[Auto] 2021 Royal Enfield Classic 350 first ride, review

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HIGHLIGHTS

The new Classic 350 comes with a new chassis and engine from the Royal Enfield Meteor.

It now gets more features and a new instrument panel with a fuel gauge and Tripper navigation.

The new Classic 350 will take on the Jawa, Benelli Imperiale 400 and the Honda H’ness CB350.

Back in the early 2000s, Royal Enfield was in desperate need of a savior. That savior came in form of the Classic 350 and Classic 500. The bikes transformed the perception people had regarding the brand. It has been long since that revolution took place, and now it was time to give the Classic range a new lease of life. Enter the brand new Royal Enfield Classic 350.

2021 Royal Enfield Classic 350: Technical changes explained

It is a strange predicament for a company which gets slack if it changes or makes their bikes a bit too modern. So the task at hand was to change everything and yet change nothing. At first glance one might be hard-pressed to spot the differences. But look closely, and you will spot the brand-new twin down tube frame which has come from the Royal Enfield Meteor. As far as dimensions go, the wheelbase remains identical at 1,390mm, but the overall length has gone up by a few millimeters. What is substantially better is the ground clearance which now stands at 170mm. The front suspension now sports 41mm forks and the rear shock absorbers offer a little more travel at 90mm. Moving on to other changes, we can tell you that the new Classic 350 comes with larger disc brakes. While the front disc is now a 300mm unit, the rear disc is a 270mm unit. Dual channel ABS also comes as a part of the package. The tyres are larger both up front and at the back. While the front tyre is now a 100/90 19in, the rear tyre is a 110/90 18in unit. Tubeless tyres will be offered with the alloy wheel variants.

2021 Royal Enfield Classic 350: The new engine

Moving on to the other major change and this comes in form of the engine. The old UCE 346cc lump has been replaced with the 349cc single which we have seen on the Meteor 350. The motor is tuned to offer 20.2bhp and 27Nm of torque. Number crunchers out there by now have spotted that the torque on offer has gone down by 1Nm and power has gone up by 1.1bhp. The gearbox though remains to be a 5-speed unit.