We have been teased, we have read leaked spec sheets and even seen blurred out images, but it has all come to an end now as Royal Enfield has officially unveiled its second roadster model – the Guerilla 450.
Said to be the road going variant of the successful Himalayan 450, the Guerilla is at home in the mountains as it is on the streets of a densely populated urban city. Hence why the chosen launch location, the vibrant and historic city of Barcelona is such an apt location.
The Guerilla was developed in and around Barcelona, and though we have only been fed some information about the bike in the past few months, Royal Enfield has been quietly working on the bike since 2019. That is a long time in the making, but as they say, good things come to those who wait and after having ridden it, we can say that it is indeed a very good thing.
But we can’t tell you much about how it feels like because of an on-going embargo that does not allow reviews to be published until the 27th of July. That is because the test ride event in Barcelona is still on-going and there still are many journalists who are yet to ride the bike. So to level the playing field, Royal Enfield put out an embargo, and we respect that.
What we can tell you though are the specifications and we can also show you what the bike looks like, in detail this time with no blurred out parts.
The Guerilla 450 shares a lot of its underpinnings with its sibling, the Himalayan, so we are warning you right now that there will be a lot of Himalayan references coming up. Bear with us.
The design though is the biggest (and most obvious) difference. But there are elements of the Hunter 350, which is not all that surprising since the two are essentially Roadsters.
Starting with the tyres, the Guerilla runs on the same Ceat Gripp XL Rad tyres that we first saw on the, you guessed it, Himalayan. The tyres were built specifically for the adventure bike but Royal Enfield says the hard compound tyres have been repurposed for the Guerilla.
The tyres wrap a set of 17-inch wheels front and back while braking power is managed by a 310mm disc up front that is gripped by a dual-piston ByBre caliper. The rear is kept in check by a 270mm single-piston caliper. Both are further backed up by a dual-channel ABS system.
Suspension consists of a 43mm telescopic fork up front with 140mm of travel while a monoshock with 150mm of travel manages the rear. The latter is adjustable for pre-load.
The forks have a rake angle of 21.8 degrees which is 4 degrees less than the Himalayans while the trail measures in at 91mm, a full 27mm shorter than the Himalayan.
This results in the bike have a 70mm shorter wheelbase at 1440mm and overall length of 2090mm, which is shorter by 155mm than its bigger brother.
On the topic of dimensions, the Guerilla is ideal for those who are challenged in the height department. It has an overall height of 1125mm (down by 191mm from the big H) while the seat is just 780mm off the ground. There is an high seat option that sits 800mm off the ground as well as a low seat option that sits 760mm. This makes the Geurilla well suited for all builds.
In terms of weight, the Guerilla weighs just 185kg (kerb with 90% fuel and lubricants) and that makes it 11kg lighter than the Himalayan.
As for tech, the Guerilla has the same circular LED headlight as the Himalayan and the rear too has LED turn signals which also double up as the brake lights.
The colourised four-inch instrument panel is also the same as the Himalayan and offers smart phone connectivity through a dedicated Royal Enfield application. When it comes to navigation, rather than reinventing the wheel, Royal Enfield simply integrated Google Maps into the app and thus gives you turn-by-turn navigation on the meter panel itself. The display is truly extraordinary.
Now to the juicy bits.
Besides the obvious sharing of components, the biggest bit is the engine itself. The 452cc engine is almost unchanged from the one in the Himalayan and makes 40PS and 40Nm of torque.
What has changed though is its state of tune, with Royal Enfield saying that the Guerilla boasts best in class mid-range torque.
The six-speed transmission too is 90% identical with only the final drive being slightly taller. There is also the assist and slipper clutch that makes the lever feel ultra-light, which comes in handy in traffic.
The engine is mounted onto the same steel tubular frame as the Himalayan though it has been slightly modified while the sub-frame is all-new.
Royal Enfield says that the overall mass of the bike has been placed lower and towards the front of the bike to give it a more nimble feel in and out of corners.
The 11-litre fuel tank on the other hand is all new and made of metal, and the official fuel consumption figure is rated at 29.5km per litre which provides a theoretical range of a little over 300km.
There are a host of different colour ways and a bunch of official Royal Enfield accessories to match the character of the bike.
In terms of pricing, Malaysians will have to wait till the bike is officially launched for that but expect a sub-RM40k price tag.
As for the rest of the world, the prices are below:
Here’s a full gallery of over 160 photos of close-ups and action shots:
