Brixton Crossfire 500X Vs Rivals: How The Newcomer Stacks Up

Brixton Motorcycles has made recently made its debut in India, with a range of motorcycles on offer. The Brixton Crossfire 500X is a compact, cafe-racer motorcycle enjoys a unique positioning in the market, but the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650, Benelli Leoncino 500, and the Husqvarna Svarpilen 401 can be considered as rivals.

Before we go any further into the details of this comparison, do make sure to join the 91wheels WhatsApp Community to keep up with the latest news and updates.

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Brixton Crossfire 500X Vs Rivals

Powertrain

While the Crossfire 500X, Interceptor 650, and the Leoncino 500 come with twin-cylinder engines, the Svartpilen 401 is the only single-cylinder motorcycle in this list.

In this on-paper comparison, you will notice that the Crossfire 500X and the Leoncino 500 are nearly identical in terms of output, with the latter producing 3Nm more. The Interceptor 650 is the torquiest of the lot, while the Svartpilen 401 shares its engine with the Duke 390, and thus comes with similar output figures. However, the Svartpilen offers a meatier mid-range and a better low-end performance compared to its angrier sibling.

Hardware and Suspension

The Crossfire 500X packs the most premium hardware in this comparison; it gets adjustable suspension from KYB on both ends, along with a J.Juan braking system, with Bosch dual-channel ABS on both ends, and tubeless spoke rims as well. However, the result of this overall combination is something we'll have to wait to find out.

The RE Interceptor 650 is the heaviest of the lot, and its heft can be felt when moving around at parking speeds. However, out on the road, the Interceptor 650 also feels quite stable. Moreover, the quality levels on the Interceptor are also decent.

Benelli has kept the Leoncino 500 silent for a rather long time, and we will have to ride it back-to-back to see how it fares against the rest of the competition. However, an interesting observation is that the Leoncino 500 comes with dual-disc brakes up front, and its rear disc brake is also larger than what is available on the other motorcycles in this comparison.

The Svartpilen 401 is based on the Duke 390, which means you get a similar chassis and braking setup. However, the spoke rim setup and block-pattern tyres give it a slight advantage when going off-roading. Due to its compact and nimble size, the Svartpilen 401 is also quite agile and the Pirelli Scorpion STR tyres help inspire confidence when attacking corners.

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Equipment And Price

The Crossfire 500X is quite bare-bones when it comes to features, as it does not get any connectivity bits, or many rider aids either. However, it gets dual-channel ABS from Bosch. Brixton says the lack of connected features and tech such as ride-by-wire is deliberate, as it wanted to avoid making 'over-engineered' motorcycles. That said, the Crossfire 500X comes with all-LED lighting, a circular digital instrument cluster with things such as a gear-position indicator, oil-pressure and a coolant temperature light.

The Interceptor 650 is also quite bare-bones in terms of features, as it packs dual-channel ABS, and an LED headlight from the Super Meteor 650, along with twin analogue dials. The Leoncino 500 is also equipped similarly, but it gets a digital instrument cluster as standard.

The Svartpilen 401 is the most feature-loaded in this comparison, as it packs a 5-inch TFT screen, smartphone connectivity via bluetooth, turn-by-turn navigation, music streaming, call/SMS alerts, traction control, quickshifter, switchable ABS, backlit switchgear, and an immobilizer among other things.

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