Royal Enfield has just launched the Hunter 350 roadster motorcycle, with prices starting from Rs. 1.5 lakh, ex-showroom. This makes the Royal Enfield Hunter 350 the most affordable offering in the retro-modern motorcycle brand’s range, and the Hunter 350 is about Rs. 4,500 cheaper than the Bullet 350. Bookings for the new motorcycle are open at all Royal Enfield dealerships across India.
Test rides will commence from 10th of August, 2022, while deliveries are also expected to commence in the coming weeks. Notably, Royal Enfield has already begun dispatching the Hunter 350 to showrooms. The Hunter 350 is available in 3 variants – Retro Factory, Metro Dapper and Metro Rebel. While the Retro Factory trim is priced at Rs. 149,900, the Metro Dapper and Metro Rebel are priced at Rs. 163,900 and Rs. 168,900 respectively.
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All variants of the Royal Enfield Hunter 350 use a 350cc, single cylinder air cooled four stroke engine borrowed from the Meteor 350. This motor puts out 20.1 Bhp and 28 Nm, and runs a single overhead camshaft. Equipped with a balancer shaft, this motor is one of the smoothest single cylinder engines in Royal Enfield’s range, and is expected to soon become the mainstay of the brand’s affordable motorcycles.
A five speed manual gearbox is standard. Top speed is rated at 114 Kph while kerb weight for the lightest Retro trim stands at 181 kilograms. Ground clearance is an acceptable 150 mm, and the short wheelbase of 1,370 mm should ensure that the ground clearances poses no issues in the real world. Seat height is an accessible 800 mm.
The Hunter 350’s higher variants gets disc brakes on both wheels with dual channel ABS as standard while the Retro Factory trim gets a disc brake only on the front wheel, and single-channel ABS. The frame is borrowed from the Meteor but the wheels are 17 inch, alloy units on the Metro trims. The Retro trim gets 17 inch spoked wheel shod with tube-type tyres. The 17 inch wheel size will give Hunter 350 owners a wide array of tyre options.
While the Retro Factory trim of the Hunter 350 is quite basic with even the main stand eliminated to shave costs, the higher trims get more equipment. For instance, the Tripper navigation pod can be specified as an optional extra on the Hunter 350. There are many more accessories such as the tinted flyscreen, bar-end mirrors, sump guard, compact engine guard, bench seat, tail tidy and LED indicators on offer, making the motorcycle quite customizable.
The Royal Enfield Hunter 350 will take on a range of retro-styled motorcycles in India. Direct competitors include the just-launched TVS Ronin, the Honda CB 350 RS and the Jawa Forty-Two. The Hunter 350 is a global motorcycle, and Royal Enfield is expected to sell the bike in most emerging markets that it already operates in.
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