Adjust the fitLowering kit, bar risers, rearsets — see how mods change your posture›
What-if only — simulates common aftermarket changes, not the stock bike.
Seat height690 mm
Forward lean0°
Knee angle97°
Hip angle100°
Data confidence: HighWhoever opens it sees your size and fit adjustments on this bike.
The Honda Rebel 500 (2017+) has a 690 mm (27.2 in) seat height and a 1490 mm wheelbase. For an average 175 cm rider that works out to about 0° of forward lean with the knees bent to about 97°, and that rider can get both feet flat on the ground. See the riding-position diagram above, and enter your own height and inseam to see your fit. The Honda Rebel 500 (2017+) is LAMS-approved (learner-legal to ride in Australia).
The Honda Rebel 500 (2017+) in the real world
The Rebel 500’s 690 mm seat is the headline: it’s one of the lowest saddles on any current road bike in Australia, and for thousands of shorter riders it’s the difference between tip-toeing every red light and planting both boots flat. Add a slim mid-section and modest weight and you get the bike that riding schools reach for when a student can’t touch down on anything else.
The position itself is classic small cruiser: low hips, feet on mid-set pegs slightly ahead of your knees, hands on a low, pulled-back bar. It’s relaxed and confidence-inspiring around town. The scooped solo seat locks you into one spot, though, and the stock foam is thin — the near-universal owner comment is that the look and the ground reach are superb, the seat comfort past an hour is not.
Who the Rebel 500 fits
The default recommendation for riders under ~165 cm who want to flat-foot with knees bent — almost nobody fails the ground-reach test on a Rebel.
Confidence pick for returning riders and new riders nervous about stops: low seat, low centre of gravity, light steering.
Riders over ~185 cm physically fit but sit knees-high; the fixed seating position means you can’t shift back to stretch. Test the hip and knee angles above.
The riding triangle is identical on the Rebel 300 — if even the 500 feels big, the smaller engine version fits the same.
Common fit & comfort changes
Aftermarket / comfort seat — The most common Rebel purchase after the bike itself — thicker, flatter seats fix the one-hour comfort limit and some add a little height, which taller riders actually want here.
Forward foot controls — Relocation kits move the pegs forward into a more traditional cruiser stretch — the standard fix for tall riders whose knees sit too high on the mid-mounted pegs.
Handlebar swap / risers — A taller or pulled-back bar fine-tunes the reach without changing the low seat that makes the bike what it is.
Most of these can be previewed on your own body with the “Adjust the fit” sliders in the simulator above.
The Honda Rebel 500 (2017+) has a seat height of 690 mm (27.2 inches).
Can a 175 cm rider flat-foot the Honda Rebel 500 (2017+)?
On its 690 mm seat, a 175 cm rider (about 80 cm inseam) can typically get both feet flat on the ground on the Honda Rebel 500 (2017+). Taller or shorter riders differ — use the simulator to check your own ground reach.
What is the riding position of the Honda Rebel 500 (2017+)?
For an average 175 cm rider, the Honda Rebel 500 (2017+) riding position (also called the seating position) works out to about 0° of forward lean with a 97° knee bend. See the riding-position diagram to judge the posture for your own body size.
Is the Honda Rebel 500 (2017+) LAMS-approved?
Yes — the Honda Rebel 500 (2017+) is LAMS-approved, so it is legal for learner and provisional riders in Australia.
What is the lowest seat height LAMS bike?
The Honda Rebel 500 (and Rebel 300) at 690 mm is among the very lowest on sale in Australia. Almost all riders can flat-foot it — even riders around 155 cm typically get both feet down. Use the low-seat ranking page to see every bike ordered from the lowest seat up.
Is the Rebel 500 too small for tall riders?
You’ll fit, but with compromises: the mid-set pegs put tall knees quite high, and the scooped seat stops you sliding back. Riders over about 185 cm usually either fit forward controls or choose a larger cruiser with a longer riding triangle.
Is the Honda Rebel 500 a good first bike for short riders?
It’s arguably the benchmark. The 690 mm seat, slim waist and low centre of gravity remove the main thing new short riders fear — not reaching the ground — and the LAMS-approved parallel twin is easy to ride smoothly.
Seat height & wheelbase come straight from the manufacturer’s published specs, verified across the maker’s site, media reviews and spec databases.
Handlebar & footpeg positions aren’t published by any manufacturer. Where a true side-profile photo exists, we mark five reference points on it (front & rear axle, seat, grip, peg) and convert pixels to millimetres using the known wheelbase as the scale. Where it doesn’t, we research the grip and peg heights and estimate the horizontal reach from class-typical geometry.
Every result is cross-checked against how reviewers describe the bike’s posture (upright / sporty / committed), and each bike page carries a data-confidence badge so you can see how solid its numbers are.
The drawing is a clean schematic — one shared template per bike type (naked, sport, cruiser, adventure, touring, dirt), anchored to each bike’s real seat, grip and peg coordinates — so you compare riding positions, not paint jobs.
Your figure is a stick model built from your height and inseam using standard body-proportion ratios, then posed by inverse kinematics — hips on the seat, hands on the bars, feet on the pegs — with the same posture solver for every bike.
Bottom line: seat height & wheelbase are hard data; handlebar/footpeg geometry and ground reach are calibrated estimates (see each bike’s data-confidence badge). Always sit on the real bike before you buy.