Genre-wise, Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 Sportsbike will rival upcoming Triumph Thruxton 400 with similar semi-faired cafe racer looks
The newly launched Guerrilla 450 has been one of the hottest motorcycle launches in India. It falls in the performance-oriented premium 300cc to 500cc motorcycle segment where a lot of action has sprung up in the recent past. Now, company’s internal presentation shows a Guerrilla 450 based sportsbike that should rival KTM RC 390.
Guerrilla 450 Sportsbike Incoming
A couple of years ago, a snippet from Royal Enfield’s internal presentation had leaked on the internet. This snippet showed family trees of Royal Enfield’s 350cc portfolio, 650cc portfolio and 450cc portfolio. Based on the 450cc platform, Royal Enfield is planning to launch as many as five motorcycles.
Two of these five motorcycles have been launched already in the form of Himalayan 450 and recently launched Guerrilla 450. Now, the third motorcycle is taking shape and is likely to emerge as the sportiest offering based on Royal Enfield’s Sherpa 450 platform. We’re talking about a semi-faired sportsbike whose silhouette snippet has just leaked on the internet.
Owing to its semi-faired nature, it will be positioned as a retro cafe racer of sorts. It will come equipped with improved componentry as opposed to Guerrilla 450 and command a slight price premium. Other upcoming motorcycles based on Sherpa 450 platform are a Scrambler and a more off-road version of Himalayan 450.
When launched, this Guerrilla 450 based Sportsbike might take the name of Continental GT-R 450. As in, it has design attributes of a Continental GT 650, but has a racing semi fairing like race-spec Continental GT-R 650. These bikes are track-only and participate in Continental GT Cup racing series.
Changes over Guerrilla 450
As seen in the leaked snippet of the upcoming Royal Enfield motorcycle, there is an overall identical silhouette as Guerrilla 450. We can see a cowl on top of its pillion seat, which could be removable. Thus striking both practicality and style. The semi-fairing engulfs Guerrilla’s round LED headlights and extends till the fuel tank.
From the looks of it, there are USD telescopic front forks replacing the RSU telescopic front forks on Guerrilla 450. Bar-end mirrors are also likely to be on offer as they complete that retro cafe racer look rather well. Alloy wheels look like they’re new and might be 17-inchers at both ends wrapped with fat 160-section at the rear.
Guerrilla’s Tripper Dash will be carried over too along with features like Google Maps and music control. Engine will remain to be the same 452cc single-cylinder DOHC 4V liquid-cooled engine with around 40 bhp of peak power and 40 Nm of peak torque, mated to a 6-speed gearbox. When launched, it would primarily rival the upcoming Triumph Thruxton 400.
Also read – Updated Bullet 350, Meteor 350 launch after Classic 350 facelift
Source
Source: Bike - rushlane.com
