A Benevolent Guerrilla

Last month, Royal Enfield invited us to Barcelona, Spain, for the global first ride of the new Guerrilla 450 roadster motorcycle. Here is how it went off

- Aspi Bhathena

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT the Royal Enfield management and their engineers is that they did not focus on any one motorcycle in the segment from the competition; instead, they decided to make the best possible roadster. I have seen in the past that some of the manufacturers tend to get obsessed by a particular bike and, in doing so, they tend to lose sight of the bigger picture.

The development of the Guerrilla took place more or less concurrently with that of the new 450 Himalayan. Its design is unique, although there are quite a few points of resemblance with the Himalayan 450, starting with the fuel-tank and the side-panels; besides, the meter console is the same as that on the 450 Himalayan. Even so, the Guerrilla 450 looks like no other roadster.

The chassis is the same trellis type with the engine as a stressed member as in the Himalayan 450, with a steeper steering-head angle. The swing-arm is also identical to the Himalayan’s except the rear wheel mounting slot, which has been moved forwards to shorten the wheelbase. Along with the steep steering head angle and shorter swing-arm, the wheelbase has been further shortened by the shorter 43-millimetre telescope front forks with 140 mm of travel. The rear monoshock unit looks identical to the Himalayan’s but has a different compression and rebound damping and spring rating. The monoshock rear suspension has a linkage with a travel of 150 mm; the rear suspension linkage has been changed to reduce the ride height of the bike. The suspension has been set up for sharp handling and ride comfort.

The stopping power at the front comes from a 310-mm ventilated disc and a twin-piston Bybre caliper, while the rear brake is equipped with a 270-mm disc with a single-piston caliper. The brake system has dual-channel anti-lock braking system (ABS).