations of the upcoming Honda CB1000F and CB1000F SE earlier this year as successor to the CB1300 Super Four and Super Bol d’Or machines has inevitably led to speculation that Honda is also planning a smaller-capacity retro four-cylinder to replace the CB400SF that was discontinued in 2022. Now rumors are gathering pace that such a machine will debut at the CIMAMotor show in China on September 19.

Those rumors aren’t without foundation. We already know Honda is working on a full-faired, four-cylinder sportbike to compete with machines like Kawasaki’s Ninja ZX-4RR and a growing crowd of Chinese-made four-cylinders like Kove’s 450RR, CFMoto’s 500SR Voom, and QJMotor’s SRK 421 RR. Last year the company filed trademarks for the names “CBR500R Four” and “CBR400R Four” in a variety of territories, with the 400cc version expected for countries like Japan, where license rules favor sub-400cc bikes, and the 500cc variant being more widely offered. With that platform already in development, it’s a short leap to making a naked CB500 Super Four/CB400 Super Four using the same engine and Honda has just filed a trademark application for new rights to the name “CB400 Super Four” in Japan, implying such a bike is on the way.

Globally, the market for bikes in the region of 400cc to 500cc is increasingly strong, with a pincer movement as increasingly affluent young riders in countries like China look to step up from smaller singles and twins while an aging rider demographic in areas like Europe means a growing number are opting to transition down from larger, heavier bikes to more manageable midsize models.

The latest talk is that the CB500 Super Four intended for the Chinese market will be made by the Wuyang-Honda joint venture, helping keep production costs down and allowing it to compete with domestic brands. However, Honda’s vast number of manufacturing plants around the globe means that if the bike gets distributed more widely, it could be manufactured elsewhere, an important consideration given the increasingly complex situation around tariffs. The Japanese-market CB400 Super Four, for example, is more likely to be built in Japan.

In terms of tech, the engine for the planned CB500 Super Four and the CBR500R is expected to be a completely new unit, not a development of the old CB400SF’s motor, and it’s likely to be offered with the clever E-Clutch system (either as standard or as an option) that debuted on the CB650R and CBR650R to make it more appealing to inexperienced riders. If the talk of the CIMAMotor launch turns out to be true, more will become clear in a couple of weeks, so watch this space.