You all know I have a long history with motorcycles, of which I have owned quite a few over the years. This post is about my latest one, the Royal Enfield Meteor 350. I didn’t really like the last motorcycle I had or the one before it so I was hesitant to buy another one. But I hated waiting for Grab Bikes and ashamed of riding bitch. So I decided to buy one.

I did have my eyes set on this one, but after a test ride, I didn’t find its riding stance suitable for long highway rides. Coming from a long history with the RE Thunderbird, the natural progression would have been to buy an RE Meteor 350, but at first, I didn’t like the Meteor 350 I saw on Royal Enfield’s website (I found it too modern, especially the allow wheels and the powered coated engine) and I found the Super Meteor 650 too busy, so initially decided to buy the Classic 350.

However, when I went to the showroom, I saw the new Aurora Blue variant of the Meteor 350 and fell in love immediately and decided to buy that one.

Anyways, these are my views after 10 days/200km, specifically, comparing it to my previous motorcycles.

The Good

1. The engine is so refined, I can hardly believe it is a Royal Enfield engine. There’re hardly any vibrations and absolutely no clanking. I am so glad they removed the pushrods and replaced them with a chain and overhead cam system. Even with a reduced stroke, the bike pulls quite well at low RPMs.
2. There’s still the trademark thumping. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the exhaust actually sounds good/better than the completely muted Thunderbird Twinspark. The exhaust-to-engine noise ratio is vastly improved. When cruising at constant speed, you can hardly hear the engine, only the soft, bass-rich exhaust.
3. I really like the dual-tone design, the chrome parts and the overall retro look compared to the regular Meteor 350. I love the spoke wheels, although that does mean giving up on having tubeless tyres.
4. The new rider seat is quite comfortable with a subtle but useful back-rest.
5. The LED headlamp is quite nice and illuminating at night.
6. The Tripper is useful, but a bit limited. I will dedicate a separate section for the Tripper.
7. Overall switchgear feels refined and comfortable to use.
8. The USB port for charging is very useful.
9. I didn’t like how the windshield looks, but I found it immensely helpful at moderate-high speeds. Allows me to keep my helmet visor open.

The Neutral

1. I am not entirely sure I prefer the new digital cluster as compared to analog dials. I don’t really like or hate it.
2. I don’t care for the ECO indicator or the gear indicator.
3. Because of the refinement, the engine feels the same every time I ride, which is different from the carburettor Thunderbirds I was used to, which felt different based on temperature, humidity etc.
4. This is my first motorcycle with a rear disc brake. The Dual-channel ABS is nice to have. The brakes do feel a bit mushy compared to what I am used to, though.

The Bad

1. I really-really miss the tachometer. I won’t forgive Royal Enfield for removing it.
2. They removed the kick starter to simplify the engine design. This means if the battery dies, you are screwed.
3. The engine does get hot during start-stop traffic in the city and could have benefitted from liquid cooling. However, unlike the carburettor motorcycles, it does not cause the Idle RPM to runaway or cause knocking during acceleration, thanks to the ECU.
4. The fuel level indication is wonky.

The Tripper

The Tripper is a pseudo-navigation system developed by Royal Enfield. Here are my thoughts on it:

1. The tripper connects to the Royal Enfield app on your phone and receives instructions from your phone, hence is dependant on it. However, unlike doing navigation directly on the phone, using the tripper uses much less battery on the phone itself (I measured 6-7% drain per hour on my phone, all inclusive).
2. It uses Google maps data, so navigation is quite accurate. Supports live re-routing and previewing multiple routes before starting the trip. Has the regular Google Maps options to exclude things like tolls, ferries, highways etc.
3. At first, I struggled to understand tripper’s instructions and found myself stopping and reaching for my phone. However, once you make an effort to understand the symbols, it feels quite useful. I am now forcing myself not to look at my phone.
4. This has also increased my directional awareness of and I find myself paying more attention to the road and signs instead of my phone.

Technical comparison with Previous Motorcycles

Here’s a comparison of specifications of different motorcycles I have had over the years (All single cylinder):

Specification	RE Thunderbird	RE Thunderbird TS	Stallions CT400	RE Meteor 350
Displacement	346cc	346cc	397cc	349cc
BorexStroke	70x90mm	70x90mm	85x70mm	75×85.8mm
Max Power	18bhp 5500rpm	19.8bhp 5250rpm	29bhp 7000rpm	20.2bhp 6100rpm
Max Torque	26.97Nm 3500rpm	28Nm 4000rpm	30Nm 5500rpm	27Nm 4000rpm
Compression Ratio	8.5:1	8.5:1	8.8:1	9.5:1
Engine Name	AVL	UCE	—	J series
Wheelbase	1370mm	1370mm	1410mm	1400mm
Kerb Weight	175kg	175kg	160kg	191kg
Fuel Tank	14.3l	14.3l	13l	15l
Fuel injection	Carburettor	Carburettor	EFI	EFI
Valve Operation	Pushrods	Self-adjusting Pushrods	DOHC	SOHC

Looking forward to many long rides!