Honda CB350: 5 reasons why a Royal Enfield owner was impressed

Even though I went in casually, I was impressed by the bike enough to write this report.

BHPian masterCheif007 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I would say just WOW !! Visited the showroom today for a test ride and the experience was great. Did a test ride too (initially I was a bit apprehensive as I come from std 350 ci - 4S, and all controls are just reversed).

Now take my report with a grain of salt as I am coming from the old bullet fraternity but I was blown away with the light clutch. Following is my observation (most will be obsolete as I can only compare with my cast iron):

• Clutch smoothness: Clutch is extremely light compared to my motorcycle (which has unintentionally developed me a strong grip), its a single finger operation - my left hand middle finger has calluses from the hard clutch with my bike.

• Smooth shifts: Another aspect that was amazing was the smooth shifting gearbox

• Good brakes: front brake has awesome stopping power (compared to my drums). Also rear brakes did decent job (I had to remember using the rear brake as everything was opposite to my bike which has brakes on the left)

• Decent pickup: even though I was sitting on the bike for the first time the pull was nice and smooth, compared to mine which gives a harsh shove till the speeds reach 60 kph and then looses out of steam.

• Seating and ride: seating position is as comfortable as my bullet and suspensions are much well tuned. Seat height is great for me and the vehicle feels extremely light compared to mine (I didn't enquire about the dry weight but it felt so).

As I said, since I am coming from bullet cast iron my comparo might not be valid for majority here. But since this is such a refined vehicle compared to mine I thought of penning down my observations.

I actually went for the test drive to get used to the left side shift before I test ride my serious contenders that are inty 650, ktm 390 adv and the himalayan (not sure). But even though I went in casually, I was impressed by the bike enough to write this report.

And as so it happens while coming out of the showroom, my bike had already marked it's territory and also after starting managed to turn itself off too. But this is nothing new for me.

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