Midnight runs to Marine Drive, early morning sprints to Lonavala, and of course, evenings at cafés; With the monsoon retreating, every possible ride with the Guerrilla 450 was chalked out. Dry roads, clear skies, and a roadster that wants to be ridden hard and fast; in the time that we’ve had the Guerrilla, this was going to be the perfect season for Hoon to be around with it. But fate, or rather Royal Enfield, had other plans for it.
The bike was supposed to be prepped and sent off to Goa for Motoverse 2024, and suddenly I had just one day to have fun with it. And that certainly wasn’t going to be enough, but with no choice, I decided to make the most of my commute to the showroom.
It was going to take an hour through the harrowing traffic, and the Guerrilla ensured that I didn’t get bored. This also happened to be a ride where I experienced a bunch of ‘firsts’ with this bike. For starters, this was the first time that the radiator fan was working overtime to keep the engine cool. This also happened to be the first time that I was blindly relying on the tyres, but perhaps that’s because I dropped the air pressure by three points so that I could have all the grip I needed. The 450 was enjoying it, too, and maybe a little too much because at one point the ABS decided that braking is only for the weak, and that could have also resulted in my first crash with Guerrilla.
Hoping that I would get the Guerrilla back after the Motoverse, I handed over the keys to the bike… and I received one in return. After an exhilarating commute, the switch to a composed, relaxed ride should have made me forget the Guerrilla, but instead, it did the exact opposite. The tyres always lacked grip, the ABS acted up and it wasn’t the lightest, either. Yet, here I am, still longing for those midnight runs to Marine Drive, early morning sprints to Lonavala and the evening sessions at cafés.
