Getting To Know The BMW G450X

Feb 5 2010 - 12:42pm - Dan Paris

BMW's G450X has generated a ton of internet talk since BMW announced their intention to produce a racing dirt bike a few years ago. Success for the innovative bikes followed, with Finland's Juha Salminen taking second in the FIM World Enduro Championship E2 class and Guy Giroux taking fourth overall and second in E2 at the Royal Distributing Canadian Enduro Championship, not to mention Giroux putting the Beemer on the podium in front of 45,000 people at the Montreal Endurocross. But there was bad press too, like David Knight quitting the BMW team mid-season for a privateer ride with Kawasaki.

DMX, thanks to BMW Canada's Chris Duff and Robert Dexter, managed to score Giroux's Montreal Endurocross racebike for an extended test. Our goal this winter and spring is to see what makes the BMW different and see how competitive it is in different disciplines like ice-racing, cross country and even motocross. Our first date with miss Bavaria was at Chesterman's indoor motocross track in Tillsonburg, ON. It's fun place to ride, and though you can't get an accurate bike test from one indoor location Chesterman's did give us a great chance to get dirty.

The BMW 450 is hot. Jason Michael, however, was frozen.

The bike has an unusual layout, with the fuel tank under the seat and the airbox in the 'gas' tank. Very slim and with a flat saddle, the BMW also forces the pilot into a very aggressive riding position.

The Beemer comes street legal, with minimist lighting that is easily removed for racing. Inside that giant muffler is a catalytic converter...the first clean-air race bike! That's especially welcome indoors. This motorcycle draws a crowd everywhere you park it.

BMW claims the 450X weighs 245 pounds dry, complete with street lighting and e-start. We'd guess 270-ish wet, which is comparable to any other e-start 450 enduro bike. We knocked off a few of those pounds by removing the signal and tail lights and the skid plate. The bike feels competitively light on the track, thanks to BMW's efforts at mass centralization.There are another few items we could have removed for motocross, but we were in too much of a rush to ride!

There is a large, single radiator behind those shrouds. Those are Marzocchi forks. An Ohlins shock handles the rear.

The swingarm pivot and countershaft sprocket are in line, so there are no changes in chain tension as the suspension moves. Giroux had previously tuned the suspension on our test bike to work well on the indoor track.

The fuel-injected engine, at least with the stock pipe, has a very smooth powerband but plenty of grunt. It ran around the tight Chesterman's track in second gear without clutch abuse. BMW claims 51 horsepower at 9000 rpm.