The Royal Enfield Meteor 350 finally has a launch date! It will be launched in India on November 6, 2020. It is going to be the most important launch for Royal Enfield after the 650 Twins. The Meteor range represents a new era for the company, as the bikes are built on a brand new platform and get an all-new engine too. The Royal Enfield Meteor 350 will be positioned as a global product and is likely to replace the Thunderbird 350. Leaked brochures and other documents suggest that Royal Enfield will offer the Meteor 350 in three variants, Fireball, Supernova, and Stellar.
The main differences, cosmetically, seem to be the new instrument console set-up and the new split seat design, together with other changes in the rear fender, headlight, and taillight. The instrument console, certainly is the center point of the changes, with an asymmetrical design, and could possibly offer far more information than the rather rudimentary set-up on the Thunderbird 350X. Design cues are likely to include a tear-drop shaped fuel tank, bright colour options, LED daytime running lights, new alloys, and a split-seat.
As mentioned earlier, the Meteor is likely to employ a new frame and a new engine. Spyshots reveal that the Meteor 350 uses a double-cradle chassis as opposed to a single downtube frame on the Thunderbird 350. Plus, the new 350 cc engine on the Meteor is likely to generate better power and torque figures than the 350 cc UCE (unit construction engine) but not so much that it overwhelms first time buyers. The leaked brochure suggests that the engine will pump out 20.2 bhp and 27 Nm of peak torque.
Another set of spy shots suggest that the Meteor will get a secondary TFT color display, along with the main unit that comes with an analog speedometer and LED panel for trip meter and other essential information. The leaked images show that the new TFT display will have a turn-by-turn navigation feature, which in turn suggests that the new Meteor could also get Bluetooth connectivity, making it the first Royal Enfield motorcycle to get it.
We expect the RE Meteor 350 to be priced between ₹ 1.5 lakh and ₹ 2 lakh and it will go up against the Benelli Imperiale 400, Jawa 300 and the newly launched Honda H’Ness CB350 and the latter has been solely launched by HMSI to go up against the Meteor 350.