Royal Enfield Meteor 350 launched in India

The much anticipated Royal Enfield Meteor 350 has been launched in India at a starting price of ₹ 1.76 lakh and will be sold in three variants. The bike is based on an entirely new platform.

The looks and ergonomics

The new Meteor 350 will replace the Thunderbird and Thunderbird X, here in India. But the Meteor 350 somehow looks identical to the Thunderbird, yet is all-new. The circular headlamp gets an LED DRL ring around it, a well moulded fuel tank and sloping fenders. The round tail light looks neat and gives it a new look from the back. It features a new semi-digital instrument cluster and a colour TFT display unit. It’s called the ‘Tripper screen’ that displays turn-by-turn navigation. You can sync the phone to the system using Bluetooth. This is a bike made keeping long rides in mind, and it comes with typical cruiser seating ergonomics: a pulled back handlebar, forward-set footpegs and a broad seat.

Firepower

The Meteor 350 is powered by a new 349cc, fuel-injected, single-cylinder engine that makes 19bhp and 27Nm of torque. The air-cooled engine gets an oil circuit in the 2-valve head to help improve cooling. Even vibrations are said to be taken care of.

The chassis

The Royal Enfield bikes features a new double-downtube cradle frame, which is said to be stiffer.It has a wheelbase of 1400mm and a ground clearance of 170mm, and now weighs 191kgs. It comes equipped with a 300mm disc brake at the front and a 270mm disc at the back.

It comes in three variants, called Fireball, Stellar and Supernova the last of which gets dual-tone colours, a pillion backrest, a windscreen and tan seats. You can also opt to customise your bike to your taste, and you can choose from lots of custom options – like bar end mirrors, 8 engine guard designs, road legal exhausts, different seat covers, forged footpegs and two types of windscreens.

The ride

The bike feels balanced and is easy to handle in the city. However, it is still huge and portly and isn’t recommended for first-time riders. The tyres are wide and provide good grip. The braking is impressive too. The riding position is very comfortable and the large windscreen keeps dust away from flying into to your visor. And the seat is easily one of the best around. But we found the rear pillion footpegs set too much to the rear, while the backrest is useful for the pillion. Also, grab the latest info on the upcoming bikes, only at autoX.