New Honda CB 350 RS | With New Color options And extra Features and Big engine in 2025

In this News We’ll find out if Honda’s New Honda CB 350 RS is better or worse than the Highness, and we will f- try to figure out why you should be paying rupees 10,000 extra for this model. Welcome to War India. My name is Shumi.

This would be a good time to subscribe to Warsindia.org because India’s most innovative and best automotive content is right here. And do hit the bell notification icon so that we can find you.

Now, the CB350 RS was launched a couple of weeks ago, and in price, it’s about 10,000 rupees more for the yellow and black one, the Black one is over the Highness’ deluxe pro model.

And as you should already know, it doesn’t have Bluetooth, it doesn’t have USB charging, so the question is, what just happened here? Let’s just figure out what’s the same first. Now, Honda has a new 350CC single-cylinder engine, and honestly, the numbers are very, very similar to Royal Enfield’s engine in terms of bore and stroke, and even the sound is very similar, and that continues from the Highness to the RS.

Honda CB 350 RS Review

Problem with the RS’ engine is that in many ways, it is a Honda engine, so it’s super refined, there’s a lot of torque, and it’s very easy to ride. And in other ways, it’s not a Honda engine, because the way they’ve chosen the gearing actually causes problems.

So the pro of this engine is at really low speeds in the city, this is one of the nicest engines you will use. You will shift up into fifth gear very, very early on, and then it’s just peaceful riding, opening and closing the throttle.

It works really, really well. Oh, oh, oh, Even when I’m gone. She’ll be hanging on. Problems begin when the speeds get higher. Now, the RS never actually loses any control over its refinement, but its performance sort of goes away because torque, remember, has peaked already at 3000 rpm.

And as you go faster, you are actually chasing a wave of trailing torque, as it were, rather than rising torque, which you’re used to. And it also means that the ability to accelerate past things goes away as you get faster and faster.

And I was surprised to note that in fourth or fifth gear, going very gentle uphill, like climbing a flyover or something, the RS just does not have the power needed to climb and increase speed as it climbs.

It is able to hold onto the speed. Sometimes it loses a little bit of speed. And for a 350CC engine, that’s a little bit strange. The other strange thing, and the first difference from the Highness to the CB350 RS is the gear lever.

You don’t have the heel shifter anymore, and that’s fine, but the toe shifter that they’re using on the RS is a little bit small, and it did cause a few gear change problems for me. Let’s move on to the frame.

Now, we know that this is a half-duplex cradle. What that means is there’s a single down tube that splits into a cradle under the engine, and in that, Honda has actually nailed it, and to me that is the most, most, most likable part of the CB350 Highness and RS. The handling is light.

So when you start riding it and turning it into a corner, this is a really neutral motorcycle. This is exactly how we expect Hondas to be, and I really loved it for that. The ride quality is also amazing.

I was here. Left my footprints all across this At first, you’ll feel like this is a stiff motorcycle, but the harder you go over bumps, the more you realize there is absorption and some really big hits are taken completely away from you in a manner that I find really, really impressive. So what you should be looking at the Highness or the RS for really is the ride and handling package, powerful brakes.

That’s where the motorcycle shines the hardest. Now, in terms of what they’ve done functionally, the only big difference is the change in ergonomics. The foot pegs on the RS are 112 mm, so about 11 centimeters behind and 1.2 centimeters higher than the Highness, which means your feet are placed in a little bit more of a tucked position.

The handlebar is mounted slightly higher. It’s a completely new unit. It’s actually 4 mm wider, and it’s also mounted about four centimeters further away from you. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Now, the question that we got immediately when we did the walkaround and mentioned the change in ergonomics was.

Would you be able to tour on the RS

And the answer is yes. The changes are noticeable, but they are not drastic. This is not a committed motorcycle by any stretch of the imagination, and frankly, the handlebar, it’s one of the cheaper parts of the motorcycle.

You can easily swap back to the Highness’ unit if you really want to. Both of these motorcycles will go down the highway with almost equal amount of ease. The Highness seats you, I’m gonna say, something like 10% more upright.

The RS is 10% more committed, and honestly, that’s not going to make much of a difference. The other parts that Honda has added to the RS are the fork boots.

They basically cover the travel part of your front suspension, the stanchions, and that means not much dust is going to fall on that, if at all, and that means your oil seals, et cetera, will last a little bit longer. It’s a small advantage to have. The motorcycle does have traction control.

It’s a fairly crude system in the way that it cuts in, so the interruptions are strong, and you will absolutely totally feel it, because it feels like the motorcycle’s misfiring quite badly.

Now, do you really need a traction control system on a 21 BHP bike?

Please do tell us in the comments. I would say it’s okay to do it either way, but if you’re a new rider and you have traction control on your side, you’re probably a little bit better off. The motorcycle is, of course, fully featured.

There’s a 310 mm front disc. You’ve got dual-channel ABS, which means the rear disc is also ABS active. And the ABS system is actually calibrated quite well, so you will be able to lean on the brakes quite a bit before the ABS kicks in, but every time there’s a problem, maybe you hit gravel or water, the ABS does immediately become active, and actually, I rather enjoyed that system.

That finally brings us to the one other change, which is the rear unit, which has a LED tucked under the tail. It’s a completely new tail unit. Above that is, of course, the new seat, which has a nice design. It is a firm seat, and I would say at the test ride when you notice the firmness, don’t think of it as a negative necessarily, because firm seats actually work better over longer distances, over longer hours in the saddle.

Soft seats work better on short trips, so I wouldn’t necessarily say that Honda’s thick, hard seat is actually a problem. And yes, the RS’ seat is a little bit thicker. It’s not any higher, so unless you’re really, really inseam challenged, this will not be a change that you will feel at all.That brings us to the big question.

What are you really paying the extra 10,000 rupees for?

Now, the first change Honda has made is they’ve gone to better MRF tyres. On these, it’s a, it’s a MRF Kerv tyre. The Kerv is with a K. They have a wide block pattern that sort of suggests that they have some off-road ability.

Honestly, it doesn’t matter because this is not an off-road motorcycle by any stretch of the imagination. But on the road, the grip levels are awesome. Cornering this motorcycle felt really, really good and I was able to take the tyre to the edge of its performance very, very easily, very naturally, very confidently.

That’s what it’s supposed to do. And Honda’s been clever about it because while they have a 17-inch wheel at the rear now instead of the 18 from the Highness, they have actually raised the section of the tyre, and therefore the rolling circumference of the tyre is roughly the same, which means the gearing has not changed in any way.

The risk was if the rear wheel was narrower and the circumference was lower, you’d get a motorcycle geared even lower than the Highness and that would really, really definitely be a problem.

The other reason to pay the extra money Honda says is because they’ve used higher quality aggregates all over. So if you look at the quality of this subframe on which the passenger pegs sit, if you look at the aluminum on the grab rail, if you look at the garnish that they’ve done for the headlight cluster, all of those little things add up.

And to me that’s really where the price increase is coming from. The RS, uh, our friends at ZigWheels will test it, should also be a little bit quicker than the Highness overall, because it is actually two kilos lighter and strangely enough, Honda says the weight distribution hasn’t changed because a large part of the two kilos is actually coming from the front and rear fender, which used to be steel and chrome, and now they’re plastic.

And that really is the story of this motorcycle. If you will. Tell us in the comments if you think that this price hike from the Highness Deluxe Pro to the top RS is justified. I think it’s a little bit of a leap. The price has gone up by a little bit too much for my liking, and maybe we’d be happier with this if the RS had come out first and the Highness had followed it onto the market.

What you think about Honda CB 350 RS?

To summarize, I think that the CB350 from Honda is actually a very, very pleasant motorcycle, and if going fast is not your thing, this is one of the nicest machines you’ll ride.

Unfortunately, I think Honda’s geared it too long and the engine makes power too low, and the combination means that out on the highway this is not a very powerful motorcycle and you keep feeling like you’re wringing the throttle quite a bit and not really getting all that much back from the engine.

And to me that’s literally the only fly in the ointment. Philosophically, I do have a difference of opinion. I think Honda should have built a Honda rather than trying to build the best Royal Enfield there is.

I’m breaking away to free my soul. I’m breaking away. And like I keep reminding you, the classic 350 with the J-Series engine from the Meteor is just, just, just around the corner, and I can’t wait to see where the Highness, the CB350RS and that classic sit against each other. That’s a article coming to Warsindia soon.

READ ALSO:

• Yamaha FZ-S FI Hybrid – Check What is New here
• Take A Look This Skoda Kodiaq 2025 – Is This the Most Underrated SUV in the Market?

Conclusion

Please stay tuned, and Tell us what you’d like to cover in this post in the comments and we’ll get right on it. Thank you so much for watching. My name is Shumi. This is WARSINDIA, and this is the story of the Honda CB350RS. I’m breaking away to free my soul. I’m breaking away to lose control. I’m breaking away.