2020 Honda CB 350 rivals in India: Royal Enfield Classic 350, Benelli imperiale 400, Jawa Perak, Bajaj Dominar 400 and RE Meteor 350

Aditya Chatterjee Updated: October 09, 2020, 11:02 AM IST

Honda's latest offering for the Indian market is the all-new CB 350 roadster that has been specifically designed for India. Putting an end to all the speculations of a Honda Rebel 300, the Honda CB 350 brings the legacy of the CB brand in an accessible form. The company had been working on the CB 350 for quite some time now and was vocal of its intention to rival the Royal Enfield, considering the latter has always enjoyed dominance in the two-wheeler segment with its minimal form. Keeping that in consideration, the Honda CB 350 has been designed with a simplistic yet impactful modern classic design. Its segment rivalling features offers a strong edge over its rivals in the country. Honda has announced the pricing of the CB 350 as Rs 1.85 lakh for the DLX variant and Rs 1.90 lakh for the DLX Pro variant. More details of the Honda CB 350 can be read here. Scroll below to take a look at the Honda CB 350 rivals in India.

Royal Enfield Classic 350 BSVI

Rs. 1.61 lakh, ex-showroom

Standing tall opposite to the Honda CB 350 is our South Indian superhero, the Royal Enfield Classic 350. Launched in 2009, this modern classic offering has ruled the segment with its strong sales numbers. While the competition did try to woo the audience with fancy tech and features, the Classic 350 remains undeterred. It was given a BSVI update which has made the motorcycle smoother and refined than before. The single-cylinder 346cc motor puts out 19PS of power and 28Nm of torque, mated to a 5-speed gearbox.

Benelli Imperiale 400 BSVI

Rs. 1.99 lakh, ex-showroom

One of the newer brands to enter the modern classic brigade in India is the Benelli Imperiale 400. In its six years long tenure, Benelli has often made street naked, scramblers, adventure and supersport motorcycles, but a true blue modern classic like the Imperiale 400 is a first. With a larger displacement engine as compared to the Classic 350, the Imperiale 400 offers a much smooth and refined performance. It also looks much premium and appealing. However, looses out on handling along with the lack of a wide-spread dealership network as the RE. The 374cc single-cylinder engine delivers 21PS at 6,000rpm and generates 29Nm at 3,500rpm, with a 5-speed gearbox. Read our details road test review here.

Jawa Perak BSVI

Rs. 1.95 lakh, ex-showroom

The Jawa Perak, which is the company's latest, is a rather interesting motorcycle for it is the only factory-built bobber motorcycle that you can get at that price. Other than its impressive looks, it also weighs much lighter than the Benelli Imperiale 400 and the Royal Enfield Classic 350, which should ideally mean better handling and easier manoeuvrability in city traffic. Almost everything about the Perak reads good on paper, but then there have delivery issues wherein customers have cancelled their bookings for other options, which does not work in favour of the brand. The 334cc engine makes 30.64PS of power and generates 32.74Nm of torque, also making it more powerful than the above-mentioned motorcycles.

2020 BSVI Jawa Perak Bobber OVERDRIVE (1)

Bajaj Dominar 400

Rs. 1.96 lakh, ex-showroom

The Honda CB 350 is not the first model that has been aggressively positioned against the Royal Enfield Classic 350. Remember the Haathi mat paalo ads? The flagship offering from Bajaj, the Dominar 400 comes loaded with a muscular design that take inspiration from the Ducati Diavel and also comes with a performance to back it up. It also comes with a decent list of features, of course not to the level of what Honda is offering on the CB 350. While Royal Enfield, Jawa and Benelli have gone the modern classic way, the Dominar 400 is a new-age sport tourer for the savvy gen. The single-cylinder liquid-cooled 373.3cc mill produces 40PS at 8,800rpm and generates 35Nm of torque at 6,500rpm. which is the best in the entry-level tourer segment.

Upcoming Royal Enfield Meteor 350

Rs 1.75 lakh, ex-showroom (expected)

The reason for not mentioning the Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350X is because of the new-gen Meteor 350 that arrives in the festive season. This will be a replacement of the Thunderbird 350X. Among the details that have surfaced online, the Meteor 350 gets an updated design as compared to that of the Thunderbird 350. It will be offered with a single-cylinder, air-cooled 350cc BSVI compliant engine that is expected to produce 20.2PS and 27Nm of torque. Additionally, Royal Enfield could be equipping it with Bluetooth connectivity and navigation among the other features.

Upcoming Royal Enfield Meteor 350 is expected to be launched in October 2020 (Image source: Automobili Infiniti)