#royalenfield Archives - BikeBrewers.com

Royal Enfield’s Super Meteor: a cruiser bike honoring its heritage

Jaco Zijlstra — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 17:05:12 +0000

Back home in Amsterdam, we just had the first ride of the year cut short due to rain, really cold rain that is…

So, when I got invited to test the new Royal Enfield (RE) Super Meteor in the South of France, ‘yes please’ was the only possible answer!

Our hosts Motomondo and Sima had prepared a bunch of brand-new bikes for us to ride in Marseille, most of them with 10km or less on the clocks. So careful with the tyres on the first kilometers! Especially as we had some rain in the early morning, fortunately the only rain we’ve seen that day….

The RE Super Meteor is a retro cruiser – with all the cruiser characteristics you might expect – low seat, hourglass shape seen from above, large tank, forward controls, high and wide handlebars. You sit upright with your arms and legs stretched forward. Not really familiar for a sportsbike rider like myself, but I have to admit, it’s comfortable and allows you to keep riding all day long!

The 648cc engine – the same basically as the engine on the Interceptor INT 650 or the Continental GT 650 bikes – is a 4 stroke, Air-Oil Cooled Parallel twin. A so-called ‘mid-segment’ bike, not as big – or intimidating if you prefer :-) – as your typical Harley or Indian cruiser. But plenty of ‘oomph’: 47 horsepower, accelerates quite quickly, lots of torque with 80% of the power delivered below 3.000rpm, and a very steady and comfortable ride at highway speeds.

As mentioned above, I’m a sportsbike rider, so especially cornering had a bit of a learning curve for me. Having the peg feelers scrape the asphalt in nearly every turn – most of them are 180 degrees on the fabulous ‘Route des Crêtes’ – was a bit scary at first. But you learn to lean less and not to worry too much about the scraping.

And then you’re set – this is a bike that is very easy to ride. Smooth throttle, effortless shifting, good acceleration, more than adequate braking by the single disc brakes front and back. There even is ABS on board. Plus USD forks with a 120mm stroke, an RE first. The bike has a low center of gravity, feels quite stable on the straights and is easy to steer into the corners. This can be attributed to the 16” rear wheel and the 19” front wheel in true cruiser style, but, according to RE, is certainly also courtesy of the new frame and swingarm which have been developed in conjunction with Harris Performance in the UK.

When you first sit on the Super Meteor, it feels higher than you’d expect standing next to it. But that height works – for me, I’m of average height at 1m75, but also for the more ‘vertically challenged’ colleagues on the ride, and even for those exceptionally tall Dutch guys that were riding with us.

Moving to the looks then: the Super Meteor is unmistakably a cruiser with its narrow waist and big teardrop-shaped tank. It also reflects the RE heritage quite well, for example by its chrome tank badges with historic RE logo.

The Super Meteor 650 is available in five colors: black, blue, dark green, grey and dark red. There is a minor price difference between the single color painted ‘Astral’ models and the two-tone ‘Interstellar’ models.

However, what really struck me is that for €300 more, you get the Super Meteor 650 Tourer, which comes with a nice luxury one-piece touring seat with embroidered logo, windscreen, and a pillion backrest. That seat does not only look great, but is a bit softer and more comfortable as well. So even if you’re not into backrests or windscreens, I would still go for the Tourer model and just store the windscreen and backrest.

All in all, the RE Super Meteor was a blast to ride on the curvy roads of the Route des Crêtes. The only minor setback were the tyres, which were no match for the brakes and lacked some grip at an angle. So I would shell out for a pair of more grippy touring tyres pretty quickly I guess.

The RE Super Meteor is a very reasonably priced mid-segment bike with an engine that has proven its worth, and featuring high-end components such as ABS, upside-down front suspension, and LED lighting. Plus TBT (Turn By Turn) navigation, linking to your smartphone. We did not get to test this however, as we were just trying to keep up with Joel, RE’s Marseille dealer, who clearly knows these roads very well…

So who’s this bike for? Well, obviously you have to dig the cruiser style, but RE had some specific target groups in mind when they built this bike:

female riders, looking for a classic style and easy-to-ride bike
returning riders, looking for a classic-looking, dependable weekend toy
Royal Enfield afficionados who want an upgrade or more modern bike
first time buyers looking for a lot of value for money, a brand with history and an un-intimidating riding experience…

Prices vary in Europe due to different taxes for new motorbikes (still…), but range from €7.200 for the single-color Astral model, €7.400 for the two-tone Interstellar and €7.700 for the Tourer in Italy, to €9.499 for the Astral, €9.799 for the Interstellar and €9.999 for the Tourer in the Netherlands.

So go and try one out at your local RE dealer if you’re interested…

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Is Royal Enfield going to score a hattrick? First ride with the HNTR350

Ron Betist — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 04:53:49 +0000

The new Royal Enfield HNTR350, aiming to win over a younger audience

With this model, Royal Enfield tries to make motorcycling and commuting by motorcycle accessible and attractive to a younger audience. Think new riders, students, young working professionals, perhaps even as a second, lighter motorcycle. The lines remind of us of the British heritage. It would not look out of place in a line-up with the moderns classics like Triumph.

Riding experience

The little thumper produces 27Nm of torque and 22 BHP of power that are predominantly experienced through the mid-range of revolutions. It is third in line after the very successful Classic and Meteor model (check out our First Ride Review and this Starship custom). It is based on same the 350cc J engine. This single cylinder bike has an entirely different geometry and thus creates a very different riding experience. The reduced rake (25°) and trail (94mm) combined with the 1370mm wheel base make the bike feel light and agile, perfect for city riding. The motorcycles we rode were brand new. Pushing them to their limits, testing peak power at 6100rpm, would have been disrespectful to the technology and torturing the machines. We will save that for another ride… ;)

It easily climbs through the revs and the black dial speedo with white numbers clearly displays increasing velocities. 60km/h to 100km/h in fourth gear is a comfortable acceleration without discomforting vibrations. These do show up at 80km/h in fifth gear, so do not short shift it!

That said, the engine is very forgiving in second and third due to the heavy flywheel. This makes it very suitable for city riding. Unpredictable and abrupt city traffic stops are the responsibility of the 300mm single front and 270mm rear brake rotor. Combined with the dual channel ABS, these do the job.

Room for improvement

Room for improvement can be found in the suspension and in the exhaust. The cobblestone pavement in the historical centre of Dijon and surrounding villages, and the French country lanes did put the suspension to the test. Observations: the linear rear shocks are rather hard, the front suspension is rather soft, a little unbalanced. Though, rear suspension upgrades can be performed rather easily at home. As to the exhaust, for city riding it is, to our taste, too loud and not a pleasant, well-rounded thump one would expect from a little thumper. Plus, I experienced that with a very average EU size 42 I found the heel of my boot touching the exhaust more often than not. A small nuisance, yet I image it to be worse for people with larger feet. Taken both into account, if I would own one of these, I would swap the exhaust for an aftermarket (slip-on) exhaust as soon as they would become available.

Make it your own!

Besides the exhaust and suspension, other work on the bike to do at home would be personalisation of your HNTR. And this is where it becomes even more exciting. We try to provide a platform to inspire motorcycle owners to personalise and customise their motorcycles. Therefore, we are happy to see that RE offers a plethora of accessories. These range from mirrors and indicators to engine guards and tail tidies that are easily bolted on and maintain the warranty. Especially the tail tidy with the ribbed seat will make it look very elegant in our eyes! There are two themes available from the dealers, urban and suburban, that include a selection of the accessories.

The suburban comes with black crash guards, a (although somewhat flimsy) pannier plus rack, touring mirrors, a pillion back rest.

The urban caters more to the (undoubtedly inspired by café racers) roadster image, a fly screen, a level seat, LED indicators, engine guards, and bar end mirrors.

What plays a large role in the outstanding looks of the HNTR350 is the paintjob. It is available in 6 colours, divided into a single colour and two-tone series, called ‘dapper’ and ‘rebel’, respectively. The former includes white, ash, and grey, the latter blue/white, black/white, and red/black. Personally I tip my hat to RE for not making the same mistakes as many other motorcycle (gear) producers when aiming to engage women riders. They offer predominantly white/pink and black/pink colour schemes. These nicely painted petrol tanks hold 13 litres of fuel, good for a couple hundred kilometres with reported consumption of 2.63 L/100km.

In all, I had a great time riding this very fun motorcycle! It is excellent for its intended purpose, so it might just be that the hattrick is not too far off. Of course, we all look forward to seeing what you do with these cool little rippers when it comes to customisation!

(Photos by Florian Meuret and Rodolphe Herpet)

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FIRST RIDE: 2021 Royal Enfield Meteor 350

Ron Betist — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 17:48:18 +0000

The Meteor has landed
The warning had been out there for quite some time, but while everyone was looking towards the sky, a swarm of Meteors came to us from the East.
Without causing damage, they landed in the middle of cities, bearing colourful names such as ‘Fireball Yellow’, ‘Stellar Black’ or ‘Supernova Blue’. Interestingly enough it is the urban environment where the Meteors fit like a glove.

Based on a heritage from decades ago, the newly designed 350cc platform inherits the name from an iconic Royal Enfield motor in the early 1950’s. Launched at the end of 1952 the Royal Enfield Meteor was a magnificent touring motorcycle with a reputation that stood the test of time.
In those days the segment for touring bikes was not yet dominated by those bulky 1000CC+ engines like the ones we seem to need today. Let’s be honest, life was easier and quite a bit slower in those days.

British heritage
The Indian manufacturer has a strong British heritage, and portrays the Meteor 350 as an “easy cruiser which carries Royal Enfield’s signature styling, but with many firsts and is set to be an equally outstanding machine for our times.”
We could not agree more. The BikeBrewers test team had the pleasure of riding this little thumpers for a full day in both urban circumstances and on lovely twisty country roads.
The weather was spectacular and the smiles on our faces could not be wiped away no matter how hard you would try to polish them off.
The Royal Enfield technicians have managed to produce a single 350cc engine which will run without hardly any vibrations whatsoever. They have done a truly remarkable job at balancing the crankshaft.

New engine
At the heart of the Meteor is a ‘J series’ air-cooled 349cc SOHC engine. It has a characteristic long stroke, producing smooth tractable power (20 BHP) and a bottom-end torque of 27Nm. Now this may not sound very impressive when we are surrounded by torque packed machines which launch you from one traffic light to another, but that’s not what this bike is about.
The Meteor is about finding yourself enjoying the ride and the world around you. No need for speed, no adrenaline rush, just pure riding fun like they used to have seventy years ago.

It’s the perfect bike for some laid back cruising. It hums like a sewing machine and handles smoothly. The fuel consumption is amazingly low at a whopping 100mpg or 40 km/l! The maximum speed of around 120 km/h is manageable.
With an enhanced chassis setup, sporting a new double-cradle frame, accessible riding position (this was much appreciated by our lady rider!), advanced braking ability, high specification suspension and responsive power delivery, the Meteor is potent enough to provide you with a smooth ride around town or on a winding country road. It is fast enough to feel secure on the highway too, but when you are on a bike like this you are likely to take the ‘long way home’ on any given day of the week.

It is a truly agile machine with very light handling and no compromises on rider comfort. Royal Enfield produced a machine that is expected to be massively popular in Asia, where small displacement motorcycles are far more popular than in Western countries. But also in new markets such as Argentina, Colombia and Brazil.

New fans
Still, we are convinced that this new 350cc platform will attract a whole new crowd of fans in European countries too. From young professionals who need to zoom around town from one meeting to another, to young riders who are looking for a carefree bike to take out on weekend trips, exactly as can be seen in the tasty sepia coloured video on the manufacturer’s YouTube channel.

[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/SKK2Xwhwf2c” width=”800″ title=”Royal Enfield Meteor 350″]

To get you from A to B efficiently, Royal Enfield have added the new Tripper Navigation system to the Meteor also. Quite a treat to have a machine in a price range which is just below the € 5K mark which comes with this feature in its standard package!

It is a system powered by Google Maps and the Royal Enfield designed App. It faultlessly connects any smartphone with the motorcycle through Bluetooth. It then becomes a sophisticated navigation solution, rich in features and specially developed for motorcyclists that indicates directions through an intuitive display system.
Increasing the fun is a USB charging port to make sure your phone can continue to direct the Tripper system until you reach your destination. We had ample time to test this device and we love its simplicity. It does exactly what you want it to do, without unnecessary frills or other complicated stuff that are initially invented to make life easier, but in fact fail to do so in real-life.

Final verdict
Little discussion was required to reach consensus. This is a funky little bike that will definitely attract a whole new audience in Europe too.
Looking at the success Royal Enfield have had over the last couple of years with their new 650cc models, we are pretty sure that the Meteor will follow in those footsteps without missing a single (cylinder) beat.

Photography by @itsmenubbs and @pienmeppelink

#royalenfield #royalenfieldclassic #royalenfieldmeteor #puremotorcycling #ridepure #motoshare #bikebrewers #saintunbreakable #rarebirdlondon #stylmartin #belstaffmotorcycle

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