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Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450: A light roadster that’s the life of the party
Summary
The new Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 has the same engine as the larger Himalayan but its speed and agility make it better suited to tarmacWe’re all looking to declare independence from the mundane commute from Point A to Point B, and Royal Enfield has given this thought a physical form with its newest motorcycle, recently launched in sunny Barcelona. The Guerilla 450 is a roadster that embodies the pure pursuit of fun, and announces Royal Enfield’s entry into the modern street-oriented motorcycle segment.
It has the same Sherpa 450 engine that does work in the Himalayan, but they are definitely not clones. The Himalayan is a motorcycle you would take to Nepal or Nubra or on a trip that involves negotiating dirt, gravel, mud and ruts. The Guerrilla is what you want for tarmac therapy. It’s got a smaller fuel tank—11 litres compared to the Himalayan’s 17—and it is lighter. Shaving off even more weight is the fact that it doesn’t have a metal frame around the fuel tank. All this gives the Guerrilla a kerb weight of 185kg, which is 11kg lighter than the Himalayan.
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Since the Sherpa 450 engine features a ride-by-wire throttle, the Guerrilla’s throttle response has been sharpened. Two teeth have been dropped from the rear sprocket—it has 45 teeth as compared to the Himalayan’s 47. All this means quicker acceleration, which is what you want in a roadster. (There is also an Eco-throttle mode that dials down the acceleration a bit and trickles in a little less petrol in the interest of fuel economy.)
These are all the facts and figures—what does it feel like on the road? For the media ride, Royal Enfield had planned a rapturous route through the Catalonian countryside, a mix of motorway straights and twisty tarmac through the hills. It is on the latter that the motorcycle really won my heart.
At first glance, I wasn’t taken in by the colour of the motorcycle assigned to me. Called Yellow Ribbon, the two-tone colour scheme of yellow and black with purple decal didn’t grow on me. I preferred the Brava Blue, a simple blue and black two-tone with the logo in black. Redemption came quickly though—within 10 minutes of riding my Yellow Ribbon Guerrilla, I was convinced that true beauty lies in character and demeanour.
This motorcycle made short work of motorway traffic, effortlessly accelerating to 110kph. When I squeezed some more speed out of the 40hp engine, it went to 125kph without a whimper. It was only beyond that the vibrations set in. But then, this is a single-cylinder engine with a long stroke and at relatively high rpm, vibrations do become noticeable. Royal Enfield’s engine design department has gone a long way in reducing vibrations, yet at very high speeds they set in.
In the saddle
For my 6ft, the seat’s ride height at 780mm was quite comfortable. The triangular geometry of the handlebars, the seat and the footpegs made for a comfortable stance. It was not too laid back or too aggressive. This is the result of miles of testing that Royal Enfield puts into mule bikes before the specifications are set in stone. Tiny tweaks over tens of thousands of test miles by a team of riders of varying weight, height and riding styles is what makes the ergonomics of these new Royal Enfields good.
I have always found the Sherpa engine to be butter smooth and with the more aggressive throttle map on this one, a flick of the wrist is all it needs to surge ahead enthusiastically, at times even without shifting down a gear. It was on the curvaceous hill roads that I carried mad speeds into corners, with minimal braking and leaning the motorcycle at angles that I did not think I could. Also helping to keep the rear wheel from locking up if I went down a gear too many was the assist-and-slipper clutch. David, the Spaniard who was leading us, has ridden motorcycles on this route all his life and I went into each corner following his line and this motorcycle was my perfect partner in crime.
The Guerrilla rides on 17-inch wheels that are shod with wide profile Ceat tubeless tyres; 120/70 at the front and 160/60 at the rear. These profiles play a large part in the thrill of carving up curvy roads.
To be honest, I couldn’t gauge the suspension’s shock-absorbing qualities because the Spanish roads we rode on were unblemished. Hopefully, the rear suspension has enough pliability to handle the not-so-smooth sections that are an integral part of riding in India.
The instrument cluster on the top-end variant I was riding and the mid-level variant sport the TFT tripper dash that is nearly the same as the Himalayan. Sadly, like the Himalayan, the joystick toggle switch operated by the left thumb has the same fiddly feel. It is just too sensitive, which makes it difficult to toggle between modes with a gloved thumb. The base model gets the semi-digital twin pod cluster that is found on the Super Meteor.
The Guerrilla 450 is available in three variants, ranging from ₹2.39 lakh to ₹2.54 lakh. The claimed fuel efficiency is 29.5 kpl. However, my fuel gauge started indicating low fuel after 155km of hard riding in normal mode. I had started with a full tank (11 litres) and at low fuel indication I estimated that there were still about 5 litres left so that gave me a fuel economy figure of 25.8 kpl.
The Guerrilla goes up against the likes of the Triumph Speed 400 and Scrambler 400X, the Bajaj Dominar 400 and the Hero Maverick 440 which a positioned with in the same segment with the same purpose—roadsters. Its cousin, the Himalayan, will be considered by some as a rival too. So, with the Guerrilla, Royal Enfield is entering a crowded club. It’s got the looks, the affordability and a pleasant personality. There is every chance that it’ll be the life of the party rather than a wallflower.
Rishad Saam Mehta is a Mumbai-based author and travel writer.
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