Other than Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, Honda CB350 ADV will rival Yezdi Adventure and upcoming Hero Xtreme 440 as well
With travel currently being one of the most popular trending activities, it has proportionally increased appeal towards motorcycling and adventure riding. After Hero MotoCorp, Royal Enfield has cashed in this segment with Himalayan 411 and now Himalayan 450. Honda is now challenging Himalayan 450 with a new contender. Let’s take a look.
Honda CB350 ADV Design Patented
This would be Honda’s first attempt at proper ADV off-road motorcycle segment, not counting CB200X. The target in sight is definitely Royal Enfield Himalayan 450. But Honda’s new ADV will lock horns with other off-road motorcycles like Yezdi Adventure and upcoming Hero Xpulse 440 built on Harley-Davidson X440’s platform.
One look at Honda CB350 ADV design patented, your first thought might go to Royal Enfield Himalayan 411. That said, there are only so many ways to design a purpose-built ADV motorcycle. Something similar as observed when we compared Royal Enfield Classic 350 with Honda’s new CB350 Classic. These initial observations are based on a 2D side profile flat image. Final production-spec motorcycle in 3D and with surface finishing will surely look very different than Himalayan. On closer inspection, we can see design differences between Honda and Royal Enfield, even though overall approach is similar.
Both get a beak, large windscreen, side guards to mount luggage, headlight guard and more. Honda is going for a round headlight too. Rear subframe has a flat pillion seat that is set higher for comfort. Pillion grabrail will have a luggage rack too. We can see rider knuckle guards on handlebar as well.
Similar componentry as CB350
Differences are more pronounced with selection of componentry. Honda is going for a cradle chassis that houses an air-cooled single-cylinder engine with a single up-swept exhaust. Honda is going for RSU telescopic front forks with long travel and these get fork gaiters too. At the rear, Honda CB350 ADV gets twin shock absorbers.
For context, Royal Enfield Himalayan offers USD telescopic front forks and rear mono-shock setup. This is too early to say based on a single 2D image, but front wheel is likely to be around 19-inches and not 21-inches like Himalayan and Hero Xpulse. Wheels are wire-spoke type and we hope Honda is giving tubeless dual purpose tyres.
Considering everything, we think Honda is taking CB350 and extracting an ADV version of it. And that explains all the component choices that Honda has made. Currently, CB350 has a 348cc air-cooled engine generating 20.78 bhp and 30 Nm, mated to a 5-speed gearbox. We hope Honda is eking out more performance out of this engine to better rival Himalayan and Yezdi Adventure. Honda could launch it in 2025 and just like CB350, it is likely to be a global product as well.
Source: Bike - rushlane.com
