This one was a long time coming. After several delays, the Royal Enfield Meteor 350 was finally introduced on November 6, 2020. It must have been one stressful year for the company, especially after Honda unveiled the highly popular H'ness CB350 at the end of September. But the wait is officially over. Here's a look at the most highly anticipated bike of 2020.
For those of you who have been waiting for this bike since April, it's probably hard to believe that it's actually and that this isn't yet another rumor or leak.
If you think it looks chunky compared to the other 350 Enfields, you're not wrong. There's very little negative space inside the frame which gives the bike a more "completed" look—it doesn't feel like parts are missing. The Meteor certainly feels more premium than the other 350s.
Unlike early rumors that suggested the new model would share its engine with the BS6-updated Classic and Bullet, Royal Enfield developed an entirely new mill. The 349cc single is now air and oil-cooled and the pushrods were replaced by an overhead cam. The engine produces 20 horsepower at 6,100rpm and 20 lb-ft of torque at 4,000rpm and is paired to a five-speed constant mesh transmission.
The engine is nestled inside a new double-cradle frame mounted to the 19 and 17-inch wheels with a 41mm telescopic fork up front and pre-load adjustable dual shocks at the back. At 4-gallon teardrop fuel tank sits at the top. Braking comes from a single 300mm disc with a dual-piston caliper at the front wheel and a 270 mm disc with a single-piston caliper at the back, paired with dual-channel ABS.
As we suspected, the Meteor is available in three trim levels: Fireball, Stellar, and Supernova. Each level gets its own selection of colorways and comes with an increasingly more generous menu of features from chrome exhaust and premium badges to touring windscreen and pillion backrest. All three versions receive the all-new Royal Enfield Tripper—the marque's first Bluetooth navigation system powered by Google Maps.
Pricing for the new 2021 Royal Enfield Meteor 350 starts at Rs 1.76 lakh (US$2,375) for the Fireball, Rs 1.81 lakh (US$2,440) for the Stellar, and Rs 1.90 lakh (US$2,560) for the Supernova.
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