2022 Royal Enfield Classic 350 Review - First Ride

This new model is built from the same platform first introduced as the Meteor 350 a year ago, sharing much of the same componentry. We didn’t have a chance to test that bike, so the Classic would be MO’s first chance to throw a leg over Enfield’s modern air/oil-cooled 349cc Single. With the success of Royal Enfield’s recent models: the Himalayan and Twin-powered International and Continental GTs, I was curious to see if this new platform followed suit. From what I was told by Royal Enfield North America’s President, Krishnan Ramaswamy, we will have more to be excited about, too with a handful of new models to be released in the next 18 months or so (not all of which will be variants of existing platforms).

You can feel the engine pulses at a standstill, but the moment you roll on the throttle the vibes are left behind giving way to a smooth ride thanks to its balancer shaft. It also delivers a bit more pep from a stop than I thought it would. Royal Enfield claims 20.2 hp at 6,100 rpm and 19.9 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm. “It’s all about the torque,” says Ramaswamy. It’s true. For a bike destined to spend much of its time around town and on back roads tasked with mostly recreational riding, but expected to still pull daily duty, it makes sense to put an emphasis on the low end.

The bike feels solid, I kept thinking to myself. Solid. It kept crossing my mind. Solid as in, well put together, giving a feeling of robustness, but at the same time, like a solid hunk of metal – which it is. RE claims 430 lbs with its 3.4-gallon tank 90% full of fuel. Unless you’re trying to stop in a hurry, the Classic carries its weight quite well with much of it low to the ground. The spec sheet says the seat height is 31.7 inches, but I would’ve guessed lower. It is also really well-balanced making low-speed u-turns and other maneuvers easy to carry out.

The bike looks somewhat small and is quick to turn around town, though, at highway speeds, the low CoG kept the bike stable. Ergonomically, at 5’8” with 30-inch getaway sticks, I found the Classic 350’s riding position perfectly neutral, though I might prefer the bars rotated back slightly. The bike being well-balanced combined with its low seat height inspired confidence while squirting around cobbled streets, weaving in and out of traffic. Unfortunately, I can’t comment on the machine’s cornering ability as there are no curves in or around Savannah, at least not that we rode.

But they’re not everything. My first impressions were pretty positive. The Classic 350 is a subjectively good-looking motorcycle with fit, finish, and performance (as far as I could tell) that is worthy of a higher price point than its $4,500 starting MSRP would suggest. That said, I feel the need to explain that our first taste of the Classic 350 did not give us the chance to get much more than just that. The few Georgia natives that joined us on our test ride kept telling stories of how great the riding is up north. “If you’re out here in my neck of the woods (northern GA) give me a shout and I’ll show you some great riding.” Southern hospitality, as they say.

Unfortunately, as swell as Savannah is as a match for the Classic 350, the “lowlands” as I heard it called, of Georgia don’t make for the best proving grounds for motorcycle testing. Most of my time was spent bolt upright (as is evident in the photography) aside from the on-ramp to the bridge crossing into South Carolina where I managed to touch down the oversized accessory footpegs on the Dark model I was piloting. The roads were flat and straight. They kind of reminded me of riding in the middle of the US where I’m from – and also part of the reason I left.