Royal Enfield to develop a 450cc sportbike based on Guerrilla 450?

- Guerrilla 450-based retro sportbike could be under works

- Likely to feature a retro café racer styling

- More bikes could be launched on the 450cc platform

The recently launched Guerrilla 450 is the second motorcycle to use the 450cc Sherpa engine after the Himalayan 450. But now, Royal Enfield plans to expand its 450 portfolio with new products and the company could be looking at a sportier model based on the Guerrilla 450.

According to a report, the Chief of Design at Royal Enfield, Mark Wells believes that “a sportbike based on the Guerrilla 450 could work really well”. But, knowing Royal Enfield, don’t expect a thoroughbred racing machine with supersport styling. If you have an elephant’s memory, a leaked product-plan document did point at a sporty, semi-faired café racer-style motorcycle on the 450 platform.

If Royal Enfield is indeed working on a sporty 450cc café racer, this motorcycle could work well in the international markets, especially in Europe. Royal Enfield could draw parallels with the Continental GT 650 and the race-spec GT 650R.

If this motorcycle turns into a reality, expect it to feature a neo racer styling, replete with retro semi-fairing, tail cowl, and 17-inch wheels with stickier rubber. It could also get low-set clip-on handlebars and rear-set footpegs for an aggressive and involving riding posture.

We don’t expect Royal Enfield to make any changes to the 452cc, liquid-cooled motor. Instead, the company could change the final drive by using different sprocket sizes. This is just a speculation currently, and it could take a while for this project to go into the next phase. Although, it is too early to talk about its launch timeline, a 450cc Royal Enfield café racer does sound interesting.