EASY RIDER
How do you improve on a classic? Ask Royal Enfield, as they have impressive form in making old things new again. Case in point being the Classic 350 presented here, which has been given some key changes for 2022 that make it more of a modern motorcycle without impacting its retro looks or the Royal Enfield ethos of simple, pure and accessible motorcycling.
The Classic 350 has been a staple of Royal Enfield’s range for more than a decade, but its origins can be traced to before World War II. What was known as the Bullet 350 back then provided the template for today’s Classic 350.
After WWII, the Bullet was modernised with the addition of a proper swingarm with hydraulic shocks – pretty radical stuff in the late 1940s.
When the Indian Army ordered 800 units of the Bullet 350 in 1952, it set in motion the next phase in the Bullet’s evolution, with India moving from importing to CKD assembly, then full manufacture after the model was discontinued by Royal Enfield in the UK.
Royal Enfield’s ‘English era’ died in 1971, but the Indian operation continued, and while the brand became a staple in its home market, it was rarely seen outside the subcontinent.
All that changed in the new millennium, when a revitalised Royal Enfield, now part of the Eicher Group, began expanding the brand overseas.
That expansion led to the development
