Naveen Soni 
BANGKOK: The rising motorcycling culture has made the premium segment quite interesting. We are witnessing some very compelling new bikes come to life, and it becomes even more exciting when a manufacturer does something very different from its usual products. A bit like that happened recently when we reached Thailand to ride a new Royal Enfield motorcycle, named Hunter 350.
We were told that it’s quite a different product from other Royal Enfield motorcycles, and we can confirm that it looks somewhat different as well. You might find that round headlamp and instrument cluster rather familiar, but the overall shape and neo-retro styling make it stand apart in a crowd. The most noticeable changes when compared to the signature Royal Enfield designs are its short stubby exhaust and smaller 17-inch alloy wheels.
It looks similar in approach and execution to the Triumph Bonneville Street Twin — just with a single-cylinder engine. While you get a host of accessory options to give the Hunter a personalised look, we liked its simple design approach. And that also makes it appear inviting for new riders.
Adding to the myriad differentiating factors is the accessibility of the Hunter compared to any other Royal Enfield currently in production. At 177 kg, the Hunter weighs about 15 kilograms less than a standard Classic 350 — and that has been achieved by replacing some metal components, like the side panels and fenders, with plastic ones. What will make it even more accessible to people is its 790-millimeter seat height, which is adequate for even shorter riders.
The contoured seat is plush and comfortable, and you sit quite upright on the motorcycle. Strangely though, and opposing the seating geometry that’s definitely aimed at the relaxed side of things, dynamically, the Hunter is rather sporty — of course that is when comparing against other Royal Enfields.
The Hunter 350 gets a double-cradle frame which increases the rigidity to a significant level. The suspension is on the firmer side, especially at the front — which helps in smooth cornering. And the 17-inch wheels, too, aid handling.
But all the goodness of agility comes at a cost. You make a compromise on the ride quality. Perhaps Royal Enfield forgot that the Hunter 350 is not a sports bike and that it will be used mostly for daily office rides or weekend getaways. With the current setup, it transmits most of the road undulation directly to the rider. And we are saying that after riding the motorcycle on comparatively smoother roads in Bangkok. The truest test of the suspension will be when we subject the motorcycle to pimpled Indian roads.
The low-speed damping is still fine, and the rear can also be adjusted for preload. But still, the high-speed compression and rebound need to be worked on. In layman’s way, a bit softer suspension set-up would have been appreciated for this one. After all, it is a Royal Enfield, and people would like to take it on long journeys — that’s why more flexibility from the suspension would work wonders!
Now coming to the highlight of the Royal Enfield Hunter 350 – the new J series 350cc engine, which we also experienced in the Meteor and new Classic 350.
The single-cylinder, air-cooled unit gains an oil cooler and delivers a little over 20 bhp and 27 Nm of torque. Now, these numbers might not be extraordinary, but the peak torque comes quite early, and this engine offers a strong pull in the low and mid-range. And that makes the Hunter effortless in the initial pickup and very decent in the average speed overtakes.
The engine is married to a five-speed gearbox, and it perfectly suits the nature of the new engine. Gearing is tall and shifts are slick. While the short exhaust has a sporty appearance, it maintains that signature thump of Royal Enfield. And it’s the kind of sound that people prefer in retro-style motorcycles.
The engine starts feeling a little buzzy as you throttle it to around 80 km/h, but it’s a concern only when you cross three digits on the speedo.
The basic Royal Enfield Hunter 350 comes with a single-channel ABS, assisting the front end. But we rode the premium trim with a dual-channel ABS setup. It offered decent stopping power as well as progression — it is noticeably better than other 350cc and 500cc Royal Enfields.
The instrument cluster has been borrowed from the Meteor 350, which features an old-school analogue speedometer. But below that, you get an MID screen that offers information with a click of a button on the handlebar. There is a small TFT screen as well on the right for an app-based turn-by-turn navigation system. That comes as an optional extra, though.
The Hunter 350 is actually a very different Royal Enfield experience. It’s lighter, much more agile than anything else from the brand, and has an inviting, simple design. We quite liked this motorcycle, but what left us stunned was the price. At 150 thousand rupees in India, it’s a very appealing and accessible price tag. It undercuts most of its competition, such as the Honda CB350 and Jawa 42, by a very high margin. Not just that, it may also eat into the sales of some lower-capacity bikes like the Apache RTR 200 4V and Bajaj Pulsar N250.
The only deal breaker could be the firm suspension of the motorcycle. Otherwise, the Hunter 350 is a well-rounded package with very attractive pricing for those who want to enter the premium motorcycle segment in retro style.
