Honda CB350 H’ness

Who the Honda CB 350 H’ness is for?

Tigit bought the CB 350 H’ness primarily for shorter riders. Both the Honda XR 150L and Honda CB 500x have a seat height of 32.8 inches. The Honda CB 350 Hness has a seat height of 31,5 inches. On paper, that might not sound like a big difference, but in reality, anyone of any height can drive the Honda CB 350 comfortably.

The second big justification for its slot at Tigit, is the power and how easy it is to drive. Many clients send emails about how they drive BMW GS 1250cc motorbikes back home, but when they arrive in Vietnam, even the Honda CB 500x becomes intimidatingly large. The roads are chaotic and designed for small motorbikes in Vietnam. In reality anything above 150cc is unnecessary in this country, and so many people book the big bikes and find themselves downgrading to the 150cc on arrival.

Having said that, I think this CB 350 provides a happy medium, where I am hoping that the riders with big bike experience back home but a slightly nervous attitude might find comfort in this compromise 350cc engine size.

Tigit provides the Honda CB 350 with 28 Litre aluminum boxes. (28L) per box.

Why we went for an air-cooled bike

The Honda CB 350 H’ness was added to the Tigit fleet in 2024 after selling off the Honda CRF 250L series. We found that clients did not understand how liquid-cooled bikes operate and their vulnerability to things such as leaking hoses or jammed fans. If a client drops a liquid-cooled bike and the fan jams up, then the bike overheats, and the engine fails.
The same story can be said for a small leak in a hose pipe, causing the motorbike to run out of coolant. Ultimately, when dealing with liquid, minor issues with motorbikes diagnosed easily by experienced riders can become catastrophic failures with less experienced riders.

The XR 150L has always been a bomb-proof motorbike at Tigit. The reason is simple: it is air-cooled. The Honda CB 350Hness is also air-cooled; therefore, there is much less to worry about from the client’s perspective over this long journey.

At Tigit, we are huge fans of air-cooled machines (pun intended), so when this motorbike hit the market in Vietnam, we jumped at it!

The Honda Cb 350 H’ness is good for offroad

Hear me out on this one. It isn’t good for offroad, but the low seat height makes it easy to control and duck waddle when the terrain gets difficult. Unfortunately, Vietnam is a country that can dramatically go from road to offroad, mainly when there are landslides.  Adventure motorbikes like the Honda CB 500x are actually incredibly difficult to control offroading. Forget those fancy Instagram pictures of professional riders on ADV. In reality, ADV motorbikes are heavy and have a high center of gravity. It takes an experienced rider to get them through the mud, let alone looking cool while doing it.

On the other hand, the Honda CB 350 H’ness is a far better setup for a typical weekend rider to escape a mess when they find themselves on terrain they weren’t anticipating.

All you have to do is look at the style of motorbikes used in places like India/Himalayas, where roads unexpectedly go from road to offroad. They are on Royal Enfield Bullet cruiser bikes, not enormous ADV bikes!

Low-end thumping engine

A 350cc air-cooled engine doesn’t get you much power, only 20.78HP, to be exact. But it has a thumping single-cylinder engine that provides a great feel and makes a lovely noise. Traveling Vietnam is not a race, and with most road speeds having a speed limit of 50km/h, having a motorbike that gives you a casual, relaxing feel is far more appropriate than a rev ‘d-out race bike.

In the end, power is down to the driver, and a good driver can get a lot of power out of any engine. This is why, in general, at Tigit, we recommend traveling on the 110cc and 150cc motorbikes. The point is that 350cc is ample power to get across Vietnam. You won’t be winning any races on the H’ness, but you will get to the finish line looking cool!