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Newbie Join Date: Feb 2022 Location: Lucknow
Posts: 13
Thanked: 45 Times
| Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review My Honda H’ness/Highness recently completed 4500 km and about 5 months and I wondered what was the best way to celebrate other than writing down my journey with the beautiful machine. A bit of background about me and how I decided to buy this bike: I (25, Male) switched jobs at the start of the year and had to move to Pune from my hometown Lucknow. I felt its high time to get a personal vehicle. I had lived in Lucknow since my birth and used my parent’s Mahindra Duro and then the Hero Maestro. I had no prior bike riding experience so sorting that up was the first thing. I watched some videos and practised using my friend’s bike which he no longer used. Now, deciding what bike to buy was a tough decision. I read as many articles as I could which mentioned what to look for in a first bike, but those just didn’t make anything easier. I had a very flexible budget but did not want to go above 3.5L. I had some things very clear in mind when I started looking for a new bike: 1) No bike with sporty fairings and sporty riding stance- This removed KTMs, R15 and similar bikes. 2) I am 5’4” tall and weigh around 60kgs. This removed any ADV or tall bikes from my list. 3) Comfort was my priority since I had a messed up lower back. (Yes, I’m 25 with back problems thanks to a football match where I injured my back badly). I went to RE showroom one fine day to check out Meteor and the 650 twins. The 650 twins were too heavy for me to comfortably control in traffic. I could not flat foot both legs made things more difficult. Meteor with its quite low seat height fitted perfectly with my requirements. I could flat foot with boots on it easily. The classic 350 was nice but it was way too common on our roads. Wanted something less common. I wanted to check out the newly launched Yezdi roadster but the showroom was quite far from my place and I thought it’s better to give newly launched machines some time to niggle out issues. I also checked FZ and FZ-X from Yamaha which felt really manoeuvrable but lacked the wow factor. I had nearly made up my mind to book the Meteor but decided to look at other available options. I went to BMW showroom next to check out the G310R and man, that is one gorgeous machine. It had a very low seat, was light, very less units running on roads but carried a premium. Yes, before I get grilled that it’s a sports bike and I previously said no to them- I simply don’t know why but I fell in love with this machine. It had a premium feel to it. I forgot about the Meteor and booked it by paying a heavy sum of Rs. 30,000. But fate had something different for me. I was expecting my work from home to continue but I got a call to join the office in Pune in the first week of March. I started to weigh out options- to get the delivery of g310R and ride it down to Pune OR to courier a brand-new bike to Pune which is really risky or lastly, cancel the booking and buy the same bike in Pune. Unfortunately, BMW had mentioned a deduction of 50% (i.e. Rs. 15,000 ) if I cancel the booking which was quite high. I have a thread on the very same topic on this forum. Shout-out to @Turbanator and @GTO for helping me get my full money back without much fuss. I heavy-heartedly cancelled my booking, packed my bags and went to Pune where life happened and I got busy in flat hunting. Once I had a roof over my head, I started my search again. I came across a Honda showroom and had a Eureka moment that Honda had some Bullet-lookalike retro stuff in the market (CB350 fans, please don’t kill me for these words ![]() My reasons for going for H'ness over the RS at that time were: 1) H'ness looked a bit more elegant since I was more into retro looks. 2) Had Bluetooth connectivity which after 4000 kms I have used only once. 3) Not sure if the seat heights are different but I felt a bit uncomfortable in RS. H’ness seemed more welcoming to me, especially the anniversary edition which has split seats and the rider seat is tapered in the front. 4) The Chrome elements on H’ness are just perfect. Not overdone or underdone. I made the payment over a period of three days due to UPI restrictions. I had opted for Bharat registration hence the on-rod price came down a bit. The papers went to RTO on Monday and I had the delivery the next Monday. The process to get the Bharat series was quite smooth with only one hiccup which was due to some discrepancy in the documents I submitted, the rent agreement I submitted had a different owner’s name than that on the electricity bill. I had to submit a marriage certificate to sort that out. I am really thankful to my owners for being so helpful in providing the documents. Let’s talk about some major aspects of the bike, mainly the issues since it is the least talked about aspect by an owner: 1) The engine: You will easily fall in love with the bike’s smoothness. Vibrations are minimal and start to creep in only when you get very close to the redline. The bike produces enough power and torque to easily climb up steep hills with a pillion (and honestly that’s what one wants with a bike, we have roads in the city- not racetracks). Highway trips are delightful as well. You can cruise around 90-100 kmph all day without the engine feeling stressed and just a bit of juice left for overtakes. Engine braking is quite good too and works well when you want to control your descent from a steep slope. 2) Quality of components: It’s a bit difficult to give a straight answer to this. Some places the quality of material and parts used is great but at some places, cost cutting is clearly visible. Let me elaborate on it a bit. a. Quality of switches and plastics: Just amazing. The switches are very responsive and feel very premium. My friend purchased scram 411 and there was a stark difference visible in the materials used for switchgear. The headlight could/shroud felt like made of cheap plastic etc. b. Battery: They have used a Tata brand battery and it is a headache for users of these bikes. The battery fails all of a sudden without giving much warning. Numerous owners are stranded on the side of the road because the battery died all of a sudden and the bike refused to start. I am nearing 5k kms and didn’t have such an issue, but after seeing such reports on FB groups and YouTube I’ll possibly switch to Amaron or Exide pretty soon. c. Paint quality: Once again, FB groups, YouTube and even our Team-BHP is filled with users facing rusting on chrome parts, around nuts and even on chassis. As far as I know, Honda is NOT covering this under warranty, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I don’t know if this issue is with a particular batch or with every unit. As a precaution, I always spray the rust-prone areas with WD-40 post washes and I avoid pressure washes. d. Rims and tyres- Some users have reported the rims getting bent even on small potholes. I have also driven by mistake into some notorious potholes but didn’t damage my rims. This could again be an issue with a batch. e. The brake pads: My front pads got changed at just 3200kms. Some users are reporting even lesser distance. I was pretty shocked when I was going to office and suddenly my front brakes wouldn’t slow down my bike. Luckily I had just taken out my bike out of parking. I went to the service centre and found that the front brakes are busted. It was a surprise for me since I always practised engine braking and did not over-speed. Checked the FB groups and yep, it’s a very common problem. Going for Vesrah ceramic pads once these wear out. f. Mudguards: You would need a mudguard for the front fender the moment you leave the showroom. Also, advise the pillion to wear a raincoat else his/her back will be covered with mud after some time. I need to find a way to stop my bike from throwing mud on the pillion’s back. A tyre hugger is a good option but that would ruin a retro bike’s look. 3) Gearing: The gearing is very tall. You will need to get used to it and it somewhat takes some joy out while driving in the city. You will need to shift gears a lot and by ‘a lot’ I actually mean it. But that has its advantage also- you get pretty good fuel efficiency. It happens nearly every day when I see my friends go over potholes and speed breakers without even changing gear sometimes and I have to drop down till 1st gear so that the engine stops lugging. 4) The headlight: It looks gorgeous but it would be very risky to go on highways without AUX lights, moreover, it’s a death wish to drive in the Ghats with these headlights. 5) The fuel efficiency: For a 350cc bike it delivers excellent mileage. I have got up to 46 kmpl on highways at 70 kmph constant speeds. In the city it drops to somewhere around 30-35 kmpl, mostly hovering around 32-33 kmpl mark. 6) Handling and driving: I am a 5’4” guy which makes it a bit difficult to maneuver the bike on bad roads since I can’t flat foot both my legs but with practice, it got easier. I cut out some foam and replaced it with gel, which lowered the seat height. Now I can flat foot my left leg like a breeze and the right leg can touch the ground simultaneously. Since I am a bit short for what this bike would like, I get some shoulder pain when driving 200+ kms. Thinking to install inclined handlebar raisers to solve this issue. I never felt that the bike is very heavy while filtering through traffic and it can easily help to find your way out. 7) The Bluetooth connectivity feature: Used it only once or twice and never found it useful enough. 8) Service experience: Have completed 2 free services as of now, both at the Rasta Peth service centre in Pune. The attention provided to the bike and the owner is just amazing. You will feel a bit relieved knowing that the premium you paid is showing up in the right places. Everyone is super polite and they listen to your issues patiently. Most importantly, they make sure you leave the place without any pending issues. They have a big window in the waiting area where you can watch your bike serviced and can even go to the service bay and watch by the side of the mechanic while he pampers your bike. Summary? A lovely bike which feels effortless to drive but the above-mentioned shortcomings sometimes remind you that maybe Honda did not test it enough for Indian conditions- considering that they forgot very basic things such as not providing a longer fender/mudguard to avoid mud splashes. Last edited by Aditya : 13th September 2022 at 16:17. Reason: Merging back to back posts. Formatting edits to improve readability. |
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BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Lucknow
Posts: 784
Thanked: 114 Times
| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review Quote:
Nice to see someone from the 'City of Nawabs' on team bhp, a rare sight. Let's meet next time when you visit home. | |
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BHPian ![]() Join Date: Aug 2022 Location: Bengaluru
Posts: 41
Thanked: 94 Times
| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review Quote:
Thanks for a crisp review, I too agree to all the points you have mentioned. I own a CB350 myself. Apart for the engine tractability issue at low speeds I feel the motorcycles is just perfect for riding in city as well as on highways. For highways I felt a cruising speed ~120 with some juice remaining might have been a bit more useful. Its a wishful thinking ![]() | |
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The following BHPian Thanks NEMatters for this useful post: | Peri_patetic99 |
![]() | #4 |
BHPian Join Date: May 2008 Location: Pune
Posts: 70
Thanked: 97 Times
| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review
Have you fitted this? I want to fit aux lights but am concerned about battery draining and so want to do it the proper way. |
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BHPian Join Date: Nov 2021 Location: Bengaluru
Posts: 38
Thanked: 36 Times
| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review Quote:
You can confidently go with "Maddog Scout X" Aux lights. Use these lights only when the bike is running and I expect this will not cause any battery issues. Thanks, | |
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The following BHPian Thanks nirleo for this useful post: | heinrici |
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BHPian Join Date: Aug 2022 Location: Kanpur
Posts: 61
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| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review Thanks for a detailed review. I own a CB350 RS which has completed about 15 months. Most of what you said for the H’ness is applicable to RS. The tall gearing though good for FE is quite problematic in hilly regions. I once took my bike to Nainital and Mukteshwar from Kanpur and in the hills the frequency of changing gears was really disappointing. Except this one issue, it’s a gem in its segment. My CB350 RS in red colour is definitely a head turner here in UP where Bullets and Classics are way too common. The funny thing is when people find out it’s from Honda, the first comment is “ye Honda ki bullet hai?” ![]() |
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The following 8 BHPians Thank neochanger for this useful post: | heinrici, inclmal1, LongDrive lover, narmad, Peri_patetic99, Sankalp05, texmonster, TwerkyC0ffee |
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BHPian Join Date: May 2008 Location: Pune
Posts: 70
Thanked: 97 Times
| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review |
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BHPian Join Date: Nov 2021 Location: Bengaluru
Posts: 38
Thanked: 36 Times
| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review |
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BHPian ![]() Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Palakkad
Posts: 619
Thanked: 1,404 Times
| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review Quote:
Can all the owners chip in and advise what they are getting on tankful to tankful basis. From what i have noticed, identifying tankful is a problem. The autocutoff is difficult to judge, because the tank keeps on drinking more than the advertised volume. I estimate actual capacity to be between 16.5 to 17 litres in the tank. Can owners confirm this. | |
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The following BHPian Thanks rohitoasis for this useful post: | sbanerjee |
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Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Dubai/Bengaluru
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| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review Hi. I have HCJ AUX lights. And they really good (40+40 watts). Tried Mad Dog Scout and Scout X, they're too low on output. Yes, and you need to be careful to keep engine running.
Last edited by Sebring : 14th September 2022 at 20:57. |
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![]() | #11 |
BHPian Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 221
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| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review I thought BH series registration is available only for cars. Is it possible to get for 2 wheelers? |
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Newbie Join Date: Feb 2022 Location: Lucknow
Posts: 13
Thanked: 45 Times
| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review Quote:
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Of course it is possible. I have BH number for the bike. | |||||
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The following 2 BHPians Thank vn11 for this useful post: | Everlearner, LongDrive lover |
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BHPian ![]() Join Date: Aug 2022 Location: Bengaluru
Posts: 41
Thanked: 94 Times
| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review Quote:
I tried doing the tankful to tankful but had the same issue. On the display after around 1400 kms I see somewhere 38.5 kmpl indicated efficiency. With around 40% highway and 60% in city usage. | |
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BHPian ![]() Join Date: Jan 2021 Location: Pune
Posts: 33
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| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review Congratulations for the excellent choice and wishing you have many more happy miles! I found a lot of similarities between us while reading your post, we have the same bike in the same city and we use it for a similar purpose. I too stumbled upon the H'ness while searching for a bike as it was not a part of my original shortlist and we seem to have got the bike around the same time and also we are of the same age ![]() Here's my bike ![]() ![]() I was planning on writing my 7000 km ownership review in a few weeks when I complete them but you seem to have covered most of the points so I'll add my views on them. Quote:
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1. The rear seat of the RS is quite small and not suited for long distances. I need a good pillion seat so I even opted for the optional split seats for my H'ness which come standard on the anniversary edition. 2. RS had a weak horn. The DLX Pro and Anniversary have a good dual horn setup. 3. Less accessories are available for the RS as compared to H'ness. Even OEM accessories made were quite less. Quote:
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![]() Spotted this stunning Anniversary edition at service which made me think if I made the right color choice ![]() I wonder if it's your bike as it is BH registered Anniversary Edition ![]() I have very similar experience about the service after having completed the first two free services. I was pleasantly surprised the first time I went there and I think I can have a stress free ownership knowing well that any issue that comes up will be sorted without a hassle. They do really make sure the bike leaves without any pending issues and the owner is satisfied before handing over the bike. You are also provided with packaged water and they usually get the bike ready in approximately two hours. Overall I would call it a premium experience which you won't get with any other bike priced similarly and even higher in some cases. I'm very happy with this bike and it perfectly fits in my life for my requirements. I have faced few of these common issues and an irritating issue with the handlebar which was fixed after it was replaced under warranty. To this day I'm amazed by quite the loud exhaust note of the bike and wonder how they got around the BS6 norms. It has a dual character kind of where it can be smooth and silent while cruising with ease and can be loud when you push it. I sometimes feel I needed a bit more powerful bike and maybe one with some offroad and better touring capabilities but as an overall experience accounting for the looks, smoothness, reliability, features, service, fuel economy, comfort, etc. it feels like the best bike for me. Last edited by manson : 6th October 2022 at 13:26. Reason: Deleted blank rows. | |||||||
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The following 2 BHPians Thank White Aviator for this useful post: | manson, Mrs&Mr_Shenu |
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Newbie Join Date: Feb 2019 Location: Mumbai
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| Re: Honda CB350 | 4500 km Ownership Review Hello all, I own a Honda Highness Cb350 bought in March 2022. I have covered close to 4000 kms till date. The bike runs fine no issues. The only thing bothering me is a kind of Khat Khat ( metallic clunk ) noise every time the bike goes over a pothole or a sharp edge on the road. The noise comes from the front of the bike. My initial hunch was that It could be a loose cone set, however the ASC guy checked it and said the noise is from the front fender. The Front fender has absolutely zero play or flex so I wonder how it can be that. If other owners are facing similar situation, please shed some light onto it. Thank you. |
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