Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum
Royal Enfield Motorcycles => 350 J Platform => Topic started by: Bilgemaster on September 12, 2021, 05:47:15 pm
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Well, I saw my first Meteor "in the wild" at today's Bikes & Breakfast shindig in Clifton, Virginia (see: https://www.bikesandbreakfast.com). It seems far "beefier" and more substantial than I'd have thought for a 350. It was brought down by the good folks at Royal Enfield of Dulles, who also do free raffles there in Clifton most 2nd Sundays of the month. My buddy Chris, the infamous quadruped warlord Judge's sidecar driver (see this thread: https://forum.classicmotorworks.com/index.php?topic=29909.msg351323#msg351323), won a $100 gift certificate! They gave out about $500 worth. They better have dog treats on their shelves, or there'll be big trouble.
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Well, I saw my first Meteor "in the wild" at today's Bikes & Breakfast shindig in Clifton, Virginia It seems far "beefier" and more substantial than I'd have thought for a 350.
Exactly my thought upon first seeing one in the flesh. A pretty big "little" motorcycle. I feel somewhat elevated in stature amongst the scooters and other small displacement machines when I'm oot and aboot on my Meteor. It IS a 421 pound bike, not far off the weight of the 650 models, so that says something.
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To be honest I think the weight enhances the smooth handling. Who needs big HP when you've got plenty of useable torque and outstanding fuel economy.
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To be honest I think the weight enhances the smooth handling. Who needs big HP when you've got plenty of useable torque and outstanding fuel economy.
Agreed! It is a smooth and stable runner! I'm opening her up more, now that I am past the 300 mile break in point and it does impress me with the torque and swift acceleration available from that single cylinder! Haven't pinned it yet, but I fully expect it to hit that claimed 70 mph fairly easily, since I already saw 60 mph with little effort.
I haven't done an exact fuel mileage test as yet, but it appears to be about 100 miles to the gallon, a bit more than twice what I get from my V4 Honda ST.
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While it goes to 60 fairly easily, the power drops off a cliff at 65….absolutely nothing left at 70 mph. Zero chance of getting a speeding ticket on these :D
The size is excellent…..looks and feels like a real bike. I was expecting something small and waited to see one in person before I bought one.
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I wasn't around to hear it running, but I gotta say I was still pretty impressed. There's nothing at all that shouts "cheapo starter bike" about it. In fact, at first I'd thought it might be some new flavor of the 650, until I noticed just the single downpipe and looked closer.
Honestly, nursing along an old Iron Barrel 500 these past few years in the 50s or very occasional 60s, an honest sustained 70 mph for that occasional forced highway use (I usually avoid the bigger ones if I can) from a 350 sounds pretty good to me. Yeah, I could happily tour on one of those Meteors.
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It is a nice bike and you would definitely enjoy it. However this will not deliver a honest, sustained 70 mph. Modest headwinds or mild uphills quickly drop you down to 60-65 even with WOT.
Even our rural county roads are 60 mph now, and no lack of yahoos riding your tail at those speeds.
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While it goes to 60 fairly easily, the power drops off a cliff at 65….absolutely nothing left at 70 mph. Zero chance of getting a speeding ticket on these
I can show you $400 worth of speeding tickets I got while going 40 to 45 mph.
Speed cameras next to parks, Chicago, ..... the money is for the children they say.