2025 Royal Enfield Hunter 350 Review - Improved, and Approved

Royal Enfield’s baby 350 gets a mid-life refresh for 2025, bringing some much-needed improvements. We took it for a ride to see just how much better it feels.

Story: Abhisu Poddar
Photography: Sanjay Raikar

Since its launch in August 2022, the Royal Enfield Hunter 350 has been a hot-seller, with sales crossing five lakh units earlier this year. It’s affordable, lightweight, and incredibly urban-friendly — a popular choice among young riders, especially females looking to start motorcycling. In fact, it’s now the second-highest-selling bike in the 350-cc segment, trailing only the venerable Classic 350. What’s not to like?

Well, its biggest Achilles’ heel has long been the stiff rear suspension setup. While the firm damping helped in fast corners, users had to compromise and live with a harsher ride quality at lower speeds, especially for the pillion.

Thankfully, Royal Enfield have addressed these concerns with the 2025 update, with the new rear twin shock-absorbers with progressive springs ensuring a plusher ride quality over ruts and bumps. Rear-wheel rebound is now better managed, improving the way the bike tackles uneven patches of road. The exhaust has been rerouted as well, adding a claimed 10 mm of ground clearance, for a total of 160 mm.

The Hunter 350 also becomes the first model in RE’s 350 series to receive an assist-and-slipper clutch. The clutch lever action is now noticeably lighter and smoother; a welcome change in slow-moving traffic. Down-shifts are also more seamless, making the already slick five-speed gearbox even more enjoyable.

Cosmetically, the Dapper and Metro variant get several quality-of-life and visual updates. A new LED headlight unit has replaced the old halogen setup, and while it introduces a more modern and youthful look, the illumination feels rather average in comparison to the older setup. Three new colours have been introduced: Rio White, Tokyo Black, and London Red, each with distinctive graphics on the name plate and rim edges. The paint quality is superb – Royal Enfield have been consistently impressive in the aesthetics department lately.

There’s a new USB Type-C charging port underneath the left handlebar that is somewhat cumbersome to reach due to the clutch cable coming in the way, but once plugged in, it is conveniently shielded from the elements and out of sight. The charging wire can be bundled with the clutch cable for better cable-management. A Tripper navigation unit has also been incorporated alongside the “digi-analogue” instrument cluster, where users can now pair their phones, set their destinations on the Royal Enfield app, and receive turn-by-turn navigation guidance on the fly.

Mechanically, the 349-cc, air-cooled, single-cylinder, J-series engine remains unchanged, delivering 20.2 hp at 6,100 rpm and 27 Nm at 4,000 rpm. However, it’s now OBD-2B compliant, meeting the latest BS6 Phase II emission norms.

While the base Retro variant retains its ex-showroom price of Rs 1.50 lakh, the Dapper and Metro variants get a Rs 7,000 bump, now priced at Rs 1.77 lakh and Rs 1.82 lakh respectively. The good news? Existing Hunter 350 owners can retro-fit many of these upgrades at their nearest Royal Enfield service centre, cushioning their bike’s ride and updating their appeal without upgrading to a whole new model.