Royal Enfield has created Hunter 350 mainly aiming at the younger audience and it shows in the design. We can see the neatly laid out motorcycle with smaller proportions than what we usually associate with the Royal Enfield brand. It also gets eye-catching colour schemes and modern stylish graphics. Even though it is targeted at a younger audience, it is a modern retro through and through.
Pricing starts from Rs. 1.5 lakh for Retro variant, Rs 1.64 lakh for the Metro variant Dapper Series and goes all the way till Rs. 1.69 lakh for Metro Rebel variants (prices ex-sh, Chennai). With varied feature differences between Retro and Metro, Royal Enfield has created two distinct motorcycles set to appeal to different audiences as uncovered from the launch event led by CEO Siddhartha Lal. Let’s break it down.
Where TVS Ronin has mixed personalities, Hunter 350 is being positioned as an Urban Cruiser. As it gets blacked-out engine bay and along with fork gaiters and visor, one can easily transform Hunter 350 into a scrambler with block pattern tyres too.
Hunter Retro gets spoked wheels, 300 mm disc brake at front and drum at rear, single-channel ABS, switch gear and instrument cluster from Classic 350, halogen tail lamp and oval-shaped turn signals. 17” Spoked wheels on Retro are shod with 100/80 rubber at front and 120/80 at its rear.
Retro trim doesn’t get a main stand and weighs only 177 kg. Lower-spec Retro trim is offered with only two colour options, Factory Black and Factory Silver. But Royal Enfield has offered a slew of accessories covered below, to spruce things up considerably.
While Retro trims appeal to purists, Metro is certainly shooting for the youth and enthusiasts. Metro trim also has a lot more to offer than Retro in terms of features, colours and also cool factors. The large Royal and Enfield branding on either side of fuel may split opinions, but the company has options too.
Hunter 350 Metro trims get alloy wheels finished in black, 300 mm disc brake at front and 270 mm disc at the rear, dual-channel ABS, LED taillights, and round turn indicators. Switchgear and instrument cluster are from the more modern Meteor 350 which also gets an option to opt for the tripper screen that enables Bluetooth and smartphone connectivity with notifications, navigation, and more.
Tyres get an upgrade over Retro trim as Metro trims are shod with 110/70 rubber at front and 140/70 rubber at the rear. Dapper White and Dapper Ash are the colours to choose from. However, Dapper Grey can only be available via RE’s MIY personalization platform. Metro Rebel versions get Rebel Black, Rebel Blue and Rebel Red (via MIY). Due to extra features, hardware and main stand, Metro weighs 181 kg.
Hunter 350 is based on Royal Enfield’s modern J-series platform. Hence, gets the same 349 cc single-cylinder engine as found on Meteor 350. This is a massive departure from Royal Enfield’s spine-shattering engines of yesteryear with a lot of vibrations. It makes 20.2 bhp at 6,100 RPM and 27 Nm at 4,000 RPM and is mated to a 5-speed gearbox with 114 km/h top speed and 36.2 km/l fuel efficiency. It gets a decent 150 mm of ground clearance and 800 mm of seat height.
Royal Enfield has also offered a slew of accessories under two distinct themes, Urban and Suburban. Urban theme accessories include a blacked-out engine guard, ribbed seat, sump guard, tail tidy, fly screen, black LED indicators and bar-end mirrors. Suburban accessories include a different engine guard, seat, silver sump guard, pillion backrest, stylized conventional mirrors and a pannier with a waterproof inner bag. These accessories can be bought separately too. Apart from these, Royal Enfield also sells billet aluminum fuel filler caps in black or silver and covers too.
This post was last modified on August 7, 2022 5:53 pm