Few motorcycle companies pour as much energy into the custom motorcycle scene as Royal Enfield. The Indian marque farms a staggering number of bikes out to the world’s best customizers each year—and the creations that come back act as rolling advertisements for whichever model the brand is focusing on for that season.
Right now, it’s the Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 that’s hogging the spotlight. We’ve already seen spicy Guerrilla 450s from Indonesia’s Frontwheel Motors and Japan’s Cheetah, but now we’re profiling a custom build from Royal Enfield’s home turf.
This purposeful Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 café racer is the work of Buraq Motorcycles in Hyderabad, India. They built it to compete in RE’s Busted Knuckles Build-Off late last year, where its sporty proportions and luxe surface finishes secured it a silver medal.
According to Buraq co-founder Adnan Hashmi, the idea was to blend “drag bike aggression with café racer elegance.” Boxing clever, he and his team leaned into the Guerrilla 450’s strengths, delivering a radical reinterpretation of the peppy single-cylinder roadster.
Buraq’s plan called for an overhaul of both the Guerrilla’s bodywork and its running gear. The OEM subframe was unbolted and replaced with an exceedingly tidy trellised unit. A carbon fiber seat cowl was then draped over the top, taking cues from classic muscle bikes.
Lurking packed away underneath the suave twin-textured seat cover are a handmade electronics tray and a custom shock bracket. An adjustable Öhlins shock props up the tail.
Moving to the front, Buraq created a bespoke carbon fiber fairing, mounting it on handmade brackets. It’s adorned with a tinted windscreen from a BMW R 12 nineT fairing, and an offset LED headlight that’s surrounded by cheeky decals.
Further back, a carbon fiber fuel tank cover sits over an aluminum reservoir, tracing the same line as the OEM design.
The front end features a smorgasbord of upgrades, including Yamaha R1 forks, a BMW R 1250 GS steering damper, and a three-piston brake caliper, hooked up to a Nissin master cylinder. The rear brake caliper’s a Brembo item, and there are braided stainless steel hoses all around.
Going deeper, Buraq installed a PowerTRONIC ECU and a quick-shifter. They also fabricated a stainless steel exhaust system, matching it to a titanium Arrow muffler. The air intake and coolant reservoir are custom, as is the wiring loom, which is powered by a lightweight Lithium-ion battery.
Fitted with clip-on bars and Gilles Tooling footpegs on custom rear-set brackets, Buraq’s Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 café racer is poised for aggressive riding. It also weighs 30 kilos [66 pounds] less than before, with a couple of extra teeth on the rear sprocket adding a little more pep to its step.
Finished in a luscious cocktail of black and glossy carbon fiber with yellow accents, it’s all business.
Buraq Motorcycles Instagram | Images by Affan Intekhab
