2025 Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 Review – First Ride

Rolling out of the underground parking garage where a DJ had seen us off by kickin’ the jams, we were greeted by the warm hug of Barcelona’s summer weather as the orange morning light splayed across the beautiful Catalan capital. Admittedly, traffic was light, so squirting through the city streets on our way to the surrounding hills was a breeze, making it even more so, was Royal Enfield’s latest addition to its lineup: the Guerrilla 450. Somewhat of a street scrambler-style motorcycle, the Guerrilla 450 shares many similarities with the Himalayan that was developed alongside it.

2024 Royal Enfield Himalayan Review – First Ride

That’s right, Royal Enfield told us the Himalayan and Guerrilla projects both started at the same time, with the two new machines kicking off what RE’s referring to as its more neo-retro line of machines that feature a more modern aesthetic than machines like the Classic 350. The two bikes share the same Sherpa engine platform with the modern 452cc Single claimed to be cranking out the same 40 hp and 30 lb-ft of torque, “with more than 85% of this torque available starting at 3000 rpm,” according to RE. Between the two, the Guerrilla has a smaller rear sprocket (45 versus 47) and a smaller rear wheel which, on their own don’t provide much of a difference in feel we’re told, but Royal Enfield’s tuned the GRR’s ride-by-wire throttle to have a more “urgent” feel. Having only ridden the Himlayan at 10,000 feet plus, it’s hard for this test rider to make a logical comparison as the motor feels much peppier at sea-level.

Once you’ve thumbed the starter and twisted the grip, it’s clear we’re working with something different compared to its siblings in the model lineup. The Guerrilla’s engine revs quickly and all the way to 9,000 rpm, and when you’re utilizing the upper end of the rev-range, as we were wont to do, you can find yourself bumping into the soft rev-limiter fairly frequently during spirited canyon riding. Which brings us to another difference from other machines in Royal Enfield’s portfolio, the engine makes the meat of its power in the top half of the revs. Sure, you can short shift the GRR, but it enjoys being wrung out when flogged – a characteristic that should keep both casual or newer riders happy alongside more experienced throttle jockeys.

Cruising around town, the 40 or so horses was plenty for squirting through traffic, and below 4,500 rpm, the entire bike feels vibe free. Once you make your way into the other half of the available revs, you’ll first feel the tingle at your toes, while the handlebar remains free of vibration. If you’re feeling lazy, switching the ride mode from Performance to Eco significantly mutes the throttle which can be nice for casually cruising in town. The neutral ergos, 17-inch wheels, and 30.7-inch seat height all work together to make bouncing around the urban sprawl effortless. Even with the not-so-lithe 405 or so pounds (said to be 27 pounds lighter than the Himalayan), the Guerrilla handles its weight well, and the 56.7-inch wheelbase provides a balance of stability and handling.

When speaking with the engineers and test riders in the chassis department, they were quite energetic and engaged with the project and what they had managed to do with the Guerrilla 450. Perhaps because the real differences between the GRR and Himalayan’s frame are a slightly steeper rake with the new headstock and footpegs that were further up and back, the gentlemen we spoke with were most enthusiastic about the suspension and tires. Made in conjunction with CEAT for the Guerrilla 450, the engineers admitted that the tire pattern was chosen to deliver a “scrambler” aesthetic, but the compound and ultimate performance of the tire as a whole turned out better than they had even imagined. After riding in such a manner mentioned in the previous paragraph, I can attest that they hold up quite well under stress.

Brought over from the Himalayan is the round, four-inch Tripper TFT display integrated with Google navigation should you choose the mid (Dash) or top (Flash) variant. The built-in Bluetooth module uses a Google-derived navigation engine. There are a couple of screen layouts to choose from and one drops all of the pertinent information to the bottom and shows what you would see in Google maps over the top three quarters of the screen. In order to use this feature, you must use RE’s app, but with Google functionality, it works quite well. The only caveat is that your phone’s screen cannot turn off. During my experience with the display in India, my phone’s battery was drained in less than half of a day. That said, there is a USB-C outlet available next to the dash.

Royal Enfield designed the Guerrilla 450 to be the "perfect bike to bring in younger riders." Has it done that? Only time will tell. RE’s cringy marketing choices regarding the Guerrilla focus on suggesting the market is full of “clones” and that this is the “modern roadster redefined.” I suppose they needed some sort of schtick to try and rile up the youths, but to me, the Guerrilla 450 is an example of a quintessential motorcycle – and there’s nothing wrong with that. A roadster can be a jack of all trades and is classic motorcycling. I’d have to disagree with the marketing decisions in that this is very much a typical motorcycle.

With the announcement of Triumphs 400s, and after riding them, I think they’ll be the Guerrilla 450s biggest competitor – though there are plenty of others that you could line up alongside them. There are things that they do better, and nits to be picked, but we’ll leave that for another kind of story. For now, we’ll wait on US pricing for who knows how long. We’re told probably Spring of 2025 for pricing and delivery, but in the UK, pricing starts at £4,850 with €5,290 for Europe. With the Royal Enfield Himalayan having just been announced to start at $5,800, I would expect pricing a bit lower than that but we have a bit of time to wait, regardless.

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