We Rode Them All & Ranked Them | Honda vs Royal Enfield
this is the ultimate 350c shootout we have got every model Royal Enfield 350 we've got the hunter the Metea the bullet and the classic and we've got the all new Honda GB 350s and in this video we're going to compare these bikes and decide which is our favorite before Honda introduced the GB 350s to the UK and EU markets there were only the Royal Enfield 350s to choose from so the most obvious starting point is the engine now these Royal enfields produce 20.2 brake horsepower whereas this Honda produces a little bit more 20.7 that's nothing to split hairs about really uh the torque figures Peak at 27 Newton met at 4,000 RPM on the Royal enfields and the Honda has a little bit more 29 uh Newton met which Peaks lower down in the r range at 3,000 RPM and the lower the peak torque the better because that gives you that level low down grunty chug chug chug chug which is what you're looking for in a motorcycle of this size now aside from the performance of the engine let's talk about the looks now the Honda GB 350 has the best looking Honda engine I've seen in a long time uh apart from the CB 1100 RS which we don't get in this country anymore this is a fantastic looking engine but my only quarm was does it look as good as a Royal Enfield 350 and it really is a close call I think the engine in the classic 350 is one of the best looking modern classic engines on the market it really is a good looking engine the polished finish is really really pretty and on the left hand side of the bike I think it's just so goodlooking and normally bikes are less good looking on the left hand side than they are on the right um but I can definitely say the engine on the left hand side on the Royal Enfield is better looking than the Honda just about that's in my opinion of course um but obviously in the different models of Royal Enfield you don't all have this polished metal look some of them have got this sort of um black matte finish that you've got on this bullet 350 here and again on the rest of these 350s we've got here it's not too dissimilar to the GB 350s engine um that's got a slightly less matte finish on the engine it's a little bit more shiny this is like a ripple paint um the beauty of having a black engine is that it's easier to clean and also it doesn't tarnish whereas a polished metal engine you do see some of these Royal infils if they've not been mously looked after um we saw a few in India they start to get a bit of pitting and corrosion on the engine that won't happen on these black versions of course but if you do have a polished metal engine you've got to look after it so whilst it may look nicer it only looks nice when you look after it so coming on to the god s di in phone hello oh hello Arnold What's that you wanted to subscribe you want to do it now okay I want to said do it now the next thing is the mudguards because a mud guard has a purpose which is to protect the motorbike from mud water wetness on the road and the mud guard on the GB 350 doesn't do a particularly good job at doing that as you can see the engine is completely filthy um it could be classes two-tone brown and black because it's covered in mud um so this needs a longer mud guard like you get on the CL classic 350 and they do have a classic version of this bike available in India and in Japan which does have a very similar front mud guard to this but the difference is that even though this is a short mud guard you can say the same if I run over here and look at the Metea and the hunter whereas they've got a shorter front mud guard but they've got a mudguard extender down on the bottom so it still protects the engine I do think they don't look particularly nice having a mud guard extender and you might as well just put a bigger mud guard on to start with but if Honda wanted to sort of solve that issue perhaps there is a a aftermarket mudguard um extender available one of the most pleasing things that I found out notice straight away about the Honda is the steering geometry now if you look at the angles of the fork they're less steep than they are on the Royal enfields particularly the Hun the end which are very much steeper and the steeper they are the more sharp the steering and there becomes a point where the steering can get too sharp which I would say is just on that Verge on the hunter whereas this at 27° and a longer Trail I won't go into the technical details but this makes more stable handling and it's stable in the corners as well as on the Straits and I think this makes for a much nicer ride uh the classic 350s are fine but again they're they're a bit steeper and at higher speed you can notice that twitchiness a little bit more but on this it's fine so let's have a look at seating position because you do need to sit on the motorbike believe it or not now the Honda has a what I would call a semi sporty seating position and uh it feels fine and my knees are fair barly bent it looks like that it's okay I mean been riding around for quite a lot and it's fine whereas the classic 350 as you can see your feet are further forwards and that's much more comfortable I like that a lot more if we had this seating position with that Ray and Trail this would be better uh it's exactly the same on the bullet um the bullet kind of gets ignored a bit because of the classic 350 but they basically this same bike different mud guard and a different seat there's not a lot to it so that's the bullet uh the meteor is even more further forwards that's really comfortable actually I like that that's a nice riding position oo I like this yeah I do prefer my feet a little bit further forward than further back the hunter is again more sporty a bit more light the Honda in terms of leg position uh but you do feel that uh rake on the steering the the front wheel feels very close to you so seating wise this would be the last in my opinion that's the most comfortable this is very comfortable and the Honda for me is probably less comfortable so second bottom for comfort in terms of leg position now in terms of handling the Honda is a really nice handling bike it's very confident inspiring and you definitely can have a lot of fun in the twisty Lanes in the countryside um I actually rode this bike in Japan and I rode it up some mountains and back down again and it was fantastic fun and we've done a lot of riding on the classic 350 as well we rode this bike all across uh South India in Goa and caraka and it was just fantastic it really is a brilliant all round bike you can throw anything at it you can go off road you can go over big bumps you can sort of go in and out of traffic it's a great handling bike it's really really fun to ride it's brilliant um the bullet handles very similar it's it's lovely really is a nice bike to ride the meteor is similar in terms of the way it's laid out but because of the different riding position the handling feels slightly different you feel a bit more relaxed uh it's a bit more of a cruiser style this bike so this is sort of like a miniature um Harley-Davidson if you like um I don't know why Harley Dav and aren't making a small capacity actual Cruiser and not that horrible ugly thing that they make um in India and also they make them in Japan as well but they're different they're actually a Benelli of all things getting sidetracked but the hunter is probably the most Dy of them all it's got the smallest Wheels it's got the steepest rake so this is the twitchi bike of the lineup here um it's probably more suited to a shorter Rider because of the the height of it and the compactness um when we sit on it we look like big silly circus Apes um so in terms of if you want a sort of slightly more modern modern classic styling the Hunter and the GB 350 might be the on to choose uh but it depends on your height as well now when we were riding across India we did find that on the classic 350 after long days of riding after five or 6 hours we did have a sore bum and saw back um and I think that the seat perhaps if it was a touring seat and it was a little bit more plush we might have been less sore in the buttocks um and if it was a flat bench seat as well it would have given us more room to sort of move around and get to the right position for our height we sort of found that often we were sort of sat on this seam here to try and stretch our legs a bit um the bullet I think would be better in that sense because of this seat because there's no seam in between uh and this is a lovely looking seat isn't it it really does look good um the meteor perhaps would have been more comfortable for the ride because you got longer uh sort of further forward foot position and your arms are slightly wider out so for someone who's over 6t perhaps this is the more comfortable bike um depends where you want to sit now the seat on the hunter is quite plush actually um this is quite a comfortable seat whereas if you compare it to the GB 350 whilst that is also comfortable the um padded is slightly less so it's not as padded but it's kind of got a nice shape to it and you've got plenty of room to move around uh for different heights of Rider now we both agree that really when you're choosing any one of these bikes the number one factor is looks and we'll go into that in a second uh but from our point of view to rank these bikes now let's start eliminating as we go uh in terms of the the Steep brake and the handling and that slightly twitchiness and less stability you get the hunter comes bottom of our ranking and also in terms of looks so it's quite modern we're not so much into the modern bikes then we move on the Honda is kind of the most similar to the hunter yet it also looks a lot prettier in our opinion it looks more balanced it's got a nice shape to it and it's quite a good-sized bike we're big guys and we find riding this Honda absolutely fine so as I said it's down to looks and it's very subjective isn't it if you're choosing between these 350s it's not really a question of specs because they're all so similar on paper um it really comes down mainly to looks I would say and perhaps handling so talking about handling um I think the Honda Pips it on the handling front because of the steering geometry and the wheelbase and all that sort of thing I'd say this comes first followed by the classic and the bullet uh the hunter handles a little bit too Twitchy the wheelbase is a bit short you got a kind of a fat front tire and it's very steep rake so that's the sort of least enjoyable riding uh bike in in our opinion because it's a bit too Twitchy some people like that sort of handling um and then it comes down really to the looks now one of the things that you have to look at when you're riding a lot is the speedometer and on the Honda it's it's got an analog one which is nice but it's offset and it looks a bit cheap so I don't like that um this is a beautiful one it's in the center it's very beautifully designed so this is very nice plus that headlight same on the bullet this has got an analog one in a more modern style and it's really offset so that's that's out of the question for us as is this one that's offset and the same design as that so that ruls that out that's a shame um let's go on to the next Factor when it comes to the exhaust I think the classic 350 has definitely got the most beautiful exhaust out of the five and this one is in Chrome which just looks fantastic it's a peash shho a design it's very classic it's very beautiful the bullet 350 has got the same exhaust but this one is black and the black finish that Royal eni would use is very hard wear ing it's going to stand up the test of time very nicely um the meteor over there has got a nice exhaust it's very sort of um Cruiser esque styling proper old school Cruiser looks uh again in the same black finish the Hunter and the GB 350 I'd say are on par with the worst looking exhausts out of the five in terms of the way they all sound they're not too dissimilar because they all have to go through the same uh Euro 5 plus regulations they don't sound as good as they could do um but I would say the Hunter and the GB 350 are kind of on par in the looks of the exhaust um I like the fact that this has got a Chrome heat shield that looks nice um but this sort of black finish that Honda used I think over time doesn't stand up the test of the weather and the uh rain Etc as well as that black finish that Royal Enfield used in terms of the fuel tank the Honda has got a very nice looking tank when you're r riding the bike and looking down it's got some interesting shapes it's a nice thing to look down upon um from the side I would say the classic 350 has got a nicer looking fuel tank uh but when you're on top of the bike it's a little bit less interesting when you look down upon it uh there's not so much going on the tank on the bullet is exactly the same as the classic 350 but you've got a different uh Royal Enfield badge on the side which is very nice um rather than um the sort of standard Royal Enfield badge this is very cool looking it's nice to have something different um the meteor they've gone for that sort of trying to look like a cruiser a bit sort of Harley styled tank um but it's very round and it's very oval shaped so it does look a little bit like an Easter egg um but it's not bad looking it's not bad looking I like that color as well very nice um the hunter is slightly similar shapes to the GB 350 it's a bit narrower um it's got a sort of carve out of the side it's not a bad looking tank actually so uh overall it'd be hard to choose between the classic 350 and the Honda I think now looking at the headlights and the forks uh they've all got conventional right way up Forks which is good cuz that's what you want on this sort of motorcycle now they've all got the same the Royal enil all got the same headlight at the front looking forward but on top it's slightly different so this has got a matte finish this has got a bit of a chrome bezel if you like and a shiny finish that's nicer this is really beautiful you've got this lovely Peak design across there and then it's incorporated into this lovely um speedometer thing here with two little lights there that and then same on the classic but coming to the Honda you've got this kind of very modern looking headlight with these sort of plastic bits for the sake of design uh so that's the least favorite so the classic and the bullet win on that front now if price price comes into consideration which it does when you're buying a motorcycle the cheapest is the hunter at 3899 and there's only £725 in it from the cheapest bike here to the most expensive which is the bullet at 4625 the new Honda is only1 more than the hunter so this is a really well priced bike and they've come in right at the correct price point I think to compete with royal nfield but between the rest of the models there's not much in it you know the meteor is about 50 more than the GB 350 the classic is just under 4 and a half so it's hard to say but perhaps if you were on the fence and you were thinking oh I really want the classic but now I've kind of fancied this Honda maybe the price might be the Tipping Point but also styling Etc but if price is a factor obviously the hunter wins cuz it's the cheapest but they're all not that far apart in terms of the forks again these are lovely and I like the Gators on that but I really love these uh covers these metal covers on the stanions here and here so for me it's between the bullet and the classic for the winner on the forks right so we're going to get to the finale now now as I said it's not all about the specs they're all very similar the brakes are all pretty much the same the engines feel pretty much the same so any one of them is going to be great uh but we've got to rank them so let's start with this one this would come bottom for us because of the steering geometry and the looks a little bit too modern a little bit too small uh this comes next bottom and it's just cuz it doesn't look quite as cool as the other two uh it's a good bike don't get me wrong but I think the overall Aesthetics of the bike don't quite get it as well as the classic and the bullet now between the bullet and the classic again it's down to Aesthetics this seat although it's very comfortable isn't particularly goodlooking whereas this seat looks cool uh so really the classic winds on the seat and also the rear mud guard design on this is different from that and this looks nicer in my opinion so overall I think the classic 350 just Pips it over the bullet 350 for us so coming to the Honda from the royal Enfield lineup so out of the royal enfields for me it's the classic 350 that would be the one we would go for and rank the highest what about the Honda the new kid on the block now we're looking at the GB 350s if we had sat here the GB 350 c c for classic which looks much more like the classic 350 then it would be a very very hard choice there's elements of this bike that I like more than the Royal enfields the steering geometry being one of them the engine actually we didn't cover that uh on this it's got a higher top speed you can do 70 in fourth gear on this and then fifth gear it's like a really long gear for sort of cruising on the motorways and things like that so is a faster motorcycle with top speed acceleration wise they're about the same but when this is cold it's a little bit lumpy and that's down to probably the fueling to get it through all these new emissions tests and things so it doesn't help manufacturers make run bikes run smoothly um so overall and again the classic uh version of this has the same uh slightly off-centered cheap looking dial so that's a shame cuz that's beautiful so but we've got this here in front of us so this is what we're comparing so between the two if I had to part with my money I would choose the classic 350 because overall it's a beautiful looking motorcycle perfect mud guards beautiful engine lovely classic spoked wheels beautiful exhaust pipe everything's just right you can always change a few little things like handlebars if you want to and make it your own if only that had the rake and trail of this that would be even better but overall uh weighing different things up I'd say that just Pips it over this uh and again the mud guards on this are not particularly functional that you know they're so sort of modern looking they don't do a lot so that that's that's got so many more pluses that there has to be be the winner of this shootout but let us know what you think
2025-02-16 07:11
