The Royal Enfield Meteor is here. Or rather, it’s not here, it’s in India. But, it’s finally on the market.
The Meteor is Royal Enfield’s much-awaited replacement for the Bullet 350 series, which got the axe due to updated emissions regulations. Air-cooled single-cylinder engines like the 350 are out, right? Wrong. The Meteor also uses an air-cooled 350 single, although it’s more advanced than the old Bullet engines, which had roots going back decades into Royal Enfield’s history.
The Meteor uses a fuel-injected single, with five-speed gearbox and counterbalancer, for smoother operation. It makes roughly 20 horsepower and 20 pound-feet of torque in its Indian configuration (those numbers might change in other markets, if re-tuned for different emissions regs). The Meteor has a 20-litre fuel tank, and weighs about 191 kilos dry. Seat height is a claimed 765 mm. There’s a 19-inch front wheel and 17-inch rear (with cast rims), and a beefy 300 mm disc up front. ABS will likely be standard in the EU, at least, and probably everywhere else.
The Meteor has an old-school tube steel frame, and dual rear shocks. Front forks are conventional 41 mm telescopic units. Supposedly, there’s LED lighting front and rear. The gauges have an analogue speedo and other functions have LCD readout.
All in all, it’s in line with modern budget bikes, although this would be considered a fairly flash machine in India. Royal Enfield says it was co-developed through its Indian and British design centres, no doubt with some styling influence from Japan as well (it certainly looks like a budget Japanese cruiser).Â
It’s supposedly available for order now in India, and coming to Europe for 2021. As for Canada? It’s not on the North American website yet, although it will likely come here sooner or later. Whether or not you can find a dealer selling it, is another question.
