Royal Enfield Meteor 350 cruiser invites you to go outlaw

Royal Enfield Meteor 350. Blacked out muffler identifies the Fireball model.

Royal Enfield's brand new Meteor 350 cruiser comes to America in mid-May. And it will start at the very attractive price of $4,399 for the dashing Fireball model.

We already know that the Meteor 350 is hugely popular in India (there's a waiting list) and writer Bill Roberson was enthusiastic, testing it in Oregon for an article in Forbes.

"The $4,399 Meteor 350 is all new from the wheels up, and it's a clever mix of high tech, retro style, and comfort," he wrote.

"...Capable urban transport with enough poke for short freeway hops, allowing passage to destinations a bit farther away on the map. Speed demon? Definitely not. Comfy cruiser? You could make that argument, but the seating position is sit-up and neutral and handling isn't cruiser-squishy by any means, adding to the sense of control. The seat is low (and wide), the bars rise a bit to meet your hands, and on my very hip matte Stellar Black version (with just the right mount of chrome bits), there's a likewise comfy passenger seat and small backrest."

Royal Enfield says the Meteor 350's engine retains the classic "thump" of its big, air-cooled singles, but has a balancer shaft to give a "smooth and well-mannered riding experience." It delivers 20 bhp through a five-speed transmission. The twin-downtube frame is all new, and sized to make the Meteor 350 "an approachable and fun motorcycle for nearly any rider."

You can be choosy about the Meteor 350 you favor. There are three marketing trims (Fireball, Stellar and Supernova) and seven color variations. Windscreens, premium seats and that passenger backrest are available. Royal Enfield's new Genuine Motorcycle Accessories division will sell you any of eight different styles of engine guard. Once you own it, you can adjust the rear shocks to any of six preload settings (five more than I personally need).

The Royal Enfield Meteor 350 represents "the spirit of the cruise."

You're already getting as standard equipment the clever Tripper turn-by-turn navigation system, anti-lock disc brakes, tubeless tires, a heel-and-toe foot shifter, analog-and-digital dashboard with gear indicator, fuel gauge, trip odometer and clock, a USB charging port for your phone, three-year warranty and roadside assistance.

A bonus feature rarely found on new motorcycles aside from Royal Enfields: a center stand. How do other people live without this safe and secure way to park a bike?

Royal Enfield North America announced the Meteor 350's arrival just in time for riding season in a launch event on Zoom Tuesday. You can watch the informative and entertaining launch event on YouTube.

It's worth taking the time. You hear from Royal Enfield rock stars Sidhartha Lal, managing director; and Mark Wells, head of product strategy and development. They are the two most convincing Royal Enfield advocates anywhere. Listen to these two describe the Meteor 350 and I guarantee you will want one.

But there's also television personality Carrie Keagan, swinging her long locks to don a helmet and then pretending to stall her Meteor 350 to demonstrate she's a (target audience) new rider. Of course, with the Meteor 350's "high inertia" long-stroke motor, that could never happen in real life.

To my eyes, the Royal Enfield Meteor 350 looks ready to rumble. You could hang fringe from the handlebars, if you want, but the naked Fireball model is already "Wild One" enough for me.

On the other hand, that comfy backrest isn't very outlaw, and that second dial on the handlebars is the Tripper navigation system, not a tachometer. Leaders of the pack presumably need to know where they're going more than how many rpm they're pulling.

It's more important how this motorcycle sounds (and YouTube videos reveal it sounds great) than the performance numbers it posts. When the question of top speed came up at the launch, Bree Poland, Royal Enfield Americas lead marketing and communications director, just smiled and replied "it cruises comfortably."

Tester Kyle Hyatt of Road/Show worries "that the Meteor may struggle to find an audience in the U.S. where cruiser buyers dream of cross-country freeway rides, something less than ideal for a 20 hp single."

Well, on the subject of more power, Royal Enfield's press release notes that the Meteor 350 "revives the iconic name given to its predecessor, which was released in the 1950s." That British-built Meteor of olde was a twin-cylinder motorcycle, and it was shortly followed, back in the day, by a "Super Meteor" packing an even bigger motor.

So, someone is going to ask, will there be a Super Meteor 650 twin some day? The answer is not in the launch event video, but never mind. Royal Enfield knows its own history. 

During his presentation Royal Enfield Americas president Krishnan Ramaswamy showed off great Royal Enfields of the 1960s and '70s, including the Interceptors of those days. (He reminded us that 2021 is the 120th anniversary of Royal Enfield motorcycles.)

And Bree Poland revealed that Royal Enfield's Milwaukee showroom is being revamped into "the Royal Enfield Experience," to display those great old motorcycles.

Mark Wells noted that even the badges on the new Meteor 350 reflect the Meteor type faces used by the British factory in the 1950s and '60s.

Mark Wells explains how historic Royal Enfield Meteor logo was modified.

All-new Royal Enfield Meteor 350 cruiser coming to U.S.

The Royal Enfield Meteor 350 is coming to America.

The brand new Royal Enfield Meteor 350 motorcycle is coming to the United States in Spring, 2021.

Royal Enfield India has long built mild cruiser-style motorcycles for its home market, but few of these made it to the U.S., and they were not officially imported here.

The new Meteor is a single-cylinder, air-oil cooled motorcycle with a naked, retro look, and a bit of the low, stretched-out cruiser seating position that Americans seem to love in other brands. There is a heel-and-toe shift lever to cement the Meteor's place in the cruiser category.

Top Meteor variant has back rest, diamond-cut cast wheels and mini windshield.

Despite its familiar appearance, it packs a bunch of new features (a navigation system!) that few motorcycles and no Royal Enfields offered in the past.

It's fuel injected, has a balancer shaft to tame vibration, a five-speed gearbox (fifth is an overdrive)  and alloy wheels with tubeless tires.

"Braking components are the strongest on a Royal Enfield single to date, with 300mm front and 270mm rear discs and dual-channel ABS," Royal Enfield brags.

The company also notes that it has "rotary power and lighting switches giving a gentle nod to the past." Royal Enfields built in Britain back in the day had these. But Royal Enfield, which began making motorcycles in 1901, went out of business in Britain in 1970 without making anything like a cruiser.

The new Meteor takes its name from a different sort of motorcycle, built in England from 1952 through 1962. That was a vertical twin, available in 500cc "Minor" and 700cc "Super" form. Needless to say, it had no navigation system.

Meteor 350 comes in three variants but U.S. might not get them all.

But what is the new Meteor like to ride? The best fast summary I saw is at Express Drive, which entitled its article "Feet Forward". Get it?

Another Express Drive article details the equipment levels available in the three variants (the U.S. might not get all three). The base model Meteor "Fireball" strikes me as having the best cosmic name.

RideApart explains the new turn-by-turn Tripper navigation feature that works with your smartphone via Bluetooth. 

There is also a Tripper navigation description on YouTube.

The Daily Guardian lavishes praise on the instrument cluster but notes that the USB port is not in the ideal spot. The gear indicator, fuel gauge, clock, and tripmeter all squeeze in somewhere. Keep your eyes on the road, if you can.

Royal Enfield 350s have long ruled the road in India, their popularity assured by a characteristic "thump" owners claimed to hear in the exhaust note. Royal Enfield, and most reviews I've seen, confirm that the Meteor has the requisite sound.

As for the looks of the Meteor 350, Royal Enfield's Siddhartha Lal tells  this story:

"Even though I am obviously biased towards the Meteor, I know that I objectively love the way it looks. Back in November 2019, my dad and I went on a long overdue father-son riding trip... Jack, from our Royal Enfield testing team drove the van from our UK technology centre with our Interceptor 650s in it, and he was going to be testing a motorcycle for the week or so that my Dad and I were riding. On the first day, Jack had parked our motorcycles in the hotel lot... I was very intrigued by this stunning cruiser at the end of the parking lot.

"Always up for a bit of competitor research, I started walking towards it and was admiring its proportions and easy stance. As I got closer to it, I got goosebumps and my heart started racing - it couldn’t be! The engine looked familiar, but I was still very confused. I’m not the quickest to join the dots (as my wife will readily tell you), and I was thinking ‘What? How? Huh? Is it a custom build on our platform? Why can’t we do motorcycles like these custom chaps?’

"And then the penny dropped! Jack had brought an alpha build Meteor (without tank logo etc.) to Spain to test ride while Dad and I were out riding our Interceptors! I felt really good about my objective love for the Meteor’s looks, and a bit stupid about how long it took me to recognise a motorcycle that I had been deeply involved with for three years!"