Royal Enfield has a grounded dominance in the retro classic segment in India. With the segment getting crowded with the most potent models, the dominance of the Classic 350 has been rooted. And as the competition gets stiffer by the day, Royal Enfield introduced the Meteor 350 that screams improvement from the Classic 350. What is touted to be as things-picked-up after the Thunderbird, comes with a newly developed engine and chassis.
Among the competition that we mentioned above is Honda’s latest H’Ness CB 350. Hence, we put both the motorcycles to see how that fair on paper.
Royal Enfield Meteor 350 Design
The Meteor 350 is a serious departure from the rest of its stablemates in terms of design, but manages to work with RE’s same design language that has evidently wooed so many Indians. It gets a teardrop-shaped fuel tank, round halogen headlamp unit that sports an LED ring around it. It gets a split-seat design, low and sculpted rider’s seat, raised handlebars and forward-set footpegs.
Honda H’ness CB 350 Design
Like the Meteor 350, the H’ness also gets a teardrop-shaped fuel tank and this is where the similarity ends. The motorcycle gets a full-LED lighting set up. The front indicators have integrated DRLs which acts as both. The seat is a single-piece unit that is relatively flat as compared to the Meteor 350. The handlebars are not as near to the rider as the Meteor 350 and the foot pegs are slightly forward-set. Honda is offering alloy wheels as standard on both motorcycles. However, the Meteor gets dual-tone alloys in the top-spec variant.
Royal Enfield Meteor 350 Features
One of the major changes from its classic lineage would be the new instrument cluster. It gets an analogue speedometer, along with LCD display for fuel-gauge, gear-position indicator, tripmeter, odometer, clock and service reminder. In the Meteor there is also a secondary TFT display that displays turn-by-turn navigation in tandem with Google.
The motorcycle gets brand-new switchgear with rotary dials for lights and engine kill/start. On the top-spec Supernova variant, the motorcycle also comes with a windscreen. RE is also providing a plethora of customisation options including different seats, larger foot pegs and plenty other touring accessories.
Honda H’ness CB 350 Features
The Honda H’ness also gets a semi-digital instrument cluster that includes an analogue speedometer and a small digital LCD screen. These display show information like average fuel economy, real-time fuel-economy, battery voltage indicator, gear position, remaining range and turn-by-turn navigation. While the list is longer on the CB 350, the displays are comparatively small.
Royal Enfield Meteor 350 Powertrain
The Meteor is powered by a 349-cc, air-cooled, single-cylinder engine that outputs 20.4PS and 27Nm of torque. While the figures might not indicate a giant leap from the Thunderbird, RE has brought about major changes in the unit’s architecture. It now uses an SOHC setup that departs from RE’s archaic pushrod setup. This means less vibrations and smoother power delivery. The thump still exists but is more smooth now.
Honda H’ness CB 350 Powertrain
The Hond H’ness comes with a 348-cc, air-cooled, single-cylinder as well. This produces 20.07 PS and 30 Nm of torque which is more than the Meteor. In addition to this, the H’ness CB 350 also benefits from slip-and-assist clutch and torque control system.
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