[Turbojc]

Originally Posted by Turbojc

Hi everyone! Honda has introduced a line of official BigWing-branded luggage for the CB350 twins. This includes saddle bags, a small seat bag, and a magnetic tank bag.

I've written a detailed post about the seat bag here. Please do check it out. Cheers!

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5182067 (The Saddle & Tail Bag Review Thread)

[manojsolanki87]

One of my fellow cb350 group member got his bike serviced at Gurugram svc.It was a free service. He was charged rs 250 for chain cleaning and lubing.

Although I am not against it as this practice is also followed by other companies, it's just that Honda has adopted this practice recently as it was not there till 3-4 months ago.

Bigwing Gurugram svc is badly managed and i personally don't have good reviews about it.

[manojsolanki87]

Thanks to HONDA, the much needed ECU update is here. Now, you can go to mountains without any worries of power loss. Our bike just got better.

[NH08]

Got third service done today. Motorcycle will be completing one year next week. This time I went for newly opened Service Center in Delhi, Bigwing's only centre in the city, instead of running all the way to Gurugram.

The bill was reasonable, at Rs. 1500. Service guys proposed chain lubing also, but I declined, something that I love to do myself.

ECU was updated and reflector was changed. Both were free of cost, took hardly 10 minutes. Good experience it was.

[Rocketscience]

Originally Posted by manojsolanki87

Thanks to HONDA, the much needed ECU update is here. Now, you can go to mountains without any worries of power loss. Our bike just got better.

Can't get my head around this, while i understand that a badly optimised ECU may malfunction at higher altitudes where the air is thin and it needs to adjust the air fuel mixture accordingly to run and not stall, but, all naturally aspirated engines progressively loose power as you climb higher because there just isn't as much air density and oxygen so the engine is forced to inject less fuel to get the ratio right and thus reduced power.

The carbureted bikes used to just stop working after a point but the ECU is smart enough to adjust and that is it, can't understand how it can make more power than before now, and there is no question of no power loss at higher altitudes, even the best electronically controlled turbocharged engines start to loose power after a certain altitude.

[manojsolanki87]

Originally Posted by Rocketscience

Can't get my head around this, while i understand that a badly optimised ECU may malfunction at higher altitudes where the air is thin and it needs to adjust the air fuel mixture accordingly to run and not stall, but, all naturally aspirated engines progressively loose power as you climb higher because there just isn't as much air density and oxygen so the engine is forced to inject less fuel to get the ratio right and thus reduced power.

The carbureted bikes used to just stop working after a point but the ECU is smart enough to adjust and that is it, can't understand how it can make more power than before now, and there is no question of no power loss at higher altitudes, even the best electronically controlled turbocharged engines start to loose power after a certain altitude.

Although power loss is undeniable for any vehicle, the severity here is beyond you can think of. I don't know the science behind it, but my zanskar trip on this bike made me realise there is something not right about this bike.
While bullets were running along fine, this vehicle was struggling to survive as vlogged by a fellow owner on Leh circuit.
I have done other high passes on a different bike, power loss was there, but not this severe. This ECU update has been tested by honda team and they vouch for it.
.

[Rocketscience]

Originally Posted by manojsolanki87

Although power loss is undeniable for any vehicle, the severity here is beyond you can think of. I don't know the science behind it, but my zanskar trip on this bike made me realise there is something not right about this bike.
While bullets were running along fine, this vehicle was struggling to survive as vlogged by a fellow owner on Leh circuit.
I have done other high passes on a different bike, power loss was there, but not this severe. This ECU update has been tested by honda team and they vouch for it.
.

Well then this is certainly a case of non adaptive, non optimised or malfunctioning ECU which is shocking to say the least since this is not just any well established OEM but Honda.

The exact symptoms you have stated happen only when the ECU either doesn't have the appropriate maps or is not engineered/tested to work in that situation, like you said even the bullets ran just fine and despite the somewhat significant power loss your bike should "run" fine which was not is the case.

Honda seems to have realised their mistake and the ECU should work like any reasonably engineered Fi system should now.

Youtuber Abhinav Bhatt experienced the same with his modded ECU in his Hero Xpulse in the hills where his bike just won't run or if it did it was unusable with just no power, the reason is simple, most aftermarket ECUs are not tested and/or are not adaptive for all conditions as they just don't have the budget or technical know how to do this as OEMs do, he mentioned that all other bikes were working fine in that area, even the same bike with stock ECU did.

Nonetheless it is great that Honda have worked on improving it, can't believe they screwed it up in the first place.

[Seahawk]

Any recommendations on brand/matching helmets for Highness blue dual tone color? Also please suggest a good B&M store in Chennai to buy helmets and motorcycle gears. Thanks in advance

[rohitoasis]

So last Saturday one of my office colleagues had rented a CB350 Hness. He comes to me and offers a test ride. I had some observations and i wanted to post it here to ask if it was specific to the unit i test rode or generic to the bike.

I started the test ride just before a speed bump so chose to start in second gear and bike took it fuss free.
I took roads of varying elevation and twisty bits(Decent road quality) followed by L&T Bypass (Newly road) followed by Pollachi Road (Excellent road quality) and ended with a stretch of twisty bits extremely poor road quality.
I did not exceed 70 kmph in any of these stretches.
The third and fourth gear are where the sweet spot of the engine gearbox combo is. I found some kind of flat spot in torque in the lower RPM. (I am not able to explain why).
Also in 5th gear i was not expecting magic but i expected some more tractability. My usual commute in Duke 200. I usually keep the bike in 6th gear at 60 kmph. The engine usually is at around 4400 RPM. When i need to overtake a slow moving trailer, i do not need downshifting. Just a twist of throttle and Duke surges forward. I tried same with the CB350 and found it struggling to pick speed in 5th gear. Had to downshift to 4th to pick up some steam. I wanted to know if this experience is something that all CB350 owners experience or it was something specific to the bike i test drove.

Can someone share thoughts on this. Without a tachometer. it is difficult to ascertain if i was below the 3000 RPM where the peak torque is for this bike.

[pratikonomics]

Originally Posted by rohitoasis

The third and fourth gear are where the sweet spot of the engine gearbox combo is. I found some kind of flat spot in torque in the lower RPM. (I am not able to explain why).
Also in 5th gear i was not expecting magic but i expected some more tractability. My usual commute in Duke 200. I usually keep the bike in 6th gear at 60 kmph. The engine usually is at around 4400 RPM. When i need to overtake a slow moving trailer, i do not need downshifting. Just a twist of throttle and Duke surges forward. I tried same with the CB350 and found it struggling to pick speed in 5th gear. Had to downshift to 4th to pick up some steam. I wanted to know if this experience is something that all CB350 owners experience or it was something specific to the bike i test drove.

Can someone share thoughts on this. Without a tachometer. it is difficult to ascertain if i was below the 3000 RPM where the peak torque is for this bike.

That's the deal with cruisers, which achieve max torque at lower RPMs with longer stroke engines. It's not optimised for acceleration (like revv oriented KTM is), but for top speed.

[parrymx5]

Originally Posted by rohitoasis

Also in 5th gear i was not expecting magic but i expected some more tractability. My usual commute in Duke 200. I usually keep the bike in 6th gear at 60 kmph. The engine usually is at around 4400 RPM. When i need to overtake a slow moving trailer, i do not need downshifting. Just a twist of throttle and Duke surges forward. I tried same with the CB350 and found it struggling to pick speed in 5th gear. Had to downshift to 4th to pick up some steam. I wanted to know if this experience is something that all CB350 owners experience or it was something specific to the bike i test drove.

Can someone share thoughts on this. Without a tachometer. it is difficult to ascertain if i was below the 3000 RPM where the peak torque is for this bike.

The 5th gear on the CB 350 / CB 350 RS is an overdrive gear, so it should be used for cruising at around 70-80 km/h and above, Honda did it to increase efficiency, at least that's what I think.

This can be called a "quirky" or an "annoying" trait (whichever you prefer) of the CB 350 as this does not happen in the Classic 350 or the Meteor 350 (rivals).
So this trait is common to all the CB 350's.

You can use the 4th to pick up speed and go till 80-90 or even 100 and then slot it into 5th for a relaxed cruise. For overtaking on the highways, if you are in 80-90 then it's better to downshift into 4th and then overtake, it can do 120 km/h pretty easily even in 4th, and then you can shift back into 5th. Gunning the throttle in 5th does little, it's more of a suggestion rather than a command.

The upside is you get better fuel efficiency due to lower rpm's. Also, I feel that the CB likes to be revved out up until the 4th gear.

[drrajasaravanan]

Hi,
Both my brake pads were toast by 8000kms. Front brake pads I had changed at 7000kms and today changed my rear brake pads. Removed the front break pads to inspect and I don't think it will last long. I have no complaints in the efficiency of the braking or the bike as such but me being a less aggressive rider I am surprised that the break pads needs to be changed so early. Are there alternatives which may last longer without compromising on the efficiency or am I expecting a tad too much.

[i_rock098]

Originally Posted by rohitoasis

So last Saturday one of my office colleagues had rented a CB350 Hness. He comes to me and offers a test ride. I had some observations and i wanted to post it here to ask if it was specific to the unit i test rode or generic to the bike.

Any idea where did he rent it from? I thought it being a new bike would not be available for rent. I wanted to have a weekend drive on it.

[rohitoasis]

Originally Posted by i_rock098

Any idea where did he rent it from? I thought it being a new bike would not be available for rent. I wanted to have a weekend drive on it.

It was in Coimbatore. I think this is the one.
https://hyronline.com/2021/08/14/honda-hness-cb-350-2/

[Nithesh_M]

Ran over to the newly opened Honda Bigwing North Mangalore showroom to checkout the CB350RS. Demo bike has gone away for a few days. Decided to test ride the H'ness in exchange. After a decade riding the CBR250R, I didn't expect the 350cc air cooled bike to be as lively in the run upto 4 gears. Pulled along nicely from first. Can even slip clutch in 2nd from stationary. Having been used to the smooth and refined CBR250R, I found the 350 a tad vibey but not RE vibey. Showroom staff was friendly, sales guy knew his product which is rare these days. Have no intention to buy any motorcycle this year and am hoping HMSI will let these small Bigwing outlet sell the CBR650R and bigger models eventually. It feels like it will happen when these smaller outlets meet certain set targets in smaller non metro cities.

Thoroughly enjoyed the 2km spin on the highway on the H'Ness. For my 6 foot 3 frame its the right size. Had no intention to buy one but came home puzzled wondering if its time the 250R is exchanged in for a CB300R or a 350RS, both of which I'm expecting to test ride when display models come in next Sunday. Did check out the service center too. Had some yellow 350RS and brown anniversary edition H'Ness there along with a customer's CB300R with a fake Akra exhaust.

Some reason I cannot post pictures today.