RIGHT IN THE FEELS

Royal Enfield’s great new hope is finally here. And it’s great, indeed

- Kartik Ware

I had to ride the new Royal Enfield Meteor 350 twice to double check what I thought of it. The Saturday I got it, I rode from the middle of Mumbai to well beyond its outskirts, and degenerated into a dehydrated mess thoroughly mugged by heavy traffic and terrible heat. The next day, a 0400 start saw me ride into chilly darkness; revenge, as they say, is best served cold. A few hours later, I stood at a traffic light among a bunch of old British bikes; a few Triumph and Norton twins, and a BSA single, all out for a Sunday morning ride. The Meteor’s name comes from their time, I thought; it evokes the Redditch-made Meteor Minor 500cc twin and Super Meteor 700cc twin of the 1950s and 1960s.

This Thunderbird replacement is Royal Enfield’s first all-new single-cylinder motorcycle in more than a decade (I always forget the Himalayan). And, for me, the story is all about that new motor, making what is undoubtedly only its first appearance in RE’s all-important staple 350 lineup. It makes 20.2 bhp and 2.75 kgm, numbers that are in the same ballpark as the outgoing UCE (19.8 bhp, 2.85 kgm). Pushrods and the twin-spark-plug layout have been kicked out, and in walks an SOHC setup with a single spark plug. It’s almost as if they’ve thought this through (someone at Bajaj, please note).