Fast Filings: Honda’s Working on a Beginner-Friendly Adventure Motorcycle

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Patent imagery shows machine similar to Royal Enfield’s Himalayan Platform appears to be borrowed from CB/GB350 Rivals would include Royal Enfield’s new Himalayan 450 Expect this machine to be air-cooled

The ever-indomitable Ben Purvis has, once again, found evidence from a motorcycle manufacturer of a potential upcoming bike.​

The incubating machine in question spins off of Honda’s existent CB/GB350, and is considered by Purvis to be a potential rival for Royal Enfield’s fresh new Himalayan 450.

What Honda’s patent filings show​

In the paperwork, Ben Purvis (CycleWorld) points out Honda‘s use of a GB/CB350 chassis to work out a more modern design – one that makes way for adventure-oriented componentry like bolt-on racks.

Here’s an excerpt from Purvis’s content:

These racks are the subject of one of three patents recently published around the new bike, showing how they’d be fitted and illustrating two different shapes for the racks themselves. One iteration of the racks are designed to be fitted both front and rear, with the same unit inverted to act as a pannier bracket at the back of the bike.” – Ben Purvis, “Honda Developing GB350-Based Himalayan Rival” (CycleWorld)​

The paperwork doesn’t stop there; apparently, a few of the images also show a protected headlight complete with a mounting point for “side panels that double as storage boxes.”



A view of a new Honda patent showing potential for an air-cooled adventure bike. Media provided by CycleWorld.

What we can expect for this incubating “Adventure 350?”​

Should Honda decide to bring this machine into the world on a more official basis, we can anticipate similar specs to Honda’s present GB350, which touts a 348cc air-cooled single, fuel-injected engine, with a five-speed system and priority given to the durability of the machine.

As Purvis adds, an air-cooled power platform makes good sense for a smaller adventure machine, given that “there’s no radiator to puncture, leaving you stranded in the middle of nowhere.”

The flip side is that an engine of this caliber isn’t too interesting, generating 20hp @ 5,500rpm and 21lb-ft. of peak yank @ 3,000rpm.

What do you think of the potential for Honda’s “Adventure 350?”

*Media provided by CycleWorld and Honda*​

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