Royal Enfield Meteor 350 coming to the U.S.

[Richard230]

My thought is why? The bike only has 20 hp on a good day and is likely to sell for somewhere around $5K based upon what RE sells their 410cc Himalayan for here ($6K). Sounds like a looser to me in our market, especially as almost all RE dealers in the U.S. are multi-line shops with little real interest in the brand: https://www.roadracingworld.com/news...north-america/

[emlevy]

Kawasaki’s largest selling bike in the U.S. for many years was the diminutive Ninja 250. There’s a market here for small, less intimidating bikes. Whether the RE will be successful is uncertain, but I imagine they’ll find quite a few buyers if the price point is attractive.

[Lag]

I would imagine sells well in the Asian Market, so its an easy way to broaden there offering by bringing it to NA,. Not sure it will sell this side of the pond thou,,!!

I wonder why they are dragging out there 650 ADV bike, it was slated for 2020 and now 2021, last I heard,,!! The Himalayan is grossly under powered especially if you have to transit on freeways to get to the backroads which is most of the world,,. That 650 segment is ripe but you need double the 25 HP of the Himalayan?

Did Royal Enfield just rule-out the rumored Himalayan 650?

https://indianautosblog.com/royal-en...an-650-p320604

[Lag]

I don't mean to hijack the topic but I think that they are really missing the boat on this 650 launch,,. There's been a lot of interest sparked by the popularity of the mid sized ADV and certain events like the interest and following of Itchy Boots and other YouTubers, sales are up in the UK,,. Royal Infield's booth at the bike show garnered a lot of attention and everyone was asking the same question,,.

We have a friend that rides that Himalayan and he has trouble keeping up with the group as well as the speed limit on certain sections of the Mountain Hwy's when we transit between logging roads, he does well with it off road however most urban dwellers need to pound the asphalt prior to getting anywhere?

[Richard230]

I think the Himalayan is a great bike for plodding around the backwoods, but not for trying to keep up with traffic on interstate freeways. Sometimes you just have to buy a vehicle and use it the way the manufacturer intended. If you will be using it in a different way, buy one that better fits your riding style. There are plenty of choices on the market to choose from and plenty of YouTube reviews to see what others think of the vehicle.

[Royce]

There is another way to look at the entire motorcycling lifestyle. Most places in the world, aside from the US, do not have the high-speed, limited-access, well-maintained road network, coupled with the wide open spaces to use that road network to its fullest. We Americans are blessed with those roads and that wide-openness and we sometimes don't realize how crowded the rest of the world is. I believe bikes built for less than four-lane superslabs and built for tight city maneuvering and tight parking conditions are the ideal way to go for most of the world ... and for a sizable population here in the US who are trying to avoid the typical American motoring experience.

Royal Enfield will never compete with Harley, Honda or BMW, but they can survive in the US by aiming squarely at a niche market. I think they will do well here. If I ever buy another motorcycle it will be something similar in size to a 350cc RE or a 310cc BMW.

[Lag]

Oh I agree, a bike and what its intended for is a personal choice however its handy if it does more then one thing, where I live multi purpose makes a difference,.
There are highway's all over the world, not just in the USA, even a 500 CBX, Versys 300 or a 310GS will handle a combinations of stints on a hwy combined with off road sections, perhaps the Himalayan is in a category of its own,,.

The state-run company National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) recently completed the construction of 3,979km of national highways in the financial year of 2019-20.

Count the bikes,,!!

[Richard230]

The Himalayan seems to have a top speed of about 80 mph, while the Meteor has a top speed of 75 mph - both indicated on their speedometers, according to YouTube reviews. Practical cruising speeds on both bikes are between 55 and 65 mph.

[Lag]

Ya thats pretty good,,. The Himalayan guy that was with us told someone he had his flat out in 5th (top gear) going up this grade and he started falling way back,,. We were going 10 kph below the speed limit at 110 kph,,. It was a pretty good grade but by comparison I recall passing a truck that was hugging the inside lane and I just turned the throttle in sixth gear and had no problem accelerating with the F700GS,,.

Interesting, I counted seven bikes in the Indian freeway photo,,. Maybe that was the seven Harleys they sold there last year,,!!

[scf]

If the SR400 couldn’t sell many bikes in the US and has now been discontinued I cannot imagine the Meteor selling well.
Of course I could be wrong. EDIT: but I don’t think so.

[petespace1]

If the SR400 couldn’t sell many bikes in the US and has now been discontinued I cannot imagine the Meteor selling well.
Of course I could be wrong. EDIT: but I don’t think so.

Wonder if it was to do with emissions regarding the SR400 as it was one of the cult bikes in the world, like the W650 ( now W800).
Its a strange thing motorcycle popularity.
Here in Oz the Suzuki SV650 was a mega hit but the next version the Galdius 650 failed miserably, now the SV 650 is back and not sure how that's going.
Take the Vstrom 650 again a suzy did horribly and there was much dealer discounting and it was ugly as, but now it seems to be doing well for the last several years.
On some figures quoted somewhere not sure what period though, think it was June 2020, the RE interceptor was the largest selling bike in the UK.

[MGD109]

Oh I agree, a bike and what its intended for is a personal choice however its handy if it does more then one thing, where I live multi purpose makes a difference,.
There are highway's all over the world, not just in the USA, even a 500 CBX, Versys 300 or a 310GS will handle a combinations of stints on a hwy combined with off road sections, perhaps the Himalayan is in a category of its own,,.

The state-run company National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) recently completed the construction of 3,979km of national highways in the financial year of 2019-20.

Count the bikes,,!!

I've worked in India, and would never recognize the picture above, This is how I will always remember it absolutely rammed with traffic 24 hours a day. Lots of bikes and scooters, no obvious rules except don't hit the cows, yes in amongst traffic such as this there are free range cows! Kinda has to been seen/experienced to be believed.

[Richard230]

I've worked in India, and would never recognize the picture above, This is how I will always remember it absolutely rammed with traffic 24 hours a day. Lots of bikes and scooters, no obvious rules except don't hit the cows, yes in amongst traffic such as this there are free range cows! Kinda has to been seen/experienced to be believed.

That picture reminded me of commute traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area last year (without the cows, of course). This year the freeway commute traffic looks more like the picture that Lag posted.

[Daboo]

I've spent time on mission trips in Tanzania, Kenya, Taiwan, Japan and Thailand. Even a 400cc bike is not in its environment. Most are scooters around 125-175ccs. Thousands and thousands of them.

Chris