Final report: Its a heart-wrenching bye-bye, in spite of the bikes best efforts to not make it so.Sometimes, no matter how far away you see an undesirable situation coming, its still difficult to take the bitterness and sting out of it. I constantly knew I would need to bid goodbye to our long-lasting Classic 350, and I didnt need to invest too long with the bike to understand that it would be a difficult one.By the good grace of Royal Enfield, the affable little thumper has stayed with us for longer than expected, which has ended up being something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Im grateful for the additional time weve been offered together. That likewise suggests that my connection with the bike has actually deepened even further, making it an even harder goodbye. Whichs in spite of the bikes earnest efforts to make itself a little more difficult to like towards the end.Smooth engine and beautiful soundtrack are excellent companions on long rides.In its last number of months with us, the Classic undertook its most significant ever journey– a 1,300 km round-trip to Goa, to attend India Bike Week. In many methods, it stood out. The motors high-tempo beat offered an excellent backing track as it demolished vast stretches of highway with ease, and the outstanding touring seats supplied a perfect balance of comfort and support.Touring seats are more than as much as the job, even over many numerous kilometres at a stretch.But Goas sleepy little bylanes poked through the bikes defense, quite literally. A punctured rear tyre. Our surroundings failed to offer a mechanic going to handle the apparently deal-breaking combination of wire-spoke wheels, tubed tyres and a rear disc brake. Which implied we needed to turn to removing the rear wheel ourselves (something that, happily, you can do using absolutely nothing more than the tool-kit on the bike, REs YouTube tutorial, a little out-of-the-box thinking, and some excellent ol-made effort). Fresh tube inserted (the old one was beyond patching) and wheel re-installed, whatever held up perfectly well for the 600km trip back to Mumbai, and everything since.Combination of tubed tires and a rear disc brake made a leak extremely cumbersome to fix.Our long-term Classic and our long-lasting Meteor have both exhibited a sporadic sticky/trailing throttle concern. It seems to get worse over time, and throughout this Goa trip, it ended up being rather extreme on the Classic, with the bike often downing along for numerous metres on a totally closed throttle, nearly as if it was on cruise control. Needless to state, this is a relatively substantial security issue, and we had the bike looked at by an official service centre as quickly as we returned. It was returned after a throttle body cleaning, and the behaviour seems to have actually practically totally disappeared, to the point where it isnt an issue any longer. But we hope that RE can create a more irreversible fix.Sticking throttle problem intensified and became fairly serious over a recent trip to Goa.As is always the case, running the Classic 350 for over a year has actually tossed up positives and negatives. And while it has actually bared some new flaws in its closing act, old-world simplicity continues to be a foundation of the Classic. And thats despite it having taken a substantial leap towards modernity in this current generation, reasonably speaking. The delight of wrenching on a motorcycle, positive that youll have the ability to successfully execute the task, is one that I had not felt in a rather long period of time, and that is the last sweet taste that the Classic has actually left in my mouth as it goes to satisfy its maker.

I always knew I would have to bid farewell to our long-term Classic 350, and I didnt need to spend too long with the bike to realise that it would be a hard one.By the great grace of Royal Enfield, the affable little thumper has actually remained with us for longer than anticipated, which has actually turned out to be something of a double-edged sword. And thats in spite of the bikes earnest efforts to make itself a little harder to like towards the end.Smooth engine and lovely soundtrack are terrific companions on long rides.In its last couple of months with us, the Classic undertook its greatest ever journey– a 1,300 km round-trip to Goa, to go to India Bike Week. It seems to get worse over time, and over the course of this Goa trip, it became rather extreme on the Classic, with the bike typically downing along for numerous metres on a totally closed throttle, almost as if it was on cruise control.