2026 Honda SCL500 Review: A Scrambler Time Machine

The 2026 Honda SCL500 is one of the easiest and most likable motorcycles you can buy for around seven grand, serving as a rolling history lesson on the scrambler genre.

A scrambler is traditionally a street bike modified for dirt use, featuring high pipes, dirt-track tires, wider bars, and a slightly higher front fender, tracing its lineage back to the 1949 Triumph TR5 Trophy 500cc twin and the 1956 Triumph TR6 Trophy desert sled.

The scrambler craze exploded in the 1960s with Japanese entries like the 1962 Honda CL72 250 and CL77 305, the 1965 Yamaha YDS-3C Big Bear Scrambler 250 twin, the 1967 Suzuki Scrambler TC250 derived from the X6 Hustler 250, and the 1968 Kawasaki Samurai 250 SS. British competitors included the 1967 Norton P11 750 four-stroke twin.

The original scrambler craze died out after Yamaha released the pioneering 1968 DT-1 dual-sport bike, which performed better off-road due to its lighter weight and superior handling. Triumph revived the scrambler concept in 2006 as a Bonneville-based retro style-and-nostalgia bike.

Later, Yamaha attempted a retro scrambler with the 2017 SCR950, which modified the Bolt 950 V-twin cruiser instead of a street bike like the MT-07, and it disappeared by 2019.

Honda followed a similar formula arriving in 2023 with the SCL500, which is derived from the Rebel 500 cruiser chassis rather than the CB500F naked sport bike.

In displacement, the SCL500’s 471cc engine closely aligns with the historical Honda CL450 sold from 1968 to 1974, which featured a 445cc displacement and both are DOHC parallel twins.