Royal Enfield today launched the new Meteor 350 in India at a starting price of Rs 1,75,825. The new cruiser replaces the Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350 in the lineup and boasts a new engine and the addition of Bluetooth connectivity. The Royal Enfield Meteor 350 directly rivals the newly-launched Honda H’ness CB350 and is priced Rs 10,000 below it. It’ll broadly get three variants – Fireball, Stellar, and Supernova. The Meteor 350 is the company’s first model to have been built on the all-new J platform and the said platform will spawn multiple products in the future. Bookings have been opened and motorcycles are available for test rides.
The new Meteor 350 is powered by a new 349cc four-stroke, air-oil-cooled, single-cylinder engine that makes 20.2 bhp at 6,100 rpm and 27 Nm at 4,000 rpm, and is paired with a five-speed transmission. The suspension setup includes 41 mm telescopic forks with 130 mm travel and six-step dual shocks at the rear.
The wheelbase of the Meteor 350 is 1,400 mm, ground clearance is 170 mm, seat height is 765 mm, kerb weight is 191 kg, and fuel tank capacity is 15 litres. Braking hardware includes a 300 mm disc with a twin-piston floating calliper and a 270 mm disc with a single-piston floating calliper at the rear. It gets dual-channel ABS.
The Meteor 350 gets a 19″ alloy wheel up front with a 100/90 section tyre and a 17″ 140/70 at the rear (tubeless CEAT tyres). It comes in seven colour options – Fireball Yellow, Fireball Red, Stellar Black, Stellar Red, Stellar Blue, Supernova Brown, and Supernova Blue.
Another brand new addition to the new Royal Enfield cruiser is the Tripper for real-time turn-by-turn navigation. It gets a dedicated screen and can be operated via a smartphone app.
Besides the H’ness CB350, the Meteor 350 will compete with the like of Jawa, Benelli Imperiale 400, and in the same price bracket, the Bajaj Dominar 400.