How Good Is The Royal Enfield Hunter 350’s Performance?

Royal Enfield’s Hunter 350 has created quite a stir in the Indian motorcycle market. Thanks to its accessible proposition, the roadster is being targeted to those who weren’t really traditional Royal Enfield buyers in the first place. It is meant to be a good urban motorcycle, offering a little bit of fun to be had on the weekends. So, just how good is its performance?

With minor internal tweaks to the J1-349 motor, the Hunter is definitely the most-spirited member of the new J-platform. As the actual acceleration figures might still be comparable to 160cc motorcycles, the Hunter feels peppy and eager for commutes. 

The long-stroke torquey motor is complemented well with a neatly stacked five-speed gearbox that allows you to saunter around in higher gears without much fuss. So, while the clutch action is still on the heavier side, you can take solace in the fact that you will not need to furiously work the gearbox when faced with crawling traffic scenarios.

The spirited tune does come at the cost of frugality, as the Hunter is the least fuel-efficient motorcycle of the trio in our fuel-efficiency tests. While you do not have to compromise much in the city (only 1kmpl less than the Meteor and Classic), it is nearly 2kmpl less efficient than the Classic 350, and returns almost 3kmpl less than the Meteor out on the highway. 

	Royal Enfield Hunter 350
100-0kmph	52.68m
80-0kmph	32.08m
60-0kmph	18.13m

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Braking performance remains more or less the same as its 350cc siblings, and that is a slight downer. Considering that the Hunter is around 10kg lighter, runs on 17-inch alloy wheels and has slightly grippier tyres, it should’ve been better with shedding speed. We wish Royal Enfield had ditched the retro-styled, front-brake master cylinder for something more up-to-date for its sporty roadster to complement the attitude of the bike well.