Honda H’ness CB350 review: A warning shot for Royal Enfield

Image: Honda

I’m just going to come right out and say it: I think ‘H’ness’ is a weird name for a motorcycle. I find it hard to believe that someone was paid good money to come up with it, and even harder to believe that someone at Honda signed off on it.

I know Honda has ‘Royal’ Enfield squarely in its sights with this machine, but to try and squeeze into the segment by giving yourself an apostrophised hint of blue blood is downright silly (and I wonder how many people will get that it’s supposed to mean ‘Highness’). Why not just use the long and storied history of the CB lineup and call it CB350, plain and simple? I hope that Honda offers the option of de-badging – I’d certainly pay for it.

All right, end of rant. On to the motorcycle. As mentioned, this is Honda’s warning shot across Royal Enfield’s bows. The intention is clear – it wants in on the 350cc premium motorcycle segment that RE has considered its own for years, and when I say ‘in’, I mean it wants to take it over – Honda doesn’t usually like being second best. It has its task cut out, given that the Royal Enfield badge signifies a lifestyle, not just a motor on two wheels, so only time will tell how successful it is.

Taking The Retro Road

That aside, to keep up with the Enfields, Honda has gone down the retro route as far as design is concerned, and I’d say it works, as a package. Other than the fact that literally everyone I encountered on the road gawked at it, it looked good enough for me to glance at it appreciatively whenever I stopped for a break.

In profile, the large fuel tank with an old school Honda badge looks beefy, and the chrome fenders, tasteful alloy wheels, upswept exhaust pipe, round LED headlamp and two-level seat complete the period look. The indicators stay illuminated all the time (which can catch you out at first), but they look the part too. Fit and finish are par for the course, but I daresay that the RE Meteor I rode recently had the CB’s number in this department, a fact that would have been unimaginable not so long ago.

The CB I rode had a dual-tone paint scheme, two (loud) horns and a Bluetooth system that allows you to connect Honda’s app and be alerted to calls, messages and play music (for which you need to buy a Bluetooth helmet speaker). It also has a phone charging point in the form of a USB C port, which means you’ll need a USB A to USB C adapter for it – why Honda chose to go Apple’s ‘our way or the highway’ is beyond me. I’ve got other gripes, so bear with me here.

The instrument pod has an analogue speedometer that’s easy to read, but adjacent to it is a digital screen that has the fuel gauge, clock, odometer, distance to empty and so on – and it’s too small and crammed with information. Maddeningly, the horn and indicator buttons have been swapped around, which resulted in my tooting instead of indicating for most of my ride; I’m not sure who thought this was a good idea. Finally, the engine start/kill switch doesn’t have a firm enough action, with the result that you tend to end up going straight from ‘off’ to ‘start’, without waiting for the intermediate few seconds.

What About The Feel On The Road?

When you do crank it up, the CB settles into a rorty idle; the exhaust note has clearly been tuned to resemble the thump of an Enfield. Blip the throttle and you’ll find that the CB is in fact louder than a Meteor and a Classic 350, with a sharper edge to the sound; it’ll be a subjective thing, but I like it.

Swing a leg over and you’ll settle into a broad, comfortable seat and an upright riding stance, with the handlebars angled back towards you. The foot pegs are in just the right places, with the gear shifter also well placed for quick shifting; ergonomically (other than the weirdly placed switches), the CB gets it right.

Its powerplant is a 349cc, single-cylinder, air-cooled unit making 30Nm of torque and 20.8 bhp. Pay attention to that torque figure, because it’s the highest in its class, is produced fairly low down in the rev range and helps get the CB from 0-100 km/h in a shade over 12 seconds. This is accomplished in a very smooth and refined manner, with barely any vibrations coming through the handlebars and foot pegs. Wring the throttle to the stop and you’ll eventually see 130 km/h on the speedometer, although its sweet spot is between 100 to 120 km/h. As a highway cruiser, the CB is absolutely effortless, and will eat up the miles all day long.

The thing you’ll notice very quickly is the CB’s rather tall gearing, especially in 3rd and 4th gears. While this means that you can rev the engine happily and access a lot of enjoyable tractability on open stretches of road, the flip side is that staying at speeds between 60 to 70 km/h in 5th gear isn’t quite as effortless, and in city riding conditions, you’ll find yourself working the gearbox quite a lot, given its lack of low-end grunt.

Essentially, in order to make quick progress, you have to make sure you select the right cog and rev the engine appropriately; whether you enjoy this or not will depend on your riding style, and I must say I had no real issue with it. The gearbox, like the engine, is very smooth, and the slip and assist clutch is light and easy to operate, making commuting relatively effort free.

The CB comes with telescopic front forks, twin hydraulic rear shock absorbers and a cradle frame, and it all adds up to an unexceptional but reassuring feeling of being well planted on the road. I found the ride quality to be excellent over all kinds of road conditions, and the bike remained very composed at all times. Shod with grippy MRF tyres, the CB is a confident and light handler, going where you point it with no fuss.

I would have liked a livelier level of feedback from the front end and the all-round disc brakes, but this isn’t a deal-breaker by any means. The bike has dual-channel ABS at both ends and a switchable traction control system, which helps keep you right side up.

All told, the CB350 is an interesting proposition. It’s the most expensive bike in its segment (starting at Rs 1.85 lakh, ex-showroom), but comes with the most features (not all of which are useful) and the option of extending the standard three-year warranty by another three years. It’ll only be sold through Honda’s Big Wing dealerships, which means access to it all over the country will be limited, at least initially.

For the money that you put down for it, you’ll get a handsome and enjoyable motorcycle with a great exhaust note, a character all its own, top class refinement, legendary Honda reliability and a bunch of annoying design quirks that, to be fair, you’ll probably get used to. Should you go and buy one? Absolutely, but only after you take a test ride on a Royal Enfield Meteor.