Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350X spied sans the ‘X’ badge

The Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350X has been spotted in Chennai, but the bike does not feature the 350X badging. It could be possible that the bike is one of the earlier versions of the upcoming model. The Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350X unit pictured here comes with all the features that the leaked brochures and previous spy shots have revealed.

The handlebars are slightly sportier, and the rear-view mirrors are circular instead of oval units the regular Thunderbird variant sports. The seat is a single-piece ‘Gunslinger’ unit without the cushioned back-rest and there is split pillion grab rail. This gives the rear portion of the bike a sleeker look. The colour scheme is all-black, including the fuel tank. Interestingly, as per the leaked brochure, there are only three fuel tank colours available: Orange, Blue, White and Red. The matte black shade seen here is not listed.

Though the instrument cluster is the same twin pod unit as the regular Thunderbird, the hazard lamp switch is missing. The bike reportedly has a lighter lift-off force from the side stand than the regular Thunderbird. It could be possible that the seat is lower than the regular Thunderbird, which explains the ease. The biggest change is the inclusion of the 9-spoke alloy wheels. They are shod with MRF Nylogrip Zapper tubeless tyres. The powertrain is the same as the standard version. The 346 cc single cylinder engine puts out 19.8 bhp at 5,250 rpm; and 28 Nm at 4,000 rpm. The engine pairs with a 5-speed gearbox. Royal Enfield will launch the bike on February 28.