Royal Enfield Hunter 350 Dapper White shade gets a glossy finish with a unique ‘Ride’ sticker on the tank recesses
The technical specs of the upcoming Royal Enfield Hunter 350 have been revealed ahead of launch and the Dapper White shade has been leaked in full. The spec sheet tells that the bike has a top speed of 114 km/hr with wet weight of 181 kg.
So, the Hunter is the lightest Royal Enfield ever made in the recent times. But, the listed top speed is quite confusing. It’s too low for its class, even lesser than the TVS Ronin and Bajaj Avenger 220 Cruise, its prime competitors.
The engine is the same J series unit but there are slight variations in the gear ratios. Though the ratios seem taller than the Classic and Meteor, maybe, the company might have fiddled with the primary and final drive ratios to reduce the top speed and increase the grunt throughout.
Royal Enfield said it has been developing the Hunter 350 ever since 2016, that’s nearly 6 years now. The focus was on refining and tuning to the chassis to make it as agile as possible. When launched, the Hunter is likely to be 1 of the best handling Royal Enfields.
In the Dapper White shade pictured here, the bike gets unique ‘Ride’ sticker on the tank recesses while the finish is glossy and premium. The offset cluster and switch gear are same of that of the Meteor 350.
As said earlier, the bike will come in 2 variants named Retro and Metro and, interestingly, the Metro has a sub-variant called Metro Rebel which is nothing but the dual-tone shade.
All the variants of the Hunter will get twin downtube spine frame with a similar suspension setup as the Meteor 350, 800 mm seat height, 150 mm ground clearance, and 13-litre fuel tank.
The Retro is the base variant. As said earlier, it gets spoke wheels, single-channel ABS, 100/80-17 front and 120/80-17 rear tyres, 300 mm front disc and 152 mm rear drum brakes, halogen tail light, oval shaped indicators, a simple cluster, and a simple rear grab bar.
The Metro, on the other hand, gets alloy wheels, dual-channel ABS, 110/70-17 front and 140/70-17 rear tyres, 300 mm front disc and 270 mm rear disc brakes, LED tail light, round-shaped indicators, and Meteor-like cluster and rear grab bar.
As far as colours go, the Retro will come with Factory Black and Factory Silver shades while the Metro will be adorned with Dapper White, Dapper Ash, and Dapper Grey colours. The Grey further can be customised using MIY configurator.
The Metro Rebel comes with Rebel Black, Rebel Blue, and Rebel Red shades. The Rebel Red can be further customised using MIY configurator.
The Metro gets U-shaped alloy wheels with Ceat Zoom XL rear tyre and the Retro features spoke wheels with Ceat Zoom X3 rear tyre.
Another major difference between the 2 is in the seat. The Metro gets a ribbed pattern on the seat which is missing on the base variant.
Other than these changes, both the variants almost look the same. The tank gets recess on both the sides for better knee support. The mudguards, side cowls, chassis, swing arm, and wheels are finished in gloss black. The engine and exhaust get a matte black finish.
It is expected to offer loads on fun thanks to the torquey 350 cc engine on a small package. The front fork rake is minimal aiding in sure-footed handling. The only downer is the mediocre set of tyres. Royal Enfield could have opted the Apollo Alpha S1 units.
When launched, the Hunter 350 will compete with the likes of the TVS Ronin, Honda CB350RS, Jawa 42, and, to a certain extent, even the Bajaj Avenger.
