The new Royal Enfield Meteor 350 has a bass-heavy and throaty sound, and the engine is much smoother than before as well
Royal Enfield Meteor 350 is set to launch in the Indian market on 6th November 2020. The motorcycle will serve as a replacement for the Thunderbird 350, which was discontinued earlier this year. The styling of the Meteor is heavily reminiscent of the Thunderbird, especially with the round headlamp and tear-drop shaped fuel tank.
There are a few changes though; the rear wheel of the Meteor is a smaller 17-inch unit, although the front end will continue to have a 19-inch wheel. The fuel tank is also smaller, at 15 litres. On the Thunderbird, the rear wheel was an 18-inch unit, and the fuel tank capacity was 20 litres. These, however, are only minor differences between these two motorcycles.
The biggest difference between the Thunderbird 350 and the Meteor 350 is the engine. The latter is powered by a brand-new 350cc engine, which utilises an SOHC setup instead of the archaic push-rod architecture, like on the Classic, and Standard. The new engine not only runs smoother, but sounds different as well. Here, we have a video which captures the exhaust note of the upcoming Meteor 350.
The exhaust note of the Meteor is quite different from the current-gen Royal Enfield single-cylinder motorcycles. It sounds more like a modern motorcycle, and the engine seems to be smoother and rev-happy, unlike before. The “thump” can be heard at lower revs, but at higher RPMs, the exhaust note becomes rather mellow.
This new engine is a 349cc, air-cooled, single-cylinder unit, capable of generating 20.2 HP and 27 Nm of peak power and torque, respectively. It will come paired to a 5-speed gearbox, and the motorcycle will be offered with dual-channel ABS as standard. The Meteor will be available in three variants – Fireball, Stellar, and Supernova – with different paint options and equipment levels on the three.
Two test mules of the RE Meteor were spotted recently, both of them Supernova variants. One model had Supernova Brown paint scheme, while the other was Supernova Blue. This video has the former, although personally speaking, the latter looks much better. As for the pricing, we expect the RE Meteor to cost between Rs. 1.6 lakh and Rs. 1.85 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi).