Royal Enfield Meteor 350 variants

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While the Royal Enfield Meteor 350's low seat height is surely welcoming, owing to its feet-forward riding position, you will feel more of the road imperfections you encounter. We'd recommend you instead look at the Bullet / Classic from RE's stable, as these bikes have more upright, natural riding triangles which will be useful over the long daily commute your father faces. The Honda CB350s offer a similar riding experience but are lighter and easier to manage. Given that your daily commute is quite long and likely to involve bad patches too, a motorcycle would be the more comfortable alternative to a scooter. However, if you must have an electric scooter, choose from proven options like the TVS iQube, Bajaj Chetak, Ather Rizta / Konarc and Vida VX2.

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For anyone transitioning from a CVT scooter to a geared motorcycle, the initial period can be a little challenging. However, once you adapt to the system, it will almost become second nature, and there won’t be much to worry about.Going from a Honda Activa to a Royal Enfield Meteor 350 will certainly require some adjustment, given the significant difference in weight between the two machines. However, once on the move, the Meteor’s weight tends to fade into the background, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to manage. The Meteor also gets a slip-and-assist clutch, which makes the clutch action pleasingly light and should make the transition easier.

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Since you want comfort as a top priority in your next purchase, the two bikes that will deliver that much better than the others in your shortlist are the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 and the 350cc Triumph Scrambler 400 X. The Himalayan is more adept on the highway front, but the Scrambler is the better city bike, so depending on where you spend more time, pick between these two. The TVS Apache RTX 300 is a phenomenally capable bike (especially for the price), but its engine feels a little dull once you spend some time with it. If you are okay with that, then as an overall package, the TVS is quite hard to fault. If you decide you want something more road-biased, then the 350cc Triumph Speed 400 and Honda CB350RS are good options to consider. We'd skip the RE Meteor models because the Super Meteor has stiff rear suspension, and instead of the Meteor, look at the Classic / Bullet if you want more comfort with an old-school relaxed retro vibe. These are all very different machines within a broad price range, so depending on the segment you are looking at specifically, we'd advise you to take test rides of the options above and then make your decision.

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Since you already have a RE Classic 350 at home, we'd recommend you remove the Meteor 350 and Harley-Davidson X440 from your shortlist because these bikes will feel quite similar to your Classic. The 350cc Triumph Speed 400 and Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 will offer a more engaging riding experience with more performance and features on tap, and are the ones we'd advise you to choose between. Of the two, the Triumph bike has the more mellow nature, but it will still feel like a good step up from your Classic in terms of performance and handling. The Guerrilla, on the other hand, is quite excitable and of the two, this is definitely the more fun machine. Its suspension is a little taut, which enables it to have very engaging handling, but over bad roads, you will feel a little more of the road surface coming through to your back. The RE also has a crisper, more tech-laden TFT display, whereas the Triumph uses a simple digi-analogue unit.Take a test ride of both before you make your decision, since they are quite different to ride.

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The Royal Enfield Meteor 350 you have shortlisted would be the best machine within your budget for your use case. It has a charming, torque-rich engine with a heart-tugging soundtrack, a low seat height and pretty decent comfort (for a cruiser). You could also look at the Goan Classic 350, which has very distinctive styling and bright colours with similar strengths to the Meteor, like a low seat and a comfortable (ish) ride. We'd advise sticking with the RE 350s and not stepping up to the 650cc models because the bigger ones, which a shorter person like you will consider, aren't very comfortable and also they are quite heavy.Take test rides of both the Meteor and the Goan Classic before you make your decision.