Royal Enfield 350 vs Yamaha RD350

The Royal Enfield 350 passes its MOT first time more often than the Yamaha RD350: 91.6% vs 86.3%, a 5.3-point lead.

MOT reliability, side by side

first-time pass rate, outright fail rate and tests analysed · 2005–2025

Metric	Royal Enfield 350	Yamaha RD350
First-time pass rate	91.6%	86.3%
Outright fail rate	4.0%	6.6%
Vs comparable bikes (age & mileage adjusted)	+1.0 pts	+2.4 pts
Engine size	349cc	347cc
Rank among all models	#546 of 5428	#2120 of 5428
Median miles at test	7,788	23,256
MOT tests analysed	428	19,574
Most common failure	lighting and signalling	lighting and signalling

First-time outcomes on normal tests, 2005–2025. "Most common failure" is the component group with the most recorded defects on failed tests. Read pass rates against test counts: a smaller sample is noisier. Source: DVSA anonymised MOT results.

"Vs comparable bikes" is the first-time pass rate minus the rate expected for each bike's own mix of age, mileage and test class, in percentage points: positive means better than comparable bikes. How this works.

Pass rate by test year

first-time MOT pass rate in each calendar year both bikes were tested

Test year	Royal Enfield 350	Yamaha RD350
2007	91.7%	81.2%
2008	97.0%	79.7%
2009	97.3%	80.6%
2010	93.5%	81.9%
2011	82.1%	82.2%
2012	94.4%	84.7%
2014	81.8%	86.6%
2015	84.4%	85.3%

Each year mixes bikes of different ages, so a fleet that is getting older tends to slip.

Pass rate by mileage

first-time MOT pass rate by miles on the clock at test

Mileage	Royal Enfield 350	Yamaha RD350
0k-10k miles	91.8%	88.9%
10k-20k miles	85.3%	87.5%
20k-30k miles	97.8%	85.5%

Bands with fewer than 30 tests for either bike are left out.

ROYAL ENFIELD 350 91.6% pass · 428 tests YAMAHA RD350 86.3% pass · 19.6k tests

See each bike's full report (trend, mileage curve, failure breakdown and rivals) on its own page.