Riding the Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450

Royal Enfield gave motor journalists a ride.

 The new Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 roadster earned some solid appreciation and some mild skepticism from motor journalists who sampled it at its launch in Barcelona, Spain this month. 

As a group, the journalists were left with the same question: how will the Guerrilla 450 fare in the real world? 

In their first-ride reports, the writers all observed that the twisty mountain roads around Barcelona offered only smooth pavement, minimal traffic, and modest speeds. 

The Guerrilla 450 is derived from Royal Enfield's dedicated, mountain-conquering Himalayan 450 off-roader. 

The real world has potholes, and long, straight stretches of fast highway. How will this roadster version of a dedicated mountain goat do there, with its semi-knobby tires and torquey single-cylinder motor? 

The writers promised to get back to us on that. 

Meanwhile, most writers also expressed reservations about the big electronic dashboard offered on the top models of the Guerrilla. It will link to your phone to show your route, play your music, show texts and calls, and even shine your shoes (not).

But some found it hard to make work or, at least, distracting to use.

One critic pointed out that the press pack had many riders blithely cruising with their turn signals flashing. These don't self cancel and, with everything else going on, the blinking warning may not be noticed on the bottom of the screen.

Here's a sampling of what they wrote:

"The 17-inchers at either end have made a world of a difference between the Guerrilla and the Himalayan. Its lesser weight has also contributed to its newfound agility. To tell you that this is the sportiest Royal Enfield ever made wouldn’t be wrong." Ramesh Somani, TopGear India

"The roadster stance is very evident, you’re sat upright with a slight forward weight bias adding to the sporty stance. The seat height is a comfortable and more importantly accessible 31-inches, handlebar is nice and wide and the seat itself is fairly comfortable for longer days on the road." Karan Ramgopal, Evo India

"Going into a fast-ish downhill left-hander, I braked, which prompted the bike to stand up and head for the Armco. However, all it took was a light pull on the ’bar and I was pointed the right way again. And in that moment, I knew that the Guerrilla was a forgiving motorcycle, after all, and soon I was riding it harder than I’d done before." Kartik Ware, Motoring World

"One handling trait I am noticing is the ability to lock the rear wheel momentarily, even with ABS that apparently can’t be switched off. If you hammer on the rear brake while carrying some lean angle, the rear tire can lock and kick the bike out sideways... Personally, I don’t have an issue with this..." Simon Hancocks, VisorDown

"The Guerrilla is a hoot on a twisty back road, this compact size and chuckability just as well suited to nipping through traffic in the city." Dan Trent, Goodwood

"The engine performs well in the city and when you want to have a fun and engaging ride on some nice twisty roads, but on the highway it's not the best performer. The top-end power is modest, and the engine also loses some of its refinement levels when you go over 70 mph." Jarad Solomon, TopSpeed

"Below 3,000 rpm, you will need to downshift to remain the powerband. So long as you’re on the gas, with the engine spinning above 3,000 rpm, the Guerrilla 450 doesn’t disappoint. " Preetam Bora, Car&Bike

"Beyond the 5,000rpm mark, vibes do creep in and are felt prominently. But is it a dealbreaker? No, it is not." Rahul Ghosh, IndiaToday

"The six-speed gearbox is a beaut, never missing a beat, no accidentally going into neutrals or ever feeling clunky." Parth Charan, Money Control

"The Guerrilla 450 uses alloy wheels and not spoke rims, it gets tubeless tires, which are easily the widest in class... The Guerrilla weighs 408 pounds. So, it's not light. It also has a long wheelbase; it measures 57 inches compared to the Speed 400's 54 inches. On paper then, the Guerrilla should be lazy, ponderous, and a lot of work around a winding road. But, it isn't." Vikrant Singh, Bikewale

"In the safety department, the Guerrilla packs dual-channel ABS, but it cannot be switched off like the Himalayan. There is no traction control, which is perhaps not necessary for a 40hp bike, but it’s worth noting that the KTM 390 Duke and Triumph Speed 400 both come with switchable traction control (and cornering ABS for the KTM)." Dylan Ruddy, Bike Sales

"There are two dash options on the Guerrilla. The base model gets an analog unit with an LCD info screen. Next to it is Royal Enfield’s Tripper navigation pod. It looks fine and does its job, but the (upper models') round four-inch Tripper TFT unit is a stunner.

Big screen on top Guerrilla 450 models.

"Three screen layouts give tailored info depending on the rider focus. ANALOG has a circular tachometer with speed front and center along with a gear indicator. At the bottom of the screen is trip info along with turn-by-turn navigation if the Royal Enfield app is connected. The DIGITAL layout moves the trip info and turn-by-turn nav front and center, and still features a tach and speedo. NAVIGATION layout moves the Google-based map and directions to the upper two-thirds of the screen with all the necessary info like speed below." Justin Dawes, Cycle World

"If I have to leave my phone’s screen on, why use the Tripper feature at all?  Why not utilize a handlebar phone mount and Google Maps (sorry, Apple Maps) instead? In that case, the user could also charge their device with the Guerrilla’s bar-mounted USB-C port. Those are questions individual owners will need to answer for themselves. That’s assuming they can even access the app, something I wasn’t able to accomplish during the press launch." Dustin Wheelen, RevZilla

"Like most Royal Enfields the Guerrilla also comes as standard with a canter stand, which might not look ‘cool’ on a supposedly modern bike but makes regular home maintenance like cleaning and oiling the chain a lot easier, cast type wheels also easier to clean than wire ones. Three cheers for both!" Dan Trent, Auto Trader

"There is a lot of visible scratchy black plastic to the front of the fuel tank, which reduces the surprisingly premium feel a little. At under £5,000 for the bike, it’s really not the end of the world, but it’s something we don’t see on some other Enfield nakeds, or its main rival Triumph Speed 400." Dan Sutherland, Motorcycle News

Top rave: "The Guerrilla is Royal Enfield’s daring choice to make something that is sporty and brash and yet quite approachable and very Royal Enfield like. It adds a new dimension to the brand as the handling package is just truly wowing." Jehan Adil Darukhanawala, ackoDRIVE

Top rant: "It comes into a segment that’s packed with competition and RE needed to offer a unique and enticing proposition. The Guerrilla fails to do that." Vikrant Singh, Bikewale

Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 in lovely Bravo Blue color scheme. But could I live with a WHITE radiator? It's blacked out in other color choices.