Upcoming Royal Enfield Meteor 350 to get a new platform and engine

Royal Enfield has been around in the Indian two-wheeler market for a long, long time. The brand is quite famous among buyers and has a cult following for its retro looking modern motorcycles. Royal Enfield has been making periodic changes to ensure that its motorcycles don’t feel outdated. The brand’s motorcycle s now get features such disc brakes, dual channel ABS, fuel injection and more. Royal Enfield is also working on a new motorcycle which is likely to called as Meteor. According to reports, there is confirmation that the upcoming 350-cc motorcycle from the brand will be based on a completely new platform.

Royal Enfield is all set to launch the new 350-cc cruiser motorcycle, which is expected to replace the Thunderbird X. The upcoming motorcycle will be based on a brand new platform. It’s not just the platform that will be new, the upcoming motorcycle will also be using an all-new 350-cc engine along with a new gearbox.

Also read: Dad builds “mini” Royal Enfield Bullet electric bike for son

Talking to Carandbike, Vinod Dasari, CEO, Royal Enfield said,

It’s an absolutely exciting powertrain. So, we’ve learnt how to make many different models within the same modular infrastructure, with the same engine, the same gearbox and the frame. So, in that sense, what was traditionally a company which had very limited powertrains, will now have significant expansion in powertrains.

Dasari also confirmed that the first motorcycle based in this new platform is likely to be launched by the end of June this year. The pictures of the upcoming motorcycle RE Meteor 350 have already been leaked online and the bike itself has been spotted number of times during its testing phase. Although the Meteor will be using a same capacity engine as other 350-cc RE motorcycle, the engine in Meteor as mentioned above will be an all-new unit. The exact power and torque figures of this new engine is not known but, it is expected to be much more refined than the current versions.

We expect a decent bump up in power and torque figures as well. The new engine will have a unit construction design, and is expected to retain a long stroke layout for solid low end torque. A balancer shaft should make the motor quite refined. From the looks of it, the new engine will be an air cooled unit, and this should keep cost and complication pretty low. The engine head is expected to feature a single overhead camshaft driving two valves. The new gearbox is likely to be a five speed unit.

Also read: Cops CRUSH Rs. 1 lakh worth after market superbike exhaust (Video)