Honda CB350 vs Royal Enfield Bullet 350: Image Comparison

Two retro bikes competing in the same segment, but how different are they?

Honda had recently launched their latest 350cc retro bike, the Honda CB350. The new bike competes directly with Royal Enfield’s most iconic  offering, the Royal Enfield Bullet 350. But the question remains, how different is the new CB350 when compared to the Bullet. Let’s take a detailed look at the two motorcycles and see how they stack up to each other via a detailed image comparison:

Design

Both motorcycles come with a retro design with the round headlamps, indicators and full metal fenders. But there are some key differences. The first one being the headlight cowl on both motorcycles. Royal Enfield has given the Bullet 350 a full metallic headlight cowl that is integrated with the fork covers and the indicators are located just behind the fork. The CB350, on the other hand, comes with a simple headlight unit (same as the Honda H’ness CB350, but with a slightly different bezel in silver or chrome, depending on the variant) with triangular headlight mounts with integrated indicators.

Coming to the fuel tank, Royal Enfield has given the Bullet 350 a teardrop shaped tank. Some variants come with simple Royal Enfield logo stickers whereas the higher-end versions feature a beautiful trademark hand-painted pinstripes along with a chromed out 3D badging. Honda on the other hand has decided to go with a simple, sleek design but one that is more functional with the addition of tank grips. It’s important to note that the Bullet gets a 13 litre fuel tank whereas the CB350 comes with a bigger 15.2 litre one. 

The seating setup in both motorcycles are also different, with the CB350 getting a split seat setup with premium seat covers (black or brown, depending on the variant) and the Bullet 350 coming with a long, well-contoured single piece seat.

Engine

Powering the Bullet 350 is Royal Enfield’s new 348cc, air-cooled, single cylinder J series engine that we have seen on other models like the Classic 350, Meteor 350 and Hunter 350 producing 20.2PS at 6100rpm and a torque of 27Nm at 4000rpm. The Honda CB350 is powered by a 348.36cc, air-cooled, single cylinder engine that outputs 21.07PS at 5500rpm and 29.4Nm at 3000rpm. 

Both bikes get a 5-speed transmission but more importantly, the CB350 gets a basic traction control as standard. All the variants of the CB350 gets a blacked-out engine treatment with chrome highlights and a chromed out pea-shooter exhaust whereas the Bullet 350’s heart gets a metal finish on the lower variants and an all-black treatment on the top-end Black Gold variant. Also, the heat shield on the Bullet is longer than the one in the CB350.

Underpinnings

The Bullet 350 is based on a twin downtube cradle frame and is suspended by telescopic fork upfront with metallic fork covers and twin preload-adjustable shock absorbers in the rear. The Honda CB350 features a half-duplex cradle frame and is suspended on telescopic forks at front with similar metallic covers and twin preload-adjustable rear shock absorbers.  

Braking duties are handled by 300mm and 270mm disc at front and rear in the Bullet 350 with either a single-channel or dual-channel ABS depending on the variant. The Honda CB350 comes with a 310mm disc at front and 240mm disc at the rear, with dual-channel ABS as standard across all the variants.

Instrumentation

Both bikes come with semi-digital instrument clusters but the Royal Enfield Bullet comes with one that gives the more retro appeal. The Honda CB350 features the same setup that we have seen on other models like the CB350 H’ness and CB350RS. Coming to functionality the CB350’s cluster  gives a lot more information and useful readouts like gear position, real-time mileage and range indicator. The Bullet’s console has additional room for a Tripper navigation pod, which is essentially a turn-by-turn unit. On the other hand, the top-end DLX Pro variant of the CB350 gets a smartphone-connected voice control system that lets you access messages, calls and turn-by-turn navigation. That said, you’ll need a bluetooth module that will cost you extra.

Verdict

The Honda CB350 is a lot more expensive than the base Bullet 350. Take a look at the variant-wise ex-showroom Delhi pricing for both the bikes:

Overall the Bullet 350 and CB350 are bikes that feature similar a similar design language but each offers something different, the Bullet 350 brings Royal Enfield’s rich legacy and history to the table while the Honda CB350 is a retro bike that adds a touch of modernity It is more suited to customers who want a motorcycle that brings a bit of retro styling along with the trademark Japanese engineering. Our choice is the Bullet 350 as it offers better value for money as far as true-blue retro bikes are concerned.