-New Royal Enfield street naked
-Powered by a 452cc, single-cylinder engine
-Available in at least two variants
The Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 is all set to be unveiled to the world. The Guerrilla 450 is the company’s entrant in the sub-500cc, street naked space and has the Triumph Speed 400 and Hero Mavrick 440 firmly in its cross hairs. Here’s what we can expect.
Modern-retro design
The Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 will have a modern-retro design, evident in the round LED headlight, teardrop shaped fuel tank, and the slim tail section. The images of the bike that we’ve seen in the past show that bike has a nice, street bike stance and it looks good. Royal Enfield is going all out with the colours as well. We’ve seen the bike in dual tone colours and they are quite bold. The red/gold colour is loud and is definitely going to catch attention while the yellow and black colourway with purple accents is relatively easier on the eye. We’ve seen a single tone, grey coloured Guerrilla 450 as well.
452cc, liquid-cooled engine
The Guerrilla 450 will be the first street naked motorcycle by Royal Enfield that will have a liquid-cooled engine. It will be the same, 452cc, single-cylinder engine that we’ve seen in the Himalayan 450. Royal Enfield is expected to tweak the gearing to suit the street naked application of the bike.
At least two variants
The Guerrilla 450 will be launched in at least two variants. The base variant will have a single tone colours, analogue speedo with an inset digital readout for fuel level, trip, etc. It gets a tripper navigation pod as well.
The top variant gets dual tone colours and the same colour TFT display that you see on the Himalayan. It is likely to feature Bluetooth connectivity and navigation.
Basic cycle parts
Unlike the Triumph Speed 400, which is its chief competitor with a USD fork, the Guerrilla 450 gets a more conventional telescopic fork. At the rear, there’s a preload adjustable monoshock. Braking duties are taken care of by a disc brake at the front and rear and these appear to be the same size as on the Himalayan.
Competitive pricing
The Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 is expected to be the most competitively priced bike in the segment. We think it will sport a starting price of Rs 2.3 lakh, ex-showroom. This will place it at par with the Triumph Speed 400 and it’ll be interesting to see how the market responds to the RE.
