2024 Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 review | A fun, lightweight roadster that undercuts its main rivals

The Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 is a very easy bike to ride, changing direction without fuss with each push on the wide flat bars. Up front, there’s a single disc and dual-piston caliper, with a single-piston stopper on the back, both equipped with conventional ABS.

Suspension comes courtesy of a set of conventional 43mm Showa forks that are non-adjustable, plus a preload adjustable rear shock, with the twin spar tubular steel chassis taken from the Himalayan 450.

This main frame has been altered slightly for the new road-biased disposition. The rake angle has decreased by four degrees, taking it to 21.8 to achieve a faster rate of turn, with the subframe now slightly shorter and tweaked in the centre of the bike to achieve a flat edge to the base of the 11-litre fuel tank.

The swingarm is also new and slightly shorter, dropping the wheelbase by 70mm to 1440mm overall. Despite shrinking, it’s still long for the class (a Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 is 72mm shorter) and helps promote stability through the turns. It also now runs on a pair of road-focussed 17in wheels, with the front end sporting a 120/70 tyre and the rear using a 160/60.

Tyres come in the form of a set of faux knobblies produced in partnership with CEAT specifically for this model. Although an unknown name here in the UK, they gripped as good as anything else on our bone dry test. Plenty of replacement tyres are readily available in these sizes, both in road-focussed and scrambler-styled tread patterns.

The result of the changes is a gentle naked upright, that’s as happy as Larry bimbling around town, as well as behaving incredibly well when you decide to up the ante. Show the Guerrilla 450 a corner, and it feels comfortable and planted – capable of being ridden as fast as anything else on the right side of the law.

The standout best bit is definitely the front end, with the two piston front stopper providing plenty of power and bags of feel. This is complemented by the front forks, which are nicely damped and feel composed under hard braking – something that’s sometimes overlooked at the affordable end of the market.

Settling the bike nicely into a corner is the back brake, which sucks the bike into the tarmac with a gentle tap. Be warned though, a hefty press with your right foot will override the ABS quickly and cause the back wheel to momentarily lock up.

Away from the back end, the geometry is bang on for my 5ft6in frame and remained comfortable during the circa 10-hour launch ride. The seat was comfortable, never causing any numbness to my backside, with lots of room to move around if required.

Powering the Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 is the same 452cc DOHC single cylinder ‘Sherpa’ engine as in the Himalayan 450. The motors are mechanically identical, with the throttle maps slightly tweaked, and the gearing changed to match the new 160/60x17 rear wheel, featuring a slightly smaller tyre radius.

The Guerrilla drops two teeth on the rear sprocket, taking it down to 45, and the bike comes with two throttle maps for either ‘Eco’ or ‘Performance’. A maximum power of 39.4bhp is achieved at 8000rpm, with 29.5lb.ft of torque up for grabs at 5500rpm. That said, 85% of that pulling power is available from just 3000rpm.

The result is an eager naked roadster that’s much happier to be revved than Enfield’s smaller long-stroke J Series 350 singles. It’s also a doddle round town, with a light clutch and slick shifter making urban riding incredibly manageable.

Our test route ran through the heart of Barcelona and forced us to deal with heavy congestion in 40° heat, and not once did the bike feel overly warm between my legs. The motor is now also fed by an 11-litre fuel tank, down from 17 litres on the Himmy.

Opening the throttle on a country road rewards the rider with a lovely induction noise, thanks to a new airbox. Barking like a small enduro bike, it encourages you to hang onto the revs and give it a big handful coming out of bends – safe in the knowledge that you’re still unlikely to be on the wrong side of the speed limit.

The two power modes on this bike are controlled via the circular full colour TFT dash and, whilst there are some noticeable changes such as a softer early throttle pick up in Eco, neither are going to be intimidating to a newer rider. In fact, I’d go as far as to say, multiple modes aren’t required at all.

With less than 40bhp available, making any real progress needs to be done with heavy applications of the gas and even in Eco, the mapping will deliver the same peak power as in Performance, once you’ve got past the gentler initial pick up.

Elsewhere, being a single it’s very vibey through the footpegs at motorway speeds – leaving a tingle in your toes that could become tedious over distance. That said, it’s really not designed for a heavy motorway slogs, and the vibes can’t be felt anywhere else at that pace.

The Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 is a nicely finished bike, featuring five colour schemes largely said to be inspired by bikes of the 1970s and 1980s.

This is perhaps most evident in the red, yellow, and black ‘Playa Black’ livery, which has clearly been influenced by two-stroke Yamaha RD models of the time and should help to hoover up some older bikers looking for a slice of nostalgia and something more manageable.

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Although it’s tough to talk about the reliability on a brand new model, the engine and dash come directly from the existing Himalayan 450 adventure bike. The chassis is also a modified unit based on the Himmy, with revisions to accommodate a new steering angle and a flatter base to the fuel tank.

MCN owners’ reviews of the Himalayan 450 score the bike an average of 5/5 stars in this category, with no complaints so far. MCN’s own Videographer, Joseph Wright has also been putting one through its paces on our 2024 long-term test fleet – subjecting it to weekends away, rallies, off-road rides, and more with no faults yet to report.

Back to the Guerrilla and quality touches include a metal fuel tank, with a flat profile that makes it ideal for easy placement of a magnetic tank bag. You also get chunky pillion grab rails and a roomy bench seat – meaning it could be a viable option for short bursts of two-up travel. The switch gear feels robust too.

However, despite the positives, 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 £5000 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.

With the impressive handling, strong engine, and easy dimensions, the Guerrilla is almost unfathomably obtainable. Undercutting the base spec Triumph Speed 400 by £345, it’s a genuinely affordable motorcycle that’s only made possible by Royal Enfield’s popularity on the Indian market.

The brand will sometimes sell upwards of 80,000 bikes a month – with a huge chunk of that going to their domestic market. Around 20 million new motorcycles are purchased across the country every year - the whole of Europe manages just 10% of that figure! Selling in such volume allows for low prices, while still making a sizeable profit overall.

Although figures aren’t available just yet, servicing and monthly repayments are also likely to be affordable, with a strong UK dealer network and three year warranty taking care of matters, should anything go wrong. A sub 40bhp engine is unlikely to eat through consumables, either.

Outside of the Triumph Speed 400 (built in India by Bajaj), rivals also include the single cylinder KTM 390 Duke and it’s Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 and Vitpilen 401 siblings. These are also built by Bajaj in India.

From there, we can also consider the TVS-built BMW G310R naked, as well as dinky retro twins such as Honda’s CL500 scrambler.

For a motorcycle that starts at £4850, the Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 offers a seriously impressive spec, including substantial 43mm forks from Showa, two riding modes, ABS at both ends, and a neat full colour TFT dash.

The star of the show is the circular four-inch dash, which is used to control the ‘Eco’ and ‘Performance’ riding modes. It’s can also be connected to your mobile phone, allowing you to control your music, display satellite navigation, and more.

Although impressive, it can get quite busy and as such you can lose sight of the flashing indicator warnings at the bottom of the display. During our test ride, many journalists left indicators on after junctions – likely due to the fact that the flashing icons aren’t easily visible.

Changing the modes also requires you to throttle off for 20 seconds, meaning you can’t safely do it on the fly – unless you get stuck at a particularly lengthy red traffic light. Although the throttle response is softer in Eco, it’s hard to tell the pair apart – with Performance providing a perfectly manageable dose of power for even the greenest of new riders.