Test Ride RE Meteor 350

[Mscb1100_imp]

After seeing the Meteor up close at the Moto America this weekend I went by my local dealer to test ride one today.
I was very impressed with the fit and finish of the bike. I would say it rivals any new Honda or Kawasaki I've seen recently.

The engine has about 20 hp, and the instrument cluster worked well.
I did get a few false 1st gear engaged readings, at stop lights when it was still in nuetral

The heel and toe shifter is very awkwardly arranged. It was almost impossible to get my toe under to upshift, so I just used the rear pedal for 2-5.
The shocks and forks worked well, and the ride was nice and compliant.
This was a test bike with only 3 miles so I didn't push it too hard.

Overall i thought it would be a good bike for someone under 200 lbs and less than 5'11. I have a 30 inch inseam and would have to have the seat rebuilt to provide more run for me to move back just 1 inch for a perfect seating position. If you fit into that category this would be a fun bike to hop on and ride around 2 lane roads and stay under 60. It has a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty per the dealer.

 

[Cormanus]

Thanks mscb. Fun test riding bikes, isn't it?

 

[Mscb1100_imp]

Thanks mscb. Fun test riding bikes, isn't it?

Yes, it is. If this little fellow could double its hp to 40 you couldn’t keep them in stock, imho.

 

[furious_blue_imp]

I was surprised to hear (here) that they are bringing this into the USA. The Honda CB350 H'Ness was made to compete with the Meteor, I hear.. the 'Highness' takes on the 'Royal', gotta love the humor. I wonder if Honda will bother trying to bring the CB350 into the USA if the Meteor gains traction.
My CBR250R makes a claimed 22HP and I find it the bare minimum that I'll take for a general street bike, the Meteor and CB350 at 20 HP.. I dunno...
Maybe hotrodding could bring the HP up to 22..
I found it amusing, the amount of money that people were spending to get a 10% increase in HP out of the CBR250R for street use (not racing).. whoa.. 24 HP ! woot !

 

[Cormanus]

Nice looking bike too, I think. Send one to Powerdubs. He’ll soon have it purring at 40hp or more.

 

[tod.branko_imp]

I reckon a little turbocharger would be great for this platform, Honda and RE alike. I did some deeper digging on the CB350 as I am planning to import one, and it's slow. Really slow. 0-60mph takes over 10s, it will hit 75mph in about a minute in top gear, and then you just need to pray not to have to overtake anyone. The acceleration could possibly be sorted out with a larger sprocket in the rear, but how much less than 75 is one willing to do on a highway in modern world? So an addition of an oil-cooler and a small turbo just may provide the kick it needs

'14 CB1100 STD 5 speed

 

[Cormanus]

Except on maybe one road in Australia, if the law found you doing 75 mph on a highway you’d cop a fine. Our maximum speed limit is 110 kph or 70 mph.

 

[tod.branko_imp]

Except on maybe one road in Australia, if the law found you doing 75 mph on a highway you’d cop a fine. Our maximum speed limit is 110 kph or 70 mph.

Really? How do you get anywhere at that speed? I have never been, but I imagine Australia as a big country with a lot of space that needs to be crossed to get from A to B.
Our highways are limited to 140 once you cross down south to Abu Dhabi it opens to 160.

'14 CB1100 STD 5 speed

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Except on maybe one road in Australia, if the law found you doing 75 mph on a highway you’d cop a fine. Our maximum speed limit is 110 kph or 70 mph.

Really? How do you get anywhere at that speed? I have never been, but I imagine Australia as a big country with a lot of space that needs to be crossed to get from A to B.
Our highways are limited to 140 once you cross down south to Abu Dhabi it opens to 160.

'14 CB1100 STD 5 speed

You almost make it sound so slow that drivers are going backwards.

 

[tod.branko_imp]

Except on maybe one road in Australia, if the law found you doing 75 mph on a highway you’d cop a fine. Our maximum speed limit is 110 kph or 70 mph.

Really? How do you get anywhere at that speed? I have never been, but I imagine Australia as a big country with a lot of space that needs to be crossed to get from A to B.
Our highways are limited to 140 once you cross down south to Abu Dhabi it opens to 160.

'14 CB1100 STD 5 speed

You almost make it sound so slow that drivers are going backwards.

You almost make it sound so slow that drivers are going backwards. LOL, that was not my intention. The thing is here traffic is fast everywhere. The lowest speed limit anywhere is 60, and that's only in very sharp turns, otherwise 80 is the minimum

'14 CB1100 STD 5 speed

 

[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!:angel: