One of the more unfortunate realities of 2025 is consumers getting squeezed at every corner, from tariffs on imports to fuel costs and grocery prices. But there is one product out there that can still provide a ton of fun for not a lot of dime: motorcycles. The 2026 Royal Enfield Guerilla 450 is a breath of fresh air. In a time when everything keeps getting more expensive, its price of $5,299 is welcoming like a warm blanket. But even cooler is that, in getting a cheap bike, you apparently still get to have a ton of fun.
The American motorcycle market is a tough one to crack into. About 75 percent of the bikes sold in America have a displacement of 750cc or larger. In other words, Americans adore their mammoth Harley-Davidsons, Honda Gold Wings, and big-bore sportbikes. Yet, despite that, motorcycle manufacturers have been carving out new niches in that remaining 25 percent of the market.
As bike builders are finding out, there are a lot of people who like riding motorcycles, but aren’t flush with $20,000 or more to spend on a flashy Indian. Instead, these people are turning to small-bore bikes like Honda’s famous MiniMotos or to a growing market of middleweight motorcycles. In the not-too-distant past, there were only a handful of middleweights on the market. Now, it’s a booming market that includes players like Triumph and CFMoto.
Royal Enfield Feels The Love
Royal Enfield has seen incredible success in catering to riders who both love vintage style and don’t have a lot of money to spend. The Indian marque ended its last fiscal year having delivered a record-breaking 1,009,900 motorcycles, and every single one of them was in the middleweight category. About 85 percent of those motorcycles were all sold in India. To Royal Enfield, this just means that there’s some more money to be made elsewhere.
As such, Royal Enfield has been on an absolute blitz, coming out with new motorcycles left and right. Most of these bikes have been solid bangers, too. The new 2026 Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 is merely a continuation of the formula that has brought Royal Enfield fortunes.
Royal Enfield has been on a path of constant improvement. In just the past decade, Royal Enfield effectively reinvented itself, poaching great talent from big names in motorcycling and moving engineering and design operations back home to the United Kingdom.
Royal Enfield’s new platforms have been technological leaps forward for the brand. Sure, the 349.34cc air and oil-cooled thumper fitted in my Classic 350 makes only 20.2 HP and 19.9 ft-lb of torque, but I’ve found it to be quiet, relatively smooth, and reliable. The bike itself has a perfect mix of old-school touches, like miles of real metal, and modern niceties, like dual-channel ABS, a USB port, and an available turn-by-turn navigator screen.
Royal Enfield’s 650 twin platform has much of the same awesomeness, but with 47 HP on tap, Enfield’s bigger bikes can actually hit the ton!
A More American-Friendly Platform
Now, Royal Enfield could have just built dozens of different bikes on these two platforms, and if you look at RE’s lineup, it looks like the company has tried. However, Royal Enfield’s pursuit to be better has led it to introduce a newer, even more advanced architecture, the K platform. This architecture, Royal Enfield says, is supposed to lead Royal Enfield’s offensive into other markets even better than its other platforms.
We first saw the K platform at the end of 2023 in what was then the new Royal Enfield Himalayan 450. Back then, the platform had succeeded the 411cc engine that RE had planted in its previous Himalayan and the Scram 411, which you can still buy new. Here’s what I wrote about the new engine platform:
It’s a 452cc single-cylinder unit rated at 39.5 HP and 29.5 lb-ft of torque. That’s a huge improvement from the old 411cc single’s 24.3 HP and 23.6 lb-ft of torque. More improvements with the engine include dual overhead cams and water-cooling. The old engine was cooled by air plus oil and was of a single overhead cam design. This new engine is a bit tighter and has increased gas flow. Compression is noted to be 11.5:1 compared to 9.5:1 on the old unit. All of this is commanded through a ride-by-wire system.
While none of what I said above would be particularly groundbreaking for a brand like Honda, it is for Royal Enfield, which clings to old technology for dear life. But the cool thing is also that Royal Enfield has moved on to these technologies long after they have been proven to work and could be churned out in hundreds of thousands of affordable motorcycles.
Until now, the new 450 platform had only been used in the Himalayan adventure bike. Now, Royal Enfield has packaged it into a naked bike, creating a fantastic middle ground between the more expensive RE 650s and the cheaper, but slower 350s.
The first thing you’ll notice about the Guerilla 450 is that it doesn’t wear a retro design. Royal Enfield has been trading on retro for decades now, yet the Guerilla sports crisp, modern lines. It checks all of the boxes for a modern naked bike from the big can on its exhaust to the exposed frame structure. Only the round headlight and fork gaiters attempt to nod to the past. My eyes also spot that, like the Himalayan 450, the Guerilla 450’s frame is not a cradle type like RE’s 350s and 650s. That engine? Yep, it serves as a stressed member.
Again, this wouldn’t be out of this world for a Suzuki, but it’s fresh for Enfield.
That aforementioned 452cc DOHC single mill makes a return here, pumping out the same 39.5 HP at 8000 rpm and 29.5 lb.-ft. of torque. In terms of numbers, you’re looking at a 21.8-degree rake, a six-speed transmission with a slipper clutch, a 43mm Showa fork, a monoshock, a 56.7-inch wheelbase, and 17-inch wheels. Stopping is done through a front ByBre two-pot caliper munching on a 310mm disc and a single-piston caliper squeezing a 270mm plate in the rear. The Guerilla 450 also has an accessible seat height of 30.7 inches.
The 2026 Royal Enfield Guerilla 450 is surprisingly light on technology for a bike from 2025. It has fuel injection, ABS, a USB port, ride modes, and a drive-by-wire throttle, but that’s about it. The most flashy thing on the bike is the tiny 4-inch color display, which streams Google Maps directions from your phone. But a lot of riders, myself included, love this. I don’t need my motorcycle to have so much tech that it could do my taxes. I am fine with fuel injection and a small screen to feed directions to.
The Crowd Goes Wild
Sadly, despite being a happy Royal Enfield owner and living only a skip and a hop from Milwaukee, I wasn’t invited to the press launch. So, you’ll have to take Cycle World‘s word that it rides pretty good:
On the road, the Guerrilla is easygoing, unintimidating, and fast enough to stay ahead of interstate traffic. Tapped out in fifth gear, I saw an indicated 96 mph, a new realm of speed for an RE single to be sure, but it was breathing hard by the time it got there, and I suspect hitting top speed in sixth gear would require a stretch of pavement better measured in fractions of miles than in meters.
Accelerating onto the freeway with any real earnestness requires twisting the throttle to the stop through practically every gear, but it complies to the extent that the sadist in you will permit it, or until the rev limiter cuts in at around 9000 rpm. Given acceleration is more wanting than top speed, Royal Enfield was wise to add an additional tooth to the rear sprocket (compared to the Himalayan 450). While that ups the rpm for a given speed, and thus the potential for unwanted vibrations, it’s a fair trade-off. In top gear, at an indicated 76 mph, the engine spins at around 6000 rpm and hands and feet start to get a bit tingly, cluing riders into the blessed work done by the balancer shaft in preventing them from feeling too much kinship with riders of yesteryear’s singles. Rubber-mounted pegs and handlebars pay dividends here as well.
The feeling of modernity extends to the gearbox. Shifter action is super light, requiring the most casual en pointeon the lever. At a standstill, finding neutral is easier than on any other motorcycle that springs to mind. If it’s executed a bit clumsily though, it’s easy to accidentally snick it into second, or even third gear—the gearbox is just that slick. Really impressive. The one quirk of shifting is, as Dawes describes in his first ride review, a surge after clicking up from first to second gear. One of RE’s engineers suggested it was related to engine mapping rather than gear spacing.
Cycle World‘s complaints were few and largely focused on how clunky, overly sensitive, and unintuitive the display and its handlebar-based control were. These complaints were echoed by Motorcyclist magazine, so it clearly wasn’t a fluke. Thankfully, Royal Enfield says that it’s working on an update to fix many of those issues. Another weird quirk is that the bike’s screen requires your phone to be unlocked and on to stream Google Maps to work. At that point, you might as well put your phone on the bars, effectively defeating the point of the screen.
I suppose this does make sense. Royal Enfield doesn’t put screens on its bikes, and while it’s disappointing, I am not surprised its first effort hasn’t gone smoothly. Still, most reviews I’ve read conclude that, despite the clunky screen, the bike is actually good, and not just for the price. Here’s Cycle World again:
Talk about burying the lead: The Guerrilla 450 costs $5299 in whatever color you choose.
That makes it amazingly affordable for what you get. With a claimed dry weight of 382 pounds and a low 30.7-inch seat height, the Guerrilla 450 is as physically approachable for a broad demographic as it is affordable.
As Dawes reports in his first ride review, the Guerrilla 450 “just works.” Handling is stable at highway speeds or when banked over on a twisty country lane. Bespoke Showa suspension (adjustable for preload in the rear) is compliant and damping is appropriate for most uses. The ByBre braking setup features a single 310mm disc in the front and a 270mm disc in the rear. Brakes are a big upgrade over other REs I’ve tested. No complaints.
Great Choices
The 2026 Royal Enfield Guerilla 450 enters a relatively crowded market. Competition includes the $5,295 Triumph Speed 400, the Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 and KTM 390 Duke, which both start at $5,899, and the $5,149 Honda CB300R. There are great reasons to choose all of these bikes, from the reliability of the Honda to the wild looks of the Husky.
Royal Enfield hopes that the Guerilla 450 will be a smashing success as an aspirational motorcycle to own in the developing world and an affordable motorcycle to own here in America. The company expects to sell between 15,000 and 20,000 of these a year in America, and I think it’s possible.
Royal Enfield has been on a roll, and it sounds like the 2026 Guerilla 450 is a winner if you want to buy a new motorcycle without going broke. If you want to try one for yourself, they’re on sale right now. Maybe I can figure out how to swing a leg over one before the weather stops being warm.
Top graphic image: Royal Enfield
You could buy 3.75 of these, or 1 Specialized S-works Turbo Levo 4 LTD e-bike.
Thus, this Royal Enfield is a non-flashy Indian?
Wonder how it stacks up to the Hero-Harley X440? And does that mean we might see one of those int he US as well?
I just saw one of these pop up recently at my local dealer and was very impressed with the look. It looks a lot like a modernized Buell Blast too. I am very impressed with RE these days and really need to go take one for a ride one of these days.
What a gem, and that blue/white is the way to go. Fork gaiters? Huzzah! Function before form. Stories like this make me sad I don’t ride anymore. Keep them coming.
I didnt have this clocked at all! I am curious for a Mercedes review.
On paper, what are your thoughts on this vs the old scram 411? Which would you go with?
Ive been shopping for a scram since they seem to go for 3-3500, but this for 2k more isnt a bad deal on paper. Reality 2k might not be worth it.
For those who may not be familiar, “the ton” = 100mph 🙂
It’s interesting to see how tech has trickled down to the motorcycle market. 45 years ago the newer niceties were electronic ignitions (instead of points) and fuel gauges (instead of nothing). Some of the early fuel-injected bikes – e.g. the Kawasaki GPz1100 – didn’t do very well compared to their carbureted counterparts, but the manufacturers continued to improve.
My modern bike doesn’t have any screen-oriented tech, so I just have a phone holder attached to the bars; however, it sees very little use.
I’m definitely rooting for RE to shake up the market, and they’re off to a solid start. I owned a 411 powered Himalayan for about a year and aside from a few “quirks” of non-essential items, found the quality perfectly acceptable. For the price, you are sort of expecting “knockoff” disposable build quality, and that’s not the case at all. It lacked some of the polish and refinement of say a Honda, but after a year of daily commuting, ADVing it in places it really didn’t have business, dropping it, ect, nothing whatsoever broke (I did put handguards on it though). It also returned stellar fuel economy (65-70mpg, even riding it more or less WOT on the highway), with a 4 gallon tank, that meant fuel stops were refreshingly infrequent as well.
The “quirks” were the stock headlight was as effective as a the dollar store flashlight with almost dead batteries from Grandma’s junk drawer (but fortunately it’s a generic standard size, so swapping an entire LED “Daymaker” style into the bucket is a simple affair), the compass on the dash was entirely useless , and the ambient temp readout always read about 20* above actual. Because they stuck it directly behind the cylinder jug. Of an air cooled engine. So hot air blows over it. Relocating the sensor up behind the speedo fixed that. But the deal-breaker that prompted me to sell it was…..it was just underpowered. I’m just outside of Austin, high-speed roads are needed to get pretty much anywhere. It would cruise at 60 okay. If going uphill, or with panniers acting as mini barn doors for wind drag, that was about it’s top speed. Level ground you might see 70, maaaaybe 75 on a good day. Downhill it’d tag the rev limiter in top gear just north of 80, so there wasn’t much left anyway. I always though “this would be a great bike if it had another 10-15hp or so”. Just enough to give it some confidence with hills, and the compulsory 70+mph roads here.
I ended up with a used Zero DSR as my “commuter” bike, and the Goldwing handles trips. But the new 450 bikes look pretty great. I’m excited to see the Him-e electric that’s already confirmed in the works and supposedly due next year. It has a similar battery capacity to Zero’s, even more power, and RE definitely aims for “value” price points over gimmicky, unnecessary features (which Zero very much has lately). Zero’s 3rd gen bikes are also notably less reliable, and full of anti-repair “tech”, why I picked up a used 2nd gen instead. It’s still going great at 30k miles, but If the Him-e offers similar range/performance, without Zero’s BS, I’d probably be tempted on one.
Great review. My last bike was a Suzuki S40 and the single 650 was not enough to be on the highway with. I am glad to see these middle size bikes may have enough to be on the highway and this one is affordable for sure.