BMW G 450 X Review - Bavarian Brilliance

BMW has never known for doing things by halves, the first thing you notice about the new BMW G 450 X is it's a good looking machine, sleek clean lines with no clutter ready to ride straight out of the box.

Sleek BMW styling still looks at home in the bush

With the no nonsense German engeering apparrent this bike is as unique in it's appearance as it is in it's engineering. There are no copy cat features from the existing 450's on offer and at 111kg's is nice and light.

 
Yes you sit on it but it's for fuel OK!

The BMW G 450 X sports some interesting design features starting with the fuel tank being positioned directly under the seat, I did a bit if a double take when fuelling the thing up the indent in the seat doubles as stop for your backside when your sitting down.  

 
Moulded plastics work well together spoilers and seat

 The plastics and ergos come together nicely as I said before striking appearance we've come to expect from BMW.

 
Retro fitted switch for competition mapping

The only modification made to our machines was swapping the stock 14 tooth front sprocket with the 13 tooth one that comes in the kit, remove the mirrors and addition of a switch instead of the dongle to change the ignition mapping from what we deemed trail mode to race mode immediately giving you an extra 11 horses to play with.

The engine output of 38 kW (52 hp) is achieved at 9,000 rpm by activating the switch  boosting the standard engine output from 30 kW at 8,000 rpm. Peak torque is 44 Nm at 7,800 rpm (the bike needs to be stopped and restarted for the changed mapping to come into play) or 42.8 Nm at 6,500 rpm without it.

 
Slim cockpit and the famous BMW logo

Throw a leg over the Beamer and you'll find the slim cockpit and seat height a good fit for those of us who are of average height and build.

The bars have 3 positions you can use so there is sure to be a setup to suit all sizes, we left ours stock and I felt right at home with it.

The seat height is 955mm and is made from a single piece of special foam rubber. Not having a cover or a substructure as its base saves weight and improves durability. The seat is noticeably harder than most but after 170k's I had no monkey butt and I wouldn't complain about it.

We had a modified version of the stock bike along for the test as well which featured the Akropovic Pipe and a moulded after market seat that allows the vertically challened to get a little closer to the ground. The pipe made a noticeable difference broadening the power curve making the top end snappier.

The fuel injection delivers plenty of smooth useable power and the switch on the engine mapping gives the Beamer some firebreathing snap. We ran it in both modes the lower being the more fuel efficient and delivering more than enough juice for your average trailrider. With the stock pipe the bike is decievingly quiet.

The intrument cluster is small and functional and features some pretty neat features including a low fuel warning, not that we saw it in action. We did 100K's of the hard enduro riding and only used about 6 litres of the total 8litre fuel capacity so the tank should see you through 130k's of normal trail riding with the mapping in trail mode.

 
Engineering ecellence in action

The Beamers unique in combining the swing arm's pivoting axle with the front counter shaft, ensuring constant chain length throughout the suspension stroke means the chain is always tight and there is limited wear and tear.

Klaus Mueller from Blue Light Ride fame and owner operater of Australian Trail Bike Tours has clocked up 170hrs or 8000k's of Desert Sand, Mud and Snow on his BMW G 450 X and Still has the original chain and front sprocket fitted, more on Klaus later.

This layout permits a noticeably longer swing arm for the same wheelbase delivering unbelievable tractability, this would have to be the stand out feature of the BMW. It's ability to motor up snotty rutted, rocky hills and maintaing tractability has to be experience to be believed.

Klaus who's no spring chicken added this bike has given his riding career a greater margin because the BMW is such an easy bike to ride. He also added he's checked the valves twice in the 8000k's with no movement at all and hasn't had to replace a seal or bearing in that time.

 
Front Marzochi suspension works well

The front forks are 45 mm upside-down Marzocchi forks Spring travel is 300mm and is also fully adjustable for compression and rebound damping. We found the dampening fine for us more time on the bike we'd muck around with the settings to see what the difference is . Klaus has backed his dampening off for the riding that he does and finds that it's perfect for him. Overall the bike steered well and maintain it's line in ruts and over obstacles.

The Ohlins shock and the coaxial swingarm keep the power on the ground

The rear suspension equipped with an Ohlins shock with a decent 320mm of travel. The coaxial design virtually eliminates the negative torque effect of conventional suspension making the suspension extremely reactive while under acceleration, this noticeably improves traction especially on snotty hill-climbs, exiting corners and whenever you want the back end to bite in and deliver some really useable power. 

 
30 degree tilt keep the inertia forward

The cylinder is tilted forward by approximately 30 degrees, enabling the centre of gravity to be moved in the direction of the front wheel thereby benefiting the suspension. A further advantage of tilting the cylinder is the creation of space for the intake air ducting that can now come vertically from above and virtually straight down, promoting optimum performance and allowing you to put the BMW into some pretty deep water without drowning it.

 
Not quite submersible but the high airbox is advantageous

The BMW G 450 S certainly proved to be a head turner, every one I saw asked me what I thought of the Beamer, my comment was I thought it was great.

There is plenty of misconception regarding price with some punters telling me they thought it would cost $18K plus, this little baby is mere $12,450 plus dealer and onroad costs and includes a two year warranty, it means you have to service the bike at an authorised dealer and the replacement parts also have a two year warranty.

So at the end of the day would I buy one, yep it's a great bike to ride and comes ready to go out of the crate. I would probably replace the plastic bash plate with an aluminium one B&B Offroad Enineering have one available for a meager $169 here and add some good old Asussie barkbusters.

Overall a joy to ride, I think the magazines didn't do this bike justice in their reviews, it delivers everthing you want from an enduro bike with some superb BMW engineering backing a conceptually brilliant bike.

The hardest decision is who gets pride of place in the garage the Commodore or the Beamer.

Phelpsy having some fun with the 450's torque

See you on the trails.

Phelpsy.