Benelli Leoncino 500 Vs Honda Rebel 500 Detailed Comparison

By addressing modernity and freshness in motorcycle design and engineering, Italian motorcycle brands are steadily making their way to the list of top manufacturers. The brand that comes to your mind is probably Ducati, Aprilia, MV Agusta, and Moto Guzzi. However, there is another big name with a rich history of producing motorcycles, called the Benelli. Regardless of motorcycles being produced in Pesaro, Italy, the company is owned by a Chinese brand, Qianjiang Motorcycle.

As of now, Japanese motorcycle brands are ruling the most global motorcycle markets when it comes to esteemed reliability, longevity, affordability, bullet-proof engine quality, and sales. Out of all the top Japanese producers, Honda produces and sells the most units globally.

Being owned by a Chinese manufacturer, one can expect the price range of Benelli motorcycles to be on the lower side. One such example of an innovatively designed naked bike-style roadster is the Benelli Leoncino 500 with almost the same price tag and fairly similar power figures as the Honda Rebel 500.

It may be difficult to compete with a Honda bike, like the Rebel 500. However, the Benelli Leoncino 500 must have something that makes it competitive. Continue reading this article to learn more about these two motorcycles and a detailed comparison between the Benelli Leoncino 500 and the Honda Rebel 500.

The Benelli Leoncino 500 can be categorized as a middleweight naked bike-style roadster with a tall stature. This machine boasts a naked bike look due to its exposed engine and machinery style. The Leoncino 500 has no side panels, engine covers, or body fairings, providing it a rugged aesthetics. This roadster also features a matte black finish with several brand logos on different parts.

Towards the front, the Benelli Leoncino 500 features a bigger 50 mm inverted front fork, which is quite oversized relative to this motorbike’s overall dimensions. There is a sports-style front mudguard with a small lion’s cub motif firmly installed on it. For those who don’t know, the “Leoncino” is an Italian terminology, meaning “Lion’s cub”.

There is also a medium-sized round headlamp with a fairly bulged-out black nacelle. There is an inverted U-shaped LED daytime running light (DRL), giving this bike its distinctive identity.  The tubular steel frame and the well-designed engine provide an overall compact look to this motorbike.

Another top feature of the Benelli Leoncino 500 which improves its road presence is its Pirelli Angel ST superbike tires wrapped around elegant aluminum alloy blacked-out spoked wheels.

Minimalism and simplicity are the two main elements considered while designing the Honda Rebel 500. The frame and chassis are built to make this bike easily customizable. The Rebel 500 is more like a blank canvas for motorcyclists who are passionate about showing their creativity through customization.

This bike is stripped down to make sure there are no extra or fancy parts attached to it. The Rebel 500 boasts an unconventional cruiser style and design. It has a relatively taller front-end look, ensuring an elegant road presence thanks to the fat front and rear tires wrapped around bronze-finished 10-spoke wheels and distinctive LED headlight design with four main bulbs.

Regardless of its taller front-end design, the seat height sits low to the ground, making it quite advantageous for shorter riders to operate this bike with both their feet planted on the ground. The Rebel 500 also features a bobber-style front fender and the rear one is a chopped and wide piece, carrying a smoothly integrated rectangular-shaped LED tail light with round edges.

Like the Benelli Leoncino 500, the Honda Rebel 500 also flaunts its naked look with an exposed engine & machinery style and a total matte black finish. The two-into-one exhaust system is also blacked out with an extended design and bulky muffler.

Considering the type of motorcycle the Benelli Leoncino 500 is, it is expected to run faster and ensure a thrilling experience. It is a naked bike-style roadster, designed for quick on-road performance. The design is kept simple with no additional fairing and superbike-style tires.

The Benelli Leoncino 500 carries an elegant-looking 499.6 cc 360° inline-twin engine with liquid-cooled technology. It has a very neatly assembled powerplant, encompassing the radiator and coolant reservoir, with several brand logos on it. The 499.6 cc engine produces an exciting peak horsepower of 46.9 hp at 8,500 rpm and a peak torque of 45 Nm at 5,000 rpm, making it quite punchy on the road.

Apart from its thrilling engine performance, the power delivery is quite smooth, ensuring riders enjoy the ride more. Being a smaller bike, the Leoncino 500 picks the pace faster thanks to the quick throttle response. If you open the maximum throttle, the Benelli Leoncino 500 can reach a top speed of 111.85 mph.

The Honda Rebel 500 is also not a pure cruiser but still manages to win many hearts with its modern performance. This bike is an unconventional sports-style cruiser with lightweight parts and low-slung geometry, making it perform exceptionally as you expect from a Honda bike.

The Rebel 500 is the most desirable member of the Rebel family as it encompasses several good qualities and one of the best value for the money. The 471 cc parallel-twin engine installed on this motorcycle is among the most notable inventions by Honda thanks to its bulletproof nature.

The water-cooled 471 cc powerplant generates almost similar power figures as the Benelli Leoncino 500 with 46.9 hp of horsepower at 8,500 rpm and a torque of 43 Nm at 7,000 rpm. Likewise, such power figures, along with the Rebel 500’s unique design characteristics, make this bike an incredibly fun and easy-to-ride motorcycle. The power delivery is quite smooth and spontaneous with a fairly quick throttle response. This bike also accelerates faster thanks to its lightweight build and low-slung design. The Honda Rebel 500 is fast enough to reach a top speed of 105.6 mph.

As you can expect from a stripped-down naked bike, the Benelli Leoncino 500 handles exceptionally well on both straight and twisty roads. There are several factors playing their roles collectively to make this motorcycle highly maneuverable and flickable around the corners. First of all, the Leoncino 500 is compact and lightweight, and secondly, you do not have to worry about scrapping the foot pegs as this bike has sufficient ground and cornering clearance.

Thirdly, the Leoncino 500 has distinctive and relatively wider handlebars, offering exceptional control, stability, and above all, precise handling characteristics. This bike is not as lightweight as a beginner bike, but it still feels adequately agile while riding it.

Though unconventional, the Rebel 500 offers the most active steering and agility. This bike prefers staying planted and stable on the road due to being low-slung. You can ride this bike confidently even if you are relatively new to motorcycling without being much worried about dropping it.

The Rebel 500 is lighter than the Benelli Leoncino 500 and it feels more lighter as you turn corners. Usually, cruisers are not as smooth and quick on twisty roads, but thanks to the Rebel 500’s slightly aggressive stance and riding position which ensures that the rider does not have to slow down to turn a corner.

The Benelli Leoncino 500 offers a neutral riding position. Though compact, this motorbike is adequately big enough to offer decently spacious ergonomics. Ergonomics-wise, the Leoncino 500 is more like a standard road bike, offering an upright back position and relaxed arm position.

The single-piece seat on the Leoncino 500 is well-padded and capable enough to carry the passenger with ease. The legroom is tight but it is natural on a naked bike-style roadster like the Leoncino 500. Overall, it is a comfortable motorcycle to ride within the city.

The Honda Rebel 500 is undoubtedly a great package overall for a versatile riding experience. Despite being a sports-style cruiser, the Rebel 500 is amazingly comfortable. The rider fits in so comfortably thanks to the adequately capacious ergonomics this motorcycle offers suitable for riders of all sizes. You will not feel kinked up even if you ride this bike for hours without taking a break.

Though the foot controls are mid-mounted on the Rebel 500, the seat is positioned at a reasonable distance to ensure that riders do not feel cramped while adjusting their legs. The handlebars are fairly flat and are positioned quite low, making riders sit in a slightly aggressive style. However, if you are a taller rider, you can sit with a straight back on the Rebel 500.

The suspension on this machine is on the hard side. However, you cannot classify it as uncomfortable. The Benelli Leoncino 500 features an oversized and beefy front fork, offering 4.92 inches of wheel travel. Towards the rear end, there is a small-sized single rear shock with rebound and preload adjustability, providing a wheel travel of 4.4 inches. If you ride the Leoncino 500 on smooth and paved roads, you will not feel uncomfortable even after riding it for a few hours.

Compared to the Leoncino 500, the Rebel 500 has quite a basic suspension setting. A 41 mm front fork and dual rear shocks with no adjustability have no big roles to play when it comes to making rides plusher. The front suspension offers a wheel travel of 5.5 inches and the rear one has 3.7 inches of wheel travel, perfect for a road bike. Though basic, these suspensions are suitable for smooth road performance and have enough character to take on road bumps without making riders feel uncomfortable.

The Benelli Leoncino is a superior bike compared to the Rebel 500 in terms of technology and equipment. It features a 320 mm dual front-disc brake with a four-piston caliper and a single 260 mm single-disc rear brake with a single-piston caliper, along with the switchable ABS, offering superior and credible stopping power. The existing brake setup and equipment are more than enough to stop a 456 lbs Leoncino 500 in no time.

The braking setup on the Honda Rebel 500 is not as advanced as the Leoncino 500 but it is adequate to stop a lightweight motorcycle having a wet weight of 414 lbs (ABS model). This motorcycle has single front and rear disc brakes and the ABS is available as an optional feature.

The Rebel 500 has hydraulic calipers, ensuring an initial soft brake bite, only good for experienced riders. If you are a beginner, make sure you buy the ABS variant to ensure more credible stopping power.

In comparison, the Benelli Leoncino 500 has a bigger, better, and more modern instrument panel than the Rebel 500. It has two digital displays on the screen, containing a tachometer, speedometer, gear position indicator, odometer, clock, engine temperature, fuel level indicator, and other useful light indications on one side of the screen. The instrument panel has a plastic screen which makes readings sometimes less visible when viewed under the sunlight.

The instrument panel installed on the Rebel 500 is very basic. The actual display size is quite small compared to the overall round-shaped gauge. The display is also sometimes difficult to read under the sunlight due to low brightness. The screen display has a speedometer, gear position indicator, clock, trip meter, fuel level indicator, and common light indicators.

Both the Benelli Leoncino 500 and the Honda Rebel 500 are fitted with parallel-twin engines with modern and decent two-into-one exhaust systems. The Leoncino 500 is a well-known European motorbike, engineered by the Italian manufacturer, Benelli, an expert at fine-tuning the exhaust performance and rumble. The Leoncino 500’s muffler has two outlets, producing a very sophisticated deep sound. There is only a bit of a V-Twin vibe, but overall the exhaust note is smooth.

Meanwhile, in the stock form, the Honda Rebel 500 produces a throaty sound with a more V-Twin flavor. Such a sound can attract more riders who prefer a V-Twin engine feel.

Both motorbikes, the Benelli Leoncino 500 and the Honda Rebel 500, belong to their unique classes and categories. There are only a very few similarities between these two, like the engine displacement size and power figures. Though Benelli is one of the most senior Italian motorcycle brands with a notable existence in the European market, the Leoncino 500 is a Chinese-made motorcycle. Even though there is nothing wrong with the quality of this bike, some riders will still have questions regarding its worth and durability, considering it is a new and modern motorbike.

On the other hand, the Honda Rebel 500 needs no introduction when it comes to its bulletproof nature and reliable engine technology. The Rebel has been around for decades and since 2016, this series has been transformed completely with modern styling and a sportier stance to make it one of the favorite motorbikes for young and new riders.

In addition, the Leoncino 500 carries a more futuristic style, advanced tech package, and high-end competitive look than the Rebel 500. There are only a few parts, including hand controls, switches, wire harnesses, and instrument clusters where Benelli decided to compromise to keep the price in an affordable range. You will not get the same package, features, and look in the Rebel 500 regardless of whether both these bikes have almost similar price tags.

However, considering the overall package, rideability, quality, longevity, versatile performance, and smoothness, the Honda Rebel 500 has no match. This motorcycle has proved to be the people’s bike and is more common, especially among beginners and intermediate riders. Meanwhile, the Benelli Leoncino 500 is an uncommon bike but it has the potential to do well in the future.

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