In a time and age when motorcycle companies engage in a technological arms race, Royal Enfield continues to march to the beat of its own drum.
Look no further than the new 2025 Hunter 350 for a shining example of the brand’s rock-solid ethos, of motorcycling taken to its most elemental form—and re-crafted for today’s consumer.
This compact urban tracker is an inspired blend of old school charm and simple practical engineering – all in a package that feels at once familiar and yet completely new.
INDIVIDUALISM REIMAGINED FOR THE STREETS.
Royal Enfield’s hundred-year-old history has been brilliantly developed with the Hunter 350, which has its roots firmly in the golden age of motorcycling, and yet also very much proud to walk in 2025.
Approaching the Hunter is an emotional experience — it is classically proportional and correct, with enough of a silhouette to have been birthed, fully formed, from a 1960s factory, but enough contemporary detail to root it in present-day.
The 2025 seamlessly evolves these hallmark look with a few tasteful enhancements.
The teardrop tank keeps the same idealized shape while offering up more modern graphics choices, such as a bold, urban camouflage pattern that showcases the city-slicker attitude of the bike.
The round headlamp now uses full LED lighting and is flanked by a clear digital-analogue combo meter that doesn’t bombard the rider with dizzying data.
What really sets the Hunter apart from its other Royal Enfield siblings as well as rivals in the market is its stance.
The motorcycle looks lean and athletic, the centre of gravity seems to have dropped visually and in terms of physical position as compared to the Classic 350 or the Meteor and the motorcycle poised and ready to strike.
This deliberate stance isn’t just for looks — it fundamentally changes the way the machine operates as it moves through the urban landscape.
The Heartbeat: History of the J-Series Engine
The heart of the Hunter 350 is its air-oil cooled single-cylinder engine – the up to date J-series thumper, which has largely injected Royal Enfield’s existing line up with a renewed sense of purpose and legitimacy.
For 2025, a series of small but important tweaks hone this potent engine, retaining its core personality while working to address previous criticisms.
While it makes nearly half the peak power we experience when seated on a Multistrada 950 (20.2 hp at 6100 rpm and 20 ft-lbs torque at 4000 rpm if you must know) the numbers don’t do the wee machine any real justice.
– Advertisement – Bike-friendly engine The engine’s electronic fuel injection has been retuned by Royal Enfield’s engineers for improved throttle feel in the critical 15-45 mph range of typical urban riding that they claim also dominates the time bike owners spend on their motorcycles. The outcome is an instant increase in off-the-line acceleration and mid-range punch.
The five-speed transmission, which has been a point of contention on previous Royal Enfields, now snicks into gear with a mechanical surefootedness not far from that of the bike’s Japanese nemeses.
Every gear change feels crisp with there’s none of that big hole you used to find between second and third.
What’s perhaps most impressive is the fact that the company has retained the motor’s unique character while staying ahead of a growing number of emissions-driven bars to jump over.
The familiar thud is there, though a little tamed, it’s an auditory aid that bridges rider and machine without becoming wearing on longer trips.
Chassis Dynamics: The Urban Ballet (In which Pro Athletes become Ballerinas)
Handling Where the Hunter 350 really stands out is in handling. Designed around a state-of-the art twin-downtube spine frame, the 2025 model now boasts revised suspension geometry that provides good stability and agility in equal measure.
The 41mm telescopic front suspension still provides 130mm of travel — as it did on the previous iteration — but with new components inside to allow for more progressive damping.
That refinement helps the front end manage the mix of textures typically found on city streets, while delivering poise when pressing on through corners.
The twin rear shock absorbers, painted in classic matte black with chromed springs, feature six-step adjustable preload to further enhance the ride and comfort across different terrains.
Seat height at 31.5 inches is still accommodating for riders of most sizes, and the gap between the seat and tank is both narrow and flat, enabling faired-footed stops at traffic lights, for those of shorter inseams, like me.
The riding position too finds a perfect middle ground between full-on comfort and all-out control, the slightly rear-set pegs and tracker bars contributing to a pose that feels completely at home slicing through traffic or scything through your favourite stretch of back-road bendiness.
Braking is taken care of by a 300mm front disc with twin-piston floating caliper and a 270mm rear disc with single-piston caliper.
The dual-channel ABS is now a norm in all the markets and gives enough confidence to stop the bike and does not feel too invasive.
For 2025, Royal Enfield has a slicked-up ABS algorithm that allows slightly more aggressive braking before the electronics step in, proved to be a good thing because experienced riders can make use of a regulated amount of wheel slip.
The Daily Dance: A Hunter on My Living Room Rug
The dividing line between truly great motorcycles and merely good ones is how much they become a part of a rider’s life.
Having now logged several hundred miles aboard the 2025 Hunter 350 in settings from busy urban streets to the verdant countryside, the usability of the everyday vehicle is as strong as its weekend fun factor.
The fuel tank holds 12.5 liters, not a huge volume, but along with the engine’s increased economy, expect about 250 miles between fill-ups of lazy riding.
This capability turns the Hunter from a purely around-town tool to a real option for weekend getaways without the fear of running out of fuel.
Technological addition follows Royal Enfield’s approach of ready, not excess.” The new dash-mountable Tripper navigation pod seamlessly connects motorcycle and smartphone to provide turn-by-turn directions without distracting from the timeless style.
Under the seat there is USB-C charging for your devices, and all functions are controlled with a reworked switchgear for access when you need it.
One particularly kind touch for 2025 is the new “city mode” accessible via the instrument cluster.
This map also dulls throttle response and ups regenerative engine braking to help smooth operation in stop-and-go traffic—a small feature that has a big effect on ease of use in daily riding.
The Experience of Ownership – Behind the Machine
Royal Enfield still gets that selling motorcycles in this market is not about selling a motorcycle.
The 350 Hunter 2025 has been given an extended three-year unlimited mileage warranty, proving an increasing level of confidence from Hunter over their quality control and manufacturing precision.
The “Make It Yours” customizing program, now in 2025, is already extensive, according to the maker, and apart from the over 50 factory-approved accessories there will be practical items of luggage solutions, and also aesthetic items such as alternate saddle options, exhaust systems, and handlebar configurations. This is a program that lets riders customize their Hunter without voiding their warranty or sacrificing reliability.
And perhaps the most significant growth since we last spoke has been the spread of Royal Enfield’s dealer network, as service points are now widespread in most major markets.
The dark days of spotty parts availability and service skills that once plagued the brand appear solidly in the rearview mirror.
The Price of Character
Starting at a mere $4,499 (€4,299/£3,899) for the entry level version, the 2025 Hunter 350 makes for an incredible joining proposition in an era where motorcycles are swinging more and more towards the unreasonable side in pricing.
While there are Japanese competitors in this price range (including some that have higher specs for the price), nothing seems to quite match the character, design harmony and soulfulness of a Royal Enfield.
The Hunter is not about what’s written on the spec sheet, or the make-everyone-else-look-slow numbers—it’s about how it makes you feel when you twist the throttle.
The mechanical meaning, the beat of the engine’s heart, and the purposefully analog approach is a conscious decision rather than a consolation.
The True Choice
The 2025 Royal Enfield Hunter 350 is a spirited antidote to an industry which can become caught up in the cycle of incremental performance and complexity of technology.
It serves to remind that at the end of the day, motorcycling is about the pure connection between man and machine, a connection that can often be made better but not very often made better by over complication.
From there it was a short ride through downtown and up to the top of a parking structure, so that they could experience the whole thing, before finally concluding it was one of the rarest things in this already rarefied market: account-setting authenticity without prescription, tone-setting character without inconvenience, and style without affect.
With the Hunter 350, Royal Enfield has created more than just a motorcycle: It has made an argument, a compelling argument for rethinking the way we think about motorcycles—at least the ones we want to use and ride.
Where the means are really more important than the end, where mechanical connection trumps electronic isolation and where riding is still an end in itself and not just a means of getting from A to B.
In this time of growing convolution, there is something deeply refreshing about that notion.