The much-awaited Royal Enfield Meteor 350 launch is finally taking place tomorrow - the 6th of November, 2020. Based on a brand-new J platform, the motorcycle is arriving in the Indin market after umpteen delays. The much-anticipated Meteor 350 will replace the Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350X in the country. The chennai-based motorcycle maker has been teasing us with videos and images. With the launch happening in less than 24 hours, the manufacturer has just released a short clip of bike's exhaust note. The Meteor 350 will rival the likes of Jawa forty-two and newly-launched Honda H’ness CB 350 in its segment. The retro cruiser motorcycle will be sold in 3 variants namely Fireball, Stellar, and Supernova. The pricing needs to be competitive in order to shave off emerging competition so expect the Royal Enfield Meteor 350's starting price to be around Rs 1.6 lakh (ex-showroom), India.
Speaking about the different trims, the Supernova variant will come in two dual-tone shades - brown & black, and light blue & black. While the Fireball trim will be offered in glossy yellow and red paint shades as for Stellar it will be provided in metallic red blue, metallic blue and matte black finish. Moving on to the design, the Meteor 350 will feature a halogen light with circular LED DRL, a larger windscreen, LED tail lamp, split seat design with rear backrest. It will further provide an upright riding posture due to the new handlebars and low seat. It uses a double-cradle chassis when compared to Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350 which came based on downtube frame.
The crusier motorcycle will come equipped with Bluetooth enabled turn-by-turn GPS system named Tripper Navigation thus this becoming the first Royal Enfield model to come with the feature. The Meteor 350 will be offered a semi-digital instrument console consisting of analogue speedometer and LCD display. The panel will display information like distance travelled, gear position indicator, trip meter, service reminders among others.
Moving on to performance, Royal Enfield Meteor 350 will be powered by a new 349cc air-cooled, single-cylinder engine. It will deliver 20.2 bhp of power output and 27 Nm of peak torque. The new engine will come mated to a 5-speed gearbox. The power performance is an upgrade on Thunderbird 350 which delivered 19.2 bhp of power output. Suspension duties will be taken care of by conventional telescopic forks up front and twin spring shock absorbers towards the rear. The gearbox is expected to come with less number of moving parts promising smooth shifts and light clutch pull. Also, the braking system is borrowed from the outdated Thunderbird model. Dual-channel ABS is offered as standard fitment on this bike.
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