Royal Enfield meteor 350 and Honda Highness CB 350 two unique surprise launchers back to back, and suddenly they have garnered all the attention in our two-wheeler market. The meteor 350 and the CB 350 highness are the most anticipated motorcycles currently in the Indian market. Both the bikes are awesome in their own special way, and both bikes are different in their own unique ways, both the bikes have different types of riding styles and different types of riding preferences.
Design
The Royal Enfield meteor 350 is primarily a low-slung cruiser, that appears longer, wider, and bigger when compared to the Highness CB 350, but a surprising fact is that the Honda Highness 350 has a longer wheelbase of 1441mm when compared to 1400mm of the Royal Enfield meteor. However, the low seat height of 765mm compared to 800mm of the CB 350, makes RE meteor 350 looks like a proper low-slung cruiser or a chopper, with a super fat 140 section rear tire as opposed to the 130 section rear tire on the highness. In terms of lighting the Honda, Highness has led lights all around including led turn blinkers, which are always on along with the headlamp, Meteor 350 on the other hand gets led ring light on the headlamp as well as on the tail lamp, but the actual lighting is all halogens. The tank panels get different designs for these two bikes, RE meteor 350 gets the signature style teardrop-shaped tank, whereas the CB 350 gets a more muscular roadster kind of a tank. Both the bikes get chrome exhausts which look nice and premium, and both the bikes get premium-quality seats with double stitching, but the meteor 350 has a better quality seat and better room for the rider as well as the pillion, the CB 350 Highness's seat is a little too soft, so it might end up giving you fatigue after long rides. Riding ergonomics are slightly different for both these bikes, the Honda Highness has an upright seating posture, whereas the meteor gets a relaxed laid back comfortable riding posture with forwarding set right of footpegs, so highway cruising is more comfortable on the meteor, but city commutes and city manoeuvrability is easier on the CB 350. Honda CB 350 offers rock-solid high-speed stability, but the meteor feels slightly more confidence-inspiring. The build quality and fit and finish are top-notch on both the bikes, no cheap quality material can be noticed anywhere on both the bikes. Speedo consoles are all new as well; both bikes get part digital part analogue consoles. The meteor 350 has a dedicated display for navigation, whereas the CB 350 hiness has only audio support for navigation with Bluetooth connectivity. Neither of them has a tachometer, but both have other relevant info like gear position indicator, range average fuel economy, etc. The switchgear is good for both and both have an engine kill switch, with a high beam flasher, and both of them get a hazard light switch which really comes in handy while touring.
Power and Features
Honda Highness CB 350 comes powered by a 348cc single-cylinder air-cooled fuel-injected bs6 compliant engine, that puts out 21ps of max power and 30-newton meters of max torque. Royal Enfield meteor on the other hand-powered by a 349cc single-cylinder oil-cooled fuel-injected ba6 compliant engine, that puts out nearly 20ps of max power and 27-newton meters of max torque. Both the bikes also have a 5-speed gearbox, and they have taller gear ratios, but the gear ratios on the CB are taller compared to that of the meteor. RE meteor 350 offers better bottom and torque, and superb mid-range surge compared to the CB 350. Although Honda Highness 350 does not feel sluggish, the meteor 350 offers a more engaging riding experience and also is more responsive. In terms of refinement, both are almost on the same page. Top speed the Royal Enfield meteor 350 tops out at 120 kilometres per hour, whereas the Honda Highness CB 350 pulls up to 130 kilometres per hour, but these machines are not at all about the top speed they are basically about offering good bottom and torque with a good mid-range pull, and the meteor just inches past the highness in this case, because of a punchier state of tune of its engine.
Ride comfort
Both the bikes have 41mm telescopic forks upfront, so the ride quality is plush, and the shock absorbers soak up the bumps effortlessly to give you a comfortable ride. The rear shocks are equally good on both bikes, they support the chassis really well even while doing triple-digit speeds to offer rock-solid stability. The cb350 does have a slipper clutch, so the clutch feel is ultra-light now comparatively, the RE meteor's clutch is not as light but it is not too bothersome Neither slipper clutch adds as a safety feature allowing you to do faster downshifts without running the risk of the rear wheel locking or hopping the meteor however misses out on the slipper clutch. Royal Enfield meteor 350 gets a 15-litre fuel tank and it gives you mileage near 30kmpl to 35klpm, Honda hiness 350 other hand also gets a 15liter fuel tank and gives you 30-35kmpl mileage, so in trams of fuel economy, both the bike are same. Both bikes get fuel injection so the fueling is precise without any snatchy throttle response, the Highness CB 350 also gets a dual throttle cable set up to offer a more consistent and clean throttle response all along. Honda highness has a 310mm disc upfront, whereas the meteor has a 30 mm disc upfront at the back the meteor 350 has a larger 270mm disc compared to the 240mm disc on the Honda Highness. Both the bikes have dual channel abs as standard. The Honda Highness has traction control as an extra safety feature that prevents excess wheel spin under hard acceleration scenarios, meteor 350 however doesn't get traction control so we can say that the braking is better on the Highness 350 comparatively. Both the bikes offer a well-equipped speedo console with all the relevant info. both the bikes offer smartphone connectivity, and both do offer navigation support, but the meteor takes the lead here by offering a dedicated display for navigation the Honda CB 350 loses out here because navigation is only available via the Sena Bluetooth headset, which you have to purchase separately. talking about tires both the bikes get tubeless tires, but meteor has better quality seat tires with a super fat 140 section rear tire, as opposed to the MRF zappers on the highness. The seat height as mentioned before is lower on the meteor 350 because of its cruiser styling, the seat height on the Honda highness is 800 mm which is also kind of ideal for riders of all sizes. ground clearance is ample enough for both bikes.
Price
Pricing both the bikes are closely priced, the Royal Enfield meteor starts from 1.75 lakhs and goes up to 1.9 lakhs, whereas the Honda hiness 350 starts at 1.85 lakhs and goes up to 1.9 lakhs.
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