It has long been known that Royal Enfield is working on a 350cc bobber, and we also know that it's going to be called the Goan Classic 350. Now, we have unearthed an image that shows us the final design of this motorcycle, and even though this is a low-res black-and-white image, we can see that the bike looks quite handsome.
- Engine is expected to make the same 20.2hp, 27Nm
- Whitewall tyres will be standard
- Pillion seat appears to be easily detachable
Royal Enfield Goan Classic 350: design, engine, India launch
The Goan Classic 350 is very much a variant of the Classic and the headlight nacelle, front fork, engine and some body panels are lifted from the popular Classic 350. What is very interesting about this bike is the seating arrangement – it can accommodate two people as standard unlike the form-over-function Jawa bobbers, which will be the Goan Classic’s direct rivals.
On a previous occasion, we have seen the Royal Enfield Goan Classic run a solo seat setup and it is near certain that the pillion perch will be detachable without too much fuss. With the seat removed, this bike will have a very clean and minimalistic design, in true bobber fashion. The pillion seat appears to be mounted directly to the main frame unlike the Classic and Bullet, where it sits on the rear fender.
What is also different to the Classic and the Bullet 350 is the ape-hanger handlebar on the Goan Classic 350, which should result in your hands being straighter than on the other two. Another difference to the other two bikes is the presence of whitewall tyres on the Goan Classic 350, which will make it one of just a handful of new bikes you can buy in 2024 that come shod with whitewall tyres, another example being the Harley-Davidson Heritage Classic.
The 350cc J-platform engine currently underpins four models and in all of those, it is rated for an identical 20.2hp and 27Nm of torque, which should also continue on the Goan Classic 350. However, the company could make some small tweaks to the gearing or mapping to suit this bike’s very relaxed nature. Expect the feature-set and cycle parts of the Classic 350 to continue here largely unchanged as well. The exhaust muffler, too, appears to have a different blacked-out design in all previous spy images, which could mean that there are some internal changes going on around here.
The Royal Enfield Classic 350 is currently priced between Rs 1.93 lakh-2.25 lakh (ex-showroom, Chennai), and we expect that the Goan Classic 350 will be priced somewhere around the upper end of this spectrum.
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
