Royal Enfield has just announced a new, commemorative edition of the Classic 350 Gorkha Edition. Meant as an acknowledgement to the bravery and discipline of the Gorkha Regiment of the Indian army, the variant has prominent hat-tips to the most celebrated army unit in the world. If all of that sounds appealing to you and you want to bring one home, here’s what you need to know about it.
1. How is the Gorkha Edition different from the regular Classic 350?
Being a commemorative edition, the Gorkha Edition has a special colour called Gorkha Green which resembles a lot of army vehicles. It features two crossed Khukris on both the side panels, the official insignia of the Gorkha Regiment. There’s also a ‘Gorkha Edition’ sticker on the fuel tank, just above the fuel lid. The overall design and the dimensions remain unchanged otherwise.
2. How much does the Gorkha Edition cost?
Royal Enfield has priced the Classic 350 Gorkha Edition at Rs 2.11 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) which puts it right in the middle of the range that starts at Rs 1.87 lakh and goes all the way up to Rs 2.24 lakh. There’s another variant called ‘Commando Sand’ which also costs the same as the ‘Gorkha Edition’.
3. Which engine does the Classic 350 Gorkha Edition have?
The Classic 350 Gorkha Edition continues with Royal Enfield’s tried-and-tested J-series engine. Unveiled first with the Meteor 350 back in 2020, this single-cylinder, air-cooled unit has 20.2hp of power and 27Nm of torque.
4. What is the seat height of the Classic 350 Gorkha Edition?
The seat height on the Classic 350 Gorkha Edition is 805mm (unchanged from the regular Classic 350).
5. What features does the Classic 350 Gorkha Edition get?
The Classic 350 Gorkha Edition has a semi-digital instrument cluster, assist and slipper clutch, and a type-C USB port for charging your devices on the go. Note that Royal Enfield had recently updated all variants of the Classic 350 with the exact same feature set.
6. Does it get dual-channel ABS?
What separates the Classic 350 variants mainly are two things, the colour scheme and ABS. Of the eight available colours, the base ‘Redditch Red’ variant has single-channel ABS, with all the other colours—including the Gorkha Edition—getting dual-channel ABS as standard. Braking duties too are covered by the same 300mm disc at the front and 270mm disc at the rear.
7. What’s the weight and ground clearance like?
They continue unchanged as the Classic 350 at 195kg kerb weight and 170mm of ground clearance. If you like the Royal Enfield J-series engine but are fazed by the weight, the Hunter 350 remains the lightest Royal Enfield motorcycle you can buy today with a lighter kerb weight figure of 181kg but do note that its ground clearance is 160mm although it’s unlikely that the 10mm reduction will ever be an issue.
Vishal Venugopal
Autocar India News Desk
Rishaad Mody
Dinshaw Magol
