Test Ride RE Meteor 350

[misterprofessionality]

For the life of me i cant fathom the thought process that results in putting a heel toe shifter on this bike...its such a strange choice. I would mod that to a toe shifter before leaving the dealer.

[tod.branko_imp]

For the life of me i cant fathom the thought process that results in putting a heel toe shifter on this bike...its such a strange choice. I would mod that to a toe shifter before leaving the dealer.

The reasons are a few. Firstly it's homage to the Classic 350 which always had a heel-toe shifter. And secondly in the core market (which is India) people ride these as their one and only vehicle so slavery often they are in flipflops which saves their toes from getting hurt, and then they may wear shiny clean shoes to work or a special occasion and a heel-toe shifter saves them from getting dirty.

'14 CB1100 STD 5 speed

[misterprofessionality]

Sure, but that's India. In the same way that we get different colorways in different markets, it would be simple enough to recognize that it doesn't make sense in our market and just ship the NA models with a toe shifter. Just like how you don't ship bikes to the US with metric speedometers.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Sure, but that's India. In the same way that we get different colorways in different markets, it would be simple enough to recognize that it doesn't make sense in our market and just ship the NA models with a toe shifter. Just like how you don't ship bikes to the US with metric speedometers.

I had an 'merican bike with a metric scale, but it was the minor scale.

Often in Canada we get ye olde world imperialistic mph scale, but it is the minor scale - unless, of course, the instrumentation is digital - then there is none.

[Mscb1100_imp]

In 1990 I purchased a 89 Kawasaki Eliminator 250, and I checked the specs to see how it compares to the RE 350

Twin parallel cylinders with 4 valves each cylinder with dual overhead cams to 1 cylinder 2 valves
30 HP to RE 20.2
342 lbs to 420 lbs
water cooled to air cooled.
6 spd to 5spd

2400 in 1989 to 4400 in 2021,
$2,400 in 1980 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $7,967.97 today, an increase of $5,567.97 over 41 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 2.97% per year between 1980 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 232.00%.

This means that today's prices are 3.32 times higher than average prices since 1980, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index. A dollar today only buys 30.12% of what it could buy back then.


I rode that bike based in Memphis TN all over west TN , eastern AR and northern AL for 3 years before moving on to a bigger bike.
I had no trouble keeping up with a bunch of larger displacement riders I rode with each weekend. I actually had to pull out the owners manual a few times to prove it was only a 250, all them thought it was at least a 500 cc bike.

[misterprofessionality]

Ah....such a cool bike for its time.. long before the "Eliminator" badge was forever tarnished by the wretched Eliminator 125.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Hmm, nice trip down memory lane Mscb1100. Thanks.

[LouA_imp]

A while back I had a '04 Ninja 250. I'd still have it if it had better forks, brakes, and 17 instead of 16 inch wheels. Yes it had carbs and yes it ran like a top.72 mpg!. Redline was 13k,down 1k from previous year. keeping up with highway traffic was a non issue. It was more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

[GoldOxide_imp]

A while back I had a '04 Ninja 250. I'd still have it if it had better forks, brakes, and 17 instead of 16 inch wheels. Yes it had carbs and yes it ran like a top.72 mpg!. Redline was 13k,down 1k from previous year. keeping up with highway traffic was a non issue. It was more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

I can't imagine how fun a barrel of monkeys would be, even those plastic ones.

I'll take the Ninja 250.

[LouA_imp]

An old mid 20th century American expression GoldOxide. (Yes, I'm an ol guy!). Oh,gosh,I hope I didn't offend PETA or some such!