[cormodore]

Originally Posted by The_Medic

I am usually not the one to nitpick and definitely not the one to compare minutiae of spec sheets but xpulse goes 0-60 in 4.8 secs and hunter has reports of anywhere between 4.9 to 5.2 seconds. And my test rides of both are indicative of the same. Xpulse feels a lot more brisk. Also the fact that it has better brakes and a very plush suspension on our roads is testament to it's better nature as a city bike. The fact that xpulse 200 is an micro adv and hunter the actual city bike makes it funny. What's even more funny is the fact that classic 350 and meteor both offer much better stability and a far superior ride quality making them better city bikes than the hunter. All this without even bringing the Honda 350 into the picture.

Hunter is a wrong kind of parts bin special. RE tried to make a good cheap entry level bike and they messed up. For anyone thinking of the hunter, the classic 350 is a far better proposition in the RE stable itself. That and the Honda 350 will hold their vaule and coolness far better than hunter. The Hunter is also a very very poor city bike (that's how it was promoted).

So, buy a hunter if you want to get into the RE brand for lesser than the price of classic 350. For everything else, there's a better option. Cheers and peace out!

Thank you for the wishes.

With respect to xPulse, your views are bang on and totally agree with plushness of the bike. However, I do not do adventure biking. For city and occasional high-way rides I found Hunter to be perfect. Also, both the bikes reach initial 0-60Km at the same time and you will not notice the minor time difference in the real world conditions.

Not every bike is perfect, and eventually, I went for a ride that met my budget as well as my current driving needs. At times, there is a thin line that we need to cross to take a plunge or to make a rejection.

Based on my highway usage, I will definitely upgrade, till then its RE Hunter for me

Originally Posted by Ibanez_70

A very great review.

Being cheap doesn’t necessarily mean the product won’t be a good one and Royal Enfield is proved that with the Hunter. Although I wish RE had given a bigger tank with this bike.

Thank You. I agree with you with respect to fuel tank, which is a tad smaller. Given the dimensions of the bike, any size bigger would have spoiled the aesthetics of the bike.

currently I am driving 350-360Km on a full tank, which is kind of okay.

Originally Posted by GreenDay

Congratulations Cormodore on acquiring a Hunter! I hope you enjoy many happy miles on it.

One of my friends is interested in joining the RE Hunter family. Although he is not an auto-enthusiast, he likes the bike because it is lightweight and fits his budget. Initially, I was inclined to recommend the bike to him, but after reading your review, I am having second thoughts. I would appreciate it if you could give me some guidance based on your experience and let me know if it's wise for my friend to choose a Hunter.

Thank you. With respect to recommending Hunter, I would say he should test drive the bike first and take a decision. I am 5'10 and weigh 75Kg, and I feel the weight of the bike during parking and removing the bike from parking(tight spaces). Apart from that, he also needs to get used to the slightly heavy clutch at least initially. Overall, its a perfect city bike for me, but it might be a bit different for other.

[The_Medic]

Originally Posted by cormodore

.

With respect to xPulse, your views are bang on and totally agree with plushness of the bike. However, I do not do adventure biking. For city and occasional high-way rides I found Hunter to be perfect. Also, both the bikes reach initial 0-60Km at the same time and you will not notice the minor time difference in the real world conditions.

See, that's the thing I am trying to drive home. Xpulse is definitely a great off road tool, no doubt. But if I were to buy a bike purely for commuting in the city and occasionally sprinting the highway, with zero Intentional pursuit of leaving the tarmac, I would still put my money on the xpulse 200. I said intentional pursuit because our city roads keep throwing adventures in our way. Be it random unmarked speed bumps, to massive craters in monsoon we lovingly call potholes. That bike is a breeze to ride. Add to that the ability to lock the rear wheel and steer using your rear, you can create magic on your commutes and giggle and chuckle like a teenager in love throughout your ride. Trust me, i hated the concept of ADVs and I love my sports bike like crazy. But i get it now. India is primed for ADVs and it is an absolute hoot to ride in our conditions. For everyone out there thinking of a fun city bike, please do not ignore the xpulse 200 as just a hard core offroader. It's the best city bike in my humble opinion.

[sumanthkr]

Thanks for the detailed review. It helped me.

I took 3, yes, 3 TDs of Hunter 350. I did 2 TDs of Suzuki V Strom.

I have closed in on these two.

V Strom is excellent bike, no doubt, helps my height and weight too (Am 181cms tall, but very lean 61kg).
But my usage is more of commuting, very occasional Highway usage.

My views

Low Tractability, "weight" felt while driving in city, braking in city - All these areas Hunter scores over V Strom.

Hunter weight is not felt while city commuting. May be cornering, Highway cruising is where it may not ace, but that is not my #1 priority.

Low speed driving, V Strom is good, but felt Hunter is way better.

I felt more confident while braking in Hunter than V Strom.

I do not believe in spec sheets. Hunter felt ably powered for my usage, perhaps torque available in low rpms could be the secret.

The OBD 2A, E20 updates are also rolling out - no waiting here. So am close to making the choice towards Hunter. Whereas V Strom there is a waiting for over a month.

I have nothing against Suzuki V Strom 250, it ticks off most boxes for me, if I start doing road trips after feeling comfortable to a grown up bikes, I may buy V Strom later after 2-3 years.

Once thing - I wish both these bikes has Traction control and better suspension for rough roads. Hunter felt a touch better for hard bumps but still could be a lot better.

Most likely to buy Hunter soon.

[ajcpub]

Originally Posted by sumanthkr

Thanks for the detailed review. It helped me.

I took 3, yes, 3 TDs of Hunter 350. I did 2 TDs of Suzuki V Strom.

Took my 4th TD of Hunter & 3rd TD of Ronin today, still unable to decide. Ronin ticked everything except turning radius and that humongous tank. Hunter was good too but for hard clutch and hard suspension. There of course are several other parameters am evaluating on but it's boiling down to mind says Ronin, heart says Hunter.

[czar6502]

My new Hunter 350, which has barely run 250 kms, has oil stain on the area near the oil cap. Is this normal?

[aviator1101]

Originally Posted by cormodore

With respect to xPulse, your views are bang on and totally agree with plushness of the bike. However, I do not do adventure biking. For city and occasional high-way rides I found Hunter to be perfect.

I am 5'10 and weigh 75Kg, and I feel the weight of the bike during parking and removing the bike from parking(tight spaces). Apart from that, he also needs to get used to the slightly heavy clutch at least initially.

I read your initial review and also details of test rides of other bikes and finally narrowing down to the Hunter. Quite interesting. Also, the pros and cons brought out are in great detail and I'm sure would be helpful to lot of people interested in this bike.
However, one issue would like to know from the horse's mouth : Is the ground clearance of the Hunter a real world problem? And does fitting the OEM bash plate further reduce it?

I have owned a Xpulse for a little more than a year. All I can say is nothing can beat the Xpulse off road, on the road everything else is better.

[KPR]

Originally Posted by ajcpub

Took my 4th TD of Hunter & 3rd TD of Ronin today, still unable to decide. Ronin ticked everything except turning radius and that humongous tank. Hunter was good too but for hard clutch and hard suspension. There of course are several other parameters am evaluating on but it's boiling down to mind says Ronin, heart says Hunter.

Do what your heart says. You won't get disappointed with the decision. After all it's a bike. Enjoy it for few years and then change it to Ronin or any other when heart demands one. I drive my BIL's hunter. Same 2 reasons I don't like in Hunter as compared to my sofa called TB500. But you will slowly get used to them.

[cormodore]

I am sorry for the delayed responses.

Originally Posted by sumanthkr

Hunter felt ably powered for my usage, perhaps torque available in low rpms could be the secret.

Once thing - I wish both these bikes has Traction control and better suspension for rough roads. Hunter felt a touch better for hard bumps but still could be a lot better.

Most likely to buy Hunter soon.

Agreed, RE would have provided the bike with Traction control, however RE will also jack up the price to include the same. Hope you have picked up the Hunter, if not I would definitely recommend you to check out the Speed 400 or the X440 (they would also cost a lac more than Hunter)

Originally Posted by ajcpub

Took my 4th TD of Hunter & 3rd TD of Ronin today, still unable to decide. Ronin ticked everything except turning radius and that humongous tank. Hunter was good too but for hard clutch and hard suspension. There of course are several other parameters am evaluating on but it's boiling down to mind says Ronin, heart says Hunter.

Both are well rounded bikes with their own set of flaws. Humongous tank is one reason, I couldn't get convinced to check Ronin.

Originally Posted by czar6502

My new Hunter 350, which has barely run 250 kms, has oil stain on the area near the oil cap. Is this normal?

I don't have any oil stain near the oil cap. It might be a washer issue of the oil cap. Please take the bike to the service center, they might do a quick fix, by replacing the same.

Originally Posted by aviator1101

Is the ground clearance of the Hunter a real world problem? And does fitting the OEM bash plate further reduce it?

Ground clearance is not an issue and Hunter will not scrape the normal speed bumps. I have a after market bash plate on my bike and did not scrape any where in Hyderabad.

[sumanthkr]

Agreed, RE would have provided the bike with Traction control, however RE will also jack up the price to include the same. Hope you have picked up the Hunter, if not I would definitely recommend you to check out the Speed 400 or the X440 (they would also cost a lac more than Hunter)

I booked hunter Immediately and been using it since a over a month now.

In April i was unsure about two things - when Triumph would actually come on road; and believed it would be in 4-5 lakh bracket.

Since my priority was to get used to biking again with 350 cc with commute being main focus I chose hunter above other bikes, as it is light on pocket, easy to flick around in city. Navigation was/is very important for me in city.

No doubt Triumph pulled a magic with pricing; it is stunning and unbelievable honestly.

I will use this for about 2 years may be and see if I should upgrade to Hunter 450 or even Classic 450 (in future once am used to 180+ kg bikes) am biased to RE bikes as they caught the imagination of 80s kids; we always wanted to ride a RE bike once we grow big!! Triumph Scrambler 400 x would be the other obvious choice for upgrade - on paper Triumph twins ooze quality and vfm. Till then let me use Hunter 350 for couple of years. Then I will consider something between RE 450s and Triumph Scrambler 400x.

Coming to Hunter 350 , early days still ...

Some Observations
Clearly it is a easy to ride bike, spec sheet does not tell you the real life story, never does.

For city ride with its very handy low end torque this is a very good bike to ride, has the RE feeling, despite plastics, build quality does not feel any bit lesser than a typical RE.

If one were thinking of a long term use of Hunter , then rear suspension tuning and better Tyres would be the only thing to change.

Suspension is not bad for single rider, since the footpeg is rear set, i can easily stand and jump over any hump or hurdle, its that easy to ride. You cannot do that with bikes with cruiser like footpegs - hence I did not like the Honda highness or metor (personal choice). And no the 150mmm ground clearance was not a concern, never scraped despite riding it roughly. The advantage is it feels very planted.

Yes for pillion it is too firm, big flaw in the suspension here - you will have to change the suspension tuning, preload is set to max; i will get it slightly adjusted during my first service due next week.

The real downside of this bike I felt was the tyres, if you are a first time biker riding very cautiously - you may not even notice anything, but if you want to ride a bit aggressively (not necessarily fast) around the turns, breaking hard, riding over bad patches without slowing down etc stuff - then you will immediately notice that the factory fitted tyres are not at all good enough.

And about fast bikes, Hunter 350 makes you feel it is a fast bike, its fun to ride of the blocks. The spec sheet will come into picture in the 60-100 acceleration only, for most use cases it is a fun bike, more fun than any RE so far - surprisingly with the same sober j-series engine with just 20ps power ! Full marks to RE for pulling it off.

Vibrations - have been told not to cross 80 until first service; so till 80 vibration is simply non existent. I do not intend to push it too fast either, I want to get better with my motorcycling ability with this size bikes for a couple of years at least before i push to 3 figure speeds.

All in all; full marks to RE for giving a very decent product in the 2 lac segment.

If they can address rear suspension and tyres in next avatar - Hunter 350 will maintain its segment leadership.

[Nadapriya.auto]

My 2 cents about my Hunter 350

I had a budget of 2 lakhs and was looking for an upgrade from my Pulsar 135 LS around December 2022.

My daily commute to office is 20km one way, on a good road and lots of cross winds.

Options considered:
1. Bajaj Pulsar 250 twins.
2. FZ25
3. CB300F (Had a huge discount at that time)
4. TVS Ronin
5. Hunter 350

The ergonomics of the Pulsar twins felt a little awkward, surprisingly. Was slightly uncomfortable at the end of the Test Ride.

The FZ25 had loads of low-end torque, but the bulbous tank and the general design philosophy didn't appeal a lot. Same with the Ronin.

The Honda, which was the most powerful on paper, failed to give a vibe-free experience, post 6k RPM. I do not know if the issue was limited to the test bike or not. Also, the handlebar felt sort of twisted outward.

The Hunter 350 instantly put a smile on my face, with its superb low-end torque. The seat comfort was adequate, the riding triangle felt spot-on, and the chassis is brilliant. The slightly rear-set foot pegs, and adequate tank grip enabled to stand on the foot pegs while going over the large humps and potholes. Immediately booked one, in dapper white.

I have completed 2600 kms till date and haven't faced a single problem. IMO, the fit and finish is more than acceptable for this price point.

Good things:
1. The weight is properly masked while riding. It feels nimble yet planted.
2. The low seat height coupled with the low ground clearance and a good chassis makes for an engaging daily commute.
3. The tractability is very good. Second gear is usable right from 5 kph to 40 kph. Put it in the third gear, and it pulls cleanly from 20kph to 70 kph. I have personally started in the 2nd gear after stopping at signals a few times.
4. 5th gear - 100 kph, does not feel stressed, can hold it all-day. It takes time post 110 though.

Not so good things:
1. The tyres are not very grippy, it tends to squeal a bit during hard braking.
2. The suspension is okay for me, as I stand up on the pegs while going over speed beakers, but it feels a bit too stiff while riding with a pillion.

The ground clearance is just about adequate. I am yet to scrape the bottom till date, even on pretty large humps. The bike feels absolutely vibe-free till 110, a welcome change from my heavily vibrating Pulsar 135. The FE is 30-31 kmpl (tank to tank method). I am used to the heavy clutch now, can operate with two fingers easily.

I agree with CK on most fronts.

https://youtu.be/cZYpK8uGZlg

Overall, a very satisfying experience till date.

[Prav_Panther]

Originally Posted by Nadapriya.auto

Overall, a very satisfying experience till date.

Congratulations Nadapriya.auto on your new ride. It's an absolutely amazing bike. Enjoy your ride and munch many miles.

[maheshm619]

Originally Posted by Nadapriya.auto

[h3]

2. The suspension is okay for me, as I stand up on the pegs while going over speed beakers, but it feels a bit too stiff while riding with a pillion.

I am looking forward to purchase Hunter350 by this year end and hence joined few FB groups in advance to learn about potential issues.Just saw a post today, wherein one guy has swapped rear suspension with one from Pulsar 180. Its a direct fit and has adjustments for stiffness.You may give it a try if requirement pops up in future.

[sumanthkr]

Originally Posted by sumanthkr

I booked hunter Immediately and been using it since a over a month now.

In April i was unsure about two things - when Triumph would actually come on road; and believed it would be in 4-5 lakh bracket.

Since my priority was to get used to biking again with 350 cc with commute being main focus I chose hunter above other bikes, as it is light on pocket, easy to flick around in city. Navigation was/is very important for me in city.

No doubt Triumph pulled a magic with pricing; it is stunning and unbelievable honestly.

I will use this for about 2 years may be and see if I should upgrade to Hunter 450 or even Classic 450 (in future once am used to 180+ kg bikes) am biased to RE bikes as they caught the imagination of 80s kids; we always wanted to ride a RE bike once we grow big!! Triumph Scrambler 400 x would be the other obvious choice for upgrade - on paper Triumph twins ooze quality and vfm. Till then let me use Hunter 350 for couple of years. Then I will consider something between RE 450s and Triumph Scrambler 400x.

Coming to Hunter 350 , early days still ...

Some Observations
Clearly it is a easy to ride bike, spec sheet does not tell you the real life story, never does.

For city ride with its very handy low end torque this is a very good bike to ride, has the RE feeling, despite plastics, build quality does not feel any bit lesser than a typical RE.

If one were thinking of a long term use of Hunter , then rear suspension tuning and better Tyres would be the only thing to change.

Suspension is not bad for single rider, since the footpeg is rear set, i can easily stand and jump over any hump or hurdle, its that easy to ride. You cannot do that with bikes with cruiser like footpegs - hence I did not like the Honda highness or metor (personal choice). And no the 150mmm ground clearance was not a concern, never scraped despite riding it roughly. The advantage is it feels very planted.

Yes for pillion it is too firm, big flaw in the suspension here - you will have to change the suspension tuning, preload is set to max; i will get it slightly adjusted during my first service due next week.

The real downside of this bike I felt was the tyres, if you are a first time biker riding very cautiously - you may not even notice anything, but if you want to ride a bit aggressively (not necessarily fast) around the turns, breaking hard, riding over bad patches without slowing down etc stuff - then you will immediately notice that the factory fitted tyres are not at all good enough.

And about fast bikes, Hunter 350 makes you feel it is a fast bike, its fun to ride of the blocks. The spec sheet will come into picture in the 60-100 acceleration only, for most use cases it is a fun bike, more fun than any RE so far - surprisingly with the same sober j-series engine with just 20ps power ! Full marks to RE for pulling it off.

Vibrations - have been told not to cross 80 until first service; so till 80 vibration is simply non existent. I do not intend to push it too fast either, I want to get better with my motorcycling ability with this size bikes for a couple of years at least before i push to 3 figure speeds.

All in all; full marks to RE for giving a very decent product in the 2 lac segment.

If they can address rear suspension and tyres in next avatar - Hunter 350 will maintain its segment leadership.

Another update.

My Hunter 350 is just over two months old now, of which there was 1 month of no riding due to a leg injury I had (not related to bike).

The bike saw a slightly noticeable smoothness after the scheduled 45 days 1st service when I had done barely 450kms, until which I consciously did not ride fast.

After the service, I took it for a few short spins around the city - I have not done any long ride yet.

Observations

The bike is fast (feels so) of the blocks, same as I had observed earlier n first impression.

I have only done 90kmph, because

• I have not really hit a proper highway that supports good speeds
• Also the bike does not urge you to accelerate past 85-90, beyond 75-80 I felt the acceleration is not so engaging
• And more importantly I am also not keen on pushing as I want to ride more before I start doing 100-110 on a motorcycle

Mileage !!!
One interesting thing happened during a recent spin, where I did 220kms, it was kind of unplanned, of this about 70% distance was not in city traffic, I filled up the tank and started, in 2 days time I again did a 127km spin again about 2/3rds distance was not in city traffic (outskirts), after 347 kms when It was yet to show the Reserve indication, I filled it up again - it filled up at 7.8 liters !!

I had already tracked the odometer to be quite accurate and I can vouch the 347kms almost exactly matched google map distance.

That means I got a FE of 44kmpl during this spin spread across 2 rides where roughly 2/3rd distance was outside city limits - but not exactly highway conditions. I usually rode in 60-80kmph range as the roads permitted, occasionally held up to 90kmph.

I usually am not particular or picky about FE but this was just to see what the new bike offers. In city limits it has been usually around ~ 37-38.

All said, I have merely clocked 1550kms so far.

Brakes
The front brake has been more reliable in my experience , the rear break when I occasionally only used the leg break - was not so very confidence inspiring, am not sure why.


Learning ...
I am trying to deal with crosswinds, I bought a safety jacket with Level 2 protection (my jacket model does find a mention in Team bhp (Royal Enfield launches riding jacket made from recycled plastic)), but still learning to deal with crosswinds, I weigh just 60kgs at 181cm height, a skinny person, I feel the crosswinds does affect me right now and I am requiring to slow down and slide to the left a bit whenever crosswind gets heavy on me. I do not know yet if crosswinds plays differently based on rider build being skinny or otherwise etc.

I did try leaning forward - a little more aggressively, it helped a bit, but am not used to that riding position so could not hold that for long.

Any tips from experienced riders are welcome wrt to crosswinds and headwinds.

I do have the company standard windshield.

Another learning was, I picked up L size helmet because I felt the M size was too tight, but then realized that it is better to have a tighter helmet and deal with that inconvenience. When the crosswinds got heavy I could feel the helmet wobble ever so slightly, it was not as if It was shaking, but just that at 80-90 speed when in breezy conditions I realized the value of snug fit helmet and realized it the hard way, the discomfort of the slight wobble scared the shit out of me initially - but then later got the assurance that it was a mere sensation as it was not a snug fit.

Am looking to get a snug-fit helmet, especially with the Motoverse Goa ride (from Bengaluru where I reside) coming up in November. Which am eagerly looking forward to, thanks to Arun sir GM of Accelerate Motors and lead of the very active Accelerate Motors club for infusing confidence in new riders like me, that I signed up for such a long ride.

I might retain the current helmet for city commute where snug fit feels very annoying.

Engine heating
I found that the bike is happy for an hour or hour plus. Only once after about 90kms of continuous riding, I felt a little bit of engine heat, it was not uncomfortable at all. So far, so good !

Suspension and tires
My observation on suspension remains more or less the same as initial impression. I did feel the advantage of the firm suspension on the occasional spins outside the city, although it can still do with a better rear suspension.

Same goes with the tires, am not experienced wrt motorcycling, but I can tell that the bike can do with better tires. My own confidence with cornering abilities is slowly growing, it is holding up alright but felt it could have been better.

All in all am happy I picked up the hunter instead of waiting for Himalayan 450, as I can learn with this smaller and easier to handle bike. As I learn with experience, I can better assess after couple of years maybe as to what kind of bike suits me best.

[czar6502]

Hi! I own a Royal Enfield hunter 350 in Bangalore. Its been moderately smooth sailing so far.
The motorcycle came with stock Ceat Zoom 110/70 R17 on the front and Ceat Zoom 140/70 R17 on the rear. These are not particularly bad, but neither are they great when it comes to grip during wet conditions. They are not very confidence inducing either. I am looking to change the tyres soon and am interested in going with Verdestein Centuaro ST 120/70 R17 for the front and the same with 150/70 R17 for the rear.
Kindly advise if it is okay to increase the tyre profile on this motorcycle and also suggest any tried and tested alternatives.
Thank you!

[cormodore]

Third Service or One year update:

The bike has run around 5500KM in the last one year and nothing major to complain about except from chain rotation kind of sound coming from the front brake when pressed.

Mileage was always around ~35KMPL in the last one year.

Although there was couple of weeks left of mandatory year service, I had a scheduled travel, and gave the bike for the service a bit early, with major complaint being the sound from the front brake.

Scheduled an appointment on Nov 27. I was promptly attended with a promised delivery around noon. Couple of hours later, I get a call that both the brake pads and clutch cable went kaput and I need to replace.

I asked the SA, what would be the general life of the pads and cable to which the response was "it depends on the usage". I was (Life of 5K KM's for brake pads is certainly less)

I gave a go ahead to change and below is the damage to my wallet.


Post the service, the brake noise from the front and rear is gone. Some of the Hunter 350 users including me have commented about a faint noise coming from the rear brake since the day 1 of purchase, even that is gone.

The clutch hardness is also gone and is now super smooth.

Overall I sense that RE must have used inferior brake pads and clutch cable in Hunter 350, and instead of recall, they are making the customer pay as part of the service.

Anyways, the bike is smooth with no other major or faint additional sounds.