Gorgeous & Surprising | Royal Enfield Hunter 350 First Ride

[@McHayes76]

I test rode it and immediately knew I was gonna buy the thing :-) It's not about top speed, or accelerating ike mad. It's about that feeling you're truly riding a motorbike. B-roads are its habitat. It loves the area between 50 and 90-100 km/h. Stringing together the bends. I've hd 600(s, I've had a 125 and the Hunter is right in that sweet spot. Lovely, lovely bike.

[@onthebackwheel]

Sounds like you are riding it exactly to its purpose mate, there's something to be said about that

[@IanSmart-g6y]

One of the key features of this type of bike is the value proposition. Not only are they inexpensive to buy but maintenance costs are very reasonable, especially if you do your own maintenance.

[@onthebackwheel]

💯

[@jamesmair2512]

Hi there, great video! I've had my Hunter for a year now, no problems. Here in the north of Scotland it's brilliant on our little twisty roads. Highly recommended, just enjoy the ride, don't worry about the power.

[@onthebackwheel]

Good to hear mate. Really enjoying this one

[@TheSar]

Loves it! How good are little bikes. I've been riding for ~20 years and had some big and powerful bikes. I'm now working my way backwards and have a CFMoto 450MT for dirt and camping / touring and a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 for road and urban. Thrashing these little bikes is so engaging and so enjoyable.

[@onthebackwheel]

Sounds like a great combo mate with those 2 bikes. The 650 sounds like it would be a near perfect size. Can't wait to try out the 450MT too

[@TheSar]

@@onthebackwheel You are going to love the 450MT dude. It's a cracker

[@skotty1962]

I own one of these. Test rode one and fell in love. Great little commuter and to get back into riding after 2 decades break. Agree with everything you said. Cheap to own. Service it yourself. Lots of accessories. Great fun. (But I would like a tourer in the garage as well).

[@onthebackwheel]

Nice mate. What mileage are you getting? I've also come to the conclusion you pretty well need multiple bikes. I've gone the adv bike to try cover all bases as best I can ATM

[@skotty1962]

@@onthebackwheel Mileage gets better as you run them in. The Ecu is preprogrammed to run rich at first then drop it leaner at 500ks and 1000ks etc. Something like that. Engine revs out better once run in.

[@lyndenransley2597]

Absolutely love my little Hunter .. great around town and countryside. I just added a Shotgun 650 for the wide open highways … perfect!

[@meansoftolerance]

Same here mate. 25 years without a motorbike and for the last 15 months I’ve been riding this lovely bike. Fell in love with the bike after the test ride. Went into an existential crisis around 7/8.000 km (is this all there is? Will I get bored? Etc). Now on 14.000 km and I love every bit of it. No issues, very good mileage (depending how hard you are on the throttle) ….ride on

[@stevesane800]

Wow, crazy man Curtis has got an RE HNTR to test! I've had one & whilst it isn't a powerhouse, man, I had fun & it taught me to slow down to really enjoy my riding even on a bigger engined bike. I really don't need to be doing more than the speed limit everywhere these days The little Classic 350 taught me something about the magic of riding. Cheers Curtis.

[@onthebackwheel]

Well there you go, small world! You're right, once you slow down it all starts to make sense

[@pinkiewerewolf]

I believe the new RE's have a three year warranty as well, just awesome move there. I rode the Classic 350 and Scram 411 at the Giant Loop Rally last Summer they were a blast. I really enjoyed them both but the Scram had that extra fun factor that made hooning around a lot of fun. Good stuff Curtis! Since I bought the Bullet 500 I have to say owners have been right, these bikes have a Zen, or therapeutic aspect when we ride them. Not everyone will be into it but if you want to de-stress without the rush of adrenaline then these bikes have that in their DNA. My bike needs some work and I knew that going into it, (depending on parts availability since they haven't made the Bullet 500 since 2020) that will be the deciding factor on if I keep it. So far I'm having fun back road riding and putzing along. It's dirt cheap to insure and run, even in California.... so it might be staying, just for that.

[@onthebackwheel]

You nailed it Pinky, zen. You just soak it in and enjoy what's going on. I think the 500 motor would be pretty spot on, this is a bit lacking

[@paulemma8125]

I was on mine last night for a spin and I really didn’t feel like riding. After 15 minutes I couldn’t get off I was having so much fun. True not a speed demon but sure is fun bike to ride.

[@onthebackwheel]

I'm finding this to be good fun too!

[@Andrew-qc9xw]

Totally agree with you about the purpose of this style of motorcycle. As a daily rider and a weekend cruiser, they’re ideal. Regarding the tyres, many years ago I had CEAT tyres fitted to my car and the salesman said it was pronounced “cheat”.

[@jimperry4420]

Say-ott

[@lowend5566]

I put 15,000 km on the Ceat tyres that came stock on my Enfield Meteor. I only got 9000 km out of the Michelins on my Tiger 900. Horses for courses I guess.

[@powertrip1050]

...another type of fun on two wheels...or an option for learners. Good on you Curtis, for giving this one a go! ....now back in the garage and get the green beastie ready for action! 😂

[@onthebackwheel]

Mate been working on the green meany! Just got to order a new electric start switch and she's good to go

[@powertrip1050]

@onthebackwheel awesome! And remember, cornering with these smaller bikes...don't brake, take one gear higher 😃..it works until the chassis says "are you serious??!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣...so much fun!!

[@onthebackwheel]

@@powertrip1050 so, full send?😂

[@powertrip1050]

@@onthebackwheel 🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍

[@billblogs8206]

It would be a great bike around town where you don't need to sit on highway speeds or overtake. I had a 650 interceptor, was quite a nice bike and had one of the best notes of any bike. Biggest problem is the Enfields are made for little Indian fellas, not bigger Aussie blokes and the suspension suffers.

[@onthebackwheel]

True mate. Cheap motoring, well under 3l/100 too

[@lachlancannard]

Wish I had the room in the garage to add a Bullet 350.

[@onthebackwheel]

Nice looking bikes

[@grantleyteakle634]

Smaller bikes are so much fun. Curtis could you do a review on the benelli Trk 702 x. Thanks.

[@onthebackwheel]

They certainly are mate. I'll see what I can do with Benelli 👍

[@stephenlittle8541]

Can you get your hands on CF moto 450- love to hear your thoughts .

[@onthebackwheel]

Mate I'm working on it. Hoping to get my hands on it and the Royal Enfield 450 ASAP

[@robbieandbeckie]

What will be the MPG?

[@onthebackwheel]

Only one tank down and very good. Was below 3 litres per 100 I think!

[@lowend5566]

Best I got on my 350 Meteor was 2.3 l/100km. Pretty useful.

[@onthebackwheel]

@@lowend5566 that's cheap motoring

[@frednerks1379]

Hi Curtis, Could I suggest that you cover up the number plate as at minute 15:38 I can read it to be a Victorian plate. The video showed that you were in an 80kph zone coming after Mt Glorious to the rest area for the walk around. I know that area very well and your 110 indicated run is a highly policed area. If I were you, I would pull the video, and blur out the plate and put it up again. The bike may be RE's but they know who they lent it to in that period of time and will nominate you as the Rider for the demerit points and the assoc big fine.

[@SomewhereInside]

My Versys Speedo indicates 100km , but on two different GPS units the indicated speed is actually 93 …with these Indian made Speedo units the margin is probably 20 per cent .

[@onthebackwheel]

Mate fair enough, blurred

[@edgartaylor5215]

Cos

[@SomewhereInside]

Trouble with such a low powered machine is the car crazed tailgaters. They will be whooping and frothing seeing a biker going so slow, just inches in front . Then there’s the quarry and logging trucks😮

[@onthebackwheel]

I agree, it's underpowered for the open road, seems alright around town though

[@ragimundvonwallat8961]

id like the cb350 to come to america, i cannot push myself to trust this brand

[@onthebackwheel]

They've got a good reputation for reliability now days

[@johnharris7353]

Too bad that it doesn't have a little more power! I think RE is really dumb in that regard!

[@onthebackwheel]

This is a design limitation more than the laws, it could make way more power and be under the power to weight. But 💯 agree with what you are saying. They are better than the old laws that's for sure

[@DiogenesOfCa]

I live in the states and I ride a Grom, people here will run you off the road for doing the speed limit.