ROYAL ENFIELD: Guerrilla Goodness

Royal Enfield’s added another ride to its range; and it’s powered by the same motor as the new Himalayan 450

Royal Enfield’s been on a winning streak of late. Its recent output of stripped-back, simple and stylish retro rides have gone down very well indeed, winning favour with riders young and old, far and wide. 

The previous generation Himalayan was the bike that really kickstarted its ‘revival’, and over the past few years has flown out of dealerships across the globe. It might not have been the ‘best’ bike in the world, but its shortcomings were more than made up for with bags of charm, a plucky can-do attitude, and its seriously affordable price. That meant there was some pretty big shoes to fill when emissions regulations finally made the ‘old’ one defunct. 

Thankfully, the Indian firm seems to have pulled a blinder. The Himalayan 450 is a bit of a departure from the previous version, but the factory has listened to what punters want and made it more capable than it ever was – including giving it a load more top-end power to make covering road miles a comparative breeze. And therefore, it only makes sense that it’d take that new and improved Sherpa powerplant and stuff it in a more road-focused chassis. Introducing the Guerrilla 450. 

Priced at a seriously competitive £4850, it shares plenty with the Himmy, though there are some key changes to help it stand apart. The 40-ish bhp 452cc single cylinder ‘Sherpa’ engine is mechanically unchanged (though the rear sprocket has a couple less teeth), and it also uses the same tubular frame. However, the steering head angle’s been tweaked and the subframe’s slightly shorter, too. There’re different 17-inch cast wheels, too, which come shod in some knobbly CEAT rubber. Suspension’s looked after by a set of shorter-travel Showa 43mm front forks and a monoshock at the rear which offers preload adjustment, while the brakes are simple single disc fellas with some ABS to keep things in check. There’re some nice bits of tech, including a smartphone compatible TFT dash and a couple of rider modes. 

It sounds like it’ll be easy to get on with, too. Its 780mm seat height, 184kg wet weight (that’s with 90% of its fuel) and claimed 83mpg return from its 11-litre fuel tank suggest that it’d make a cracking little commuter – but given how people have been using the diminutive Himalayan 411 over the past few years, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Guerrilla 450 crossing continents. That’s what Royal Enfields do, after all.