Riding the Only Real BMW Dirt Bike! 

Had one. Most confused motorcycle I’ve ever raced. Spent a lot of time on suspension tuning and mapping ecu to suit aftermarket pipe. Very difficult motorcycle to work on AND to simply keep running. Goofy wide ratio transmission and a PITA to change sprocket sizes. But the bike did work surprisingly well when it was running and set up properly. Canadian Mx and enduro legend Guy Giroux put the bike on the podium at the Montreal endurocross before I got it for the remainder of that season, and I loaned it to Matt McCarthy who put it on the podium at a provincial XC race. So the potential is there. If only bmw took more time developing it and listened to test riders comments this could have evolved into a very nice xc racing motorcycle.

It’s crazy to think that a 15 year old and bad (upon comparison) bike that had no set up done is still 97% as fast as the Husky!

ya... those bikes shouldn't even be compared to one another. There's still a difference between enduro, dual sport, and adventure bikes.

I have a 2009 BMW G450x and it’s an absolute beast of a machine - helluva pain to get it into a good working condition but once I got it dialed, it handled anything and everything I threw at it. It’s impossible not to have a huge smile on your face whilst riding dirt or street, never selling this bike.

A good comparison would be the BMW v Aprilia RXV.

WTF.. couldn't you find a husky 450 to make it a square test.. Not even a match..

I've got a 2010 version with just over 35 hours on it. The forks were changed for this final year of production to gold externals and revised internals. For the final year of production the bike was sold as a package from the dealers with extras including race can, map switch, smaller rear light, 2 additional front sprockets (13 and 15 tooth), smaller rear mudguard and a spare set of wheels. It is a pretty competent bike for some green lanes, despite the tiny fuel tank. It is also pretty quick with the race map and can fitted. Cracking video and great to see your review, next you need to try the BMW HP2 Enduro!

Fun fact, Andreas Lettenbichler (father of Manuel Lettenbichler, current hard enduro champion) won the Redbull Romaniacs in 2009 with a BMW G450x

The design of the clutch makes loads of sense, actually! Engine power, the horse powers, is defined as mechanical energy delivered per second. Mechanical energy is a force applied over a distance. Converted to torques and rotation-terms, spinning at high rpm at low torque you transfer the same energy per time as at lower rpm and higher torque. A lighter clutch thus will do the same work at high rpm as a heavy and slowly spinning one. Weight saved, probably less wear and tear as well. Next come probable effects from the oil between the clutch discs. In fluid dynamics, many effects go with velocity squared, and I would expect that the boundary layer between oil and plates produces some force way before the plates make direct contact. This would again reduce the wear of the plates. Next centrifugal forces will generate more flow of oil through the clutch, helping its cooling. Especially in off roading, where you rely on clutch slip a lot more than on road, these features should help lengthening clutch life significantly. Also the force the geared edges the clutch plates make on the outer cage´s bits will be lower, reducing the wear there. So a faster spinning clutch has many advantages that make it look desirable to a motorcycle. One may expect longer life of the parts and reduced weight. Next having the engine rotating in the opposite direction of the gears and wheels reduces the drive's gyroscopic momentum which some sports bikes have as well now. It apparently adds a significant amount of flic-a-bility. This may have been seen as extra bonus of this setup. I have to say that the G450 does look very interesting after all! They did try to minimise the impact of some systemic issues with it. As light as a Honda CRF 250 L but shelling out nearly twice the horsepower with some pretty clever details added. This may have been a pretty decent daily driver for adventure riders. Trying to sell the G450 through sports may have been the wrong approach. The mud bath Itchy Boots took in Liberia comes to my mind, where her CRF300R burnt out a clutch for good. In such conditions, the G450's clutch layout and extra power might make a difference. A less loaded and better cooled clutch may have survived that torment.

i think is stupid that you comparing two stroke with fourstroke and old bike vs new bike

first keep it up

You learn something new every day, never remember BMW making a MX bike

why did you not compare it to that era fourstroke, surely that would have been a much fairer and valid time comparism. Incidentally that engine is in my CCM GP450 adventure and has been all round Europe on and off road, greenlaning on real snotty trails in the UK and never missed a beat.

Stupid to test it against a KTM 2 stroke you needed a 2011 TE 449 .

It was a good street legal Enduro but not a race bike if you want to be realistic it's on the same lines as a DRZ400

In no way shape or form was that a fair competition" that 300 2 stroke could spank the 450s raced at Loretta's! Let's go BMW....do it again! Great video man,Like always !

Had one back in 2011 (Australia) Odd to say the least. Brembos, a Taiwanese Kymco engine, odd cable clutch, that seat and a factory muffler as big as 2 loaves of bread !! It did win the 2009 Romaniacs with Andreas Lettenbichler onboard. Impossible to get parts for, even back then.

Strange thing, they had a good bike in the F650GS Dakar.

2008-2010 is *3* years!!

Rode one of the magazine test units back when this came out (I worked at Dirt Rider mag at the time). High altitude trails. Rode back to back with a well setup KTM 525. We all agreed the "aged" 525 was eons better and at the end of the trip, nobody wanted to ride the beemer after the novelty wore off. The two things that stood out were massive gaps in-between gears, for low speed trails they were really bad. Also the front end just did not want to go where you wanted it. I was honestly fearing going off the trail and into a tree. Extremely vague and felt like not near enough weight on the front end. That said, I don't believe we took the time to set the sag and could have been very out of balance. Fun to watch and reminisce. Cheers from socal.

be interesting to see you do this test against an old husky or ktm etc from same era - i think testing against the new school is a tad unfair lol - imo it is a damn shame BMW gave up so soon, the dual sport market could / would be a great place for them now with an updated version of this

I remember when david knight left the bmw team cos of this bike😬🥳

"BMW started the adventure touring market" KLR 650, hold my rotella

My buddy bought one of these for a multi-purpose play bike/commuter, and if you look at it from the perspective of an option opposing a DS400 or similarly fashioned machine it is not as disappointing of an experience really. Now he did do some tuning, added an aftermarket exhaust, and such. Which certainly livened it from stock configuration nicely. He had his friend who is a performance suspension guru set the front and rear up for his weight and it made a significant difference in the handling off the tarmac. Would it ever be a true competition machine, IMO, no. First off it has too long of a wheel base IMO which makes navigating tight technical sections more daunting and increase your chance of getting high centered as it requires more effort to get the frontend up and more difficult to hop around on the rear wheel. On the flip side the rear end does not constantly seek to pass the frontend and get you sideways near as much. For faster logging roads and mining trails where we rode a majority of the time was a great asset . It was a seriously fun bike for play and adventure but not anywhere near MX and Enduro competition grade IMO.

Well first cheers for testing this bike, I would like to see a comparison with the Husqvarna variant. Yes I would like to see BMW try again, maybe with the same motor but conventional chassis and suspension.

Love these history lessons. Thanks for the vid! Maybe just a suggestion, put up the specs of the bikes in txt form or something for a few seconds, it would add some context and pretty easy to do. Also comparing it to the bike's competition at the time would be interesting but I realize that might not be feasible. Great vids!

Big letti mani dad lol won romaniacs on the bmw g 450b

Try the Ktm 950 super enduro. I still have one. Excellent bike

I've owned and ridden a Husqvarna te511 since 2011. I also own a 2023 te300. The 511 and g450x feels like a dual sport because the pegs are actually far apart. The coaxial rear end is narrow, the pegs are actually far apart to fit the whole contraption together. It took me a long time to figure that out and ride it fast. Over 30k km of Enduro/bush riding on the 511 and it's still rocking. In some situations it feels like it has better traction than the 300, in others roles are vastly different. I love riding the 511, the 300 was purchased because it's now very hard and expensive to get parts for the 511. Kept for sentimental value.

They bave the ike to Husqvarna and it turned into an excellent Off-Road racer I have the TC449 and its ok on the mx track and great as a cross-country racer. Again it needed more time and unfortunately BMW killed Husqvarna when they sold to Pierre Mobility .

You Forgot Letti won Romaniacs on one. You should compare a 2008 KTM 450 exc to it...I think it would be a much fairer comparison. Apart from that an excellent video 👍

When BMW owned Husqvarna their 2011 and 12 bikes had essentially the same motor but with a ridiculously close ratio six speed box. They improved the CTS rear suspension by having a pair of individual pivots, so accessing the front sprocket was much easier. Unfortunately there were quite a few reliability issues with the electric start.

Nice video Max, never knew BMW made a competition enduro, great camera and drone work, if triumph and ducati do well in MX , BMW could make another return, also that warranty was mental .

You need to get a new triumph tf250x do a real review for us! The British legacy mx bike been re born

These bikes are awesome. Still ripping mine after 300hrs! I'm never getting rid of mine!

Its a cool bike anyway and rare. Collector

What about the mighty HP2 Enduro ? Now theres a bike to take a look at . Or the Ultra dirt machine The spectacular KTM 950 Super Enduro? There is a comparison test worth revisiting. 😮

Dirt Bike Gambler song On a hot Baja signup race day For extreme trails bound to nowhere. I met up with an old guy rider We were both tired of no pre-race sleep So we took turns a-starin’ At the Works Bikes in the shade The curiosity took us And he began to speak. ~~ He said, “Son, I’ve made a life Out of seeing clapped out bikes And knowing what parts are bad By the way it’s Duct taped on. So if you don’t mind me sayin’ I can see your out of Duct tape For a taste of you Gator Aid I’ll give you some advise ~~ So I handed him my bottle And he drank down my last swallow Then he bummed an 8mm socket And ask me for a ratchet too. And the entry line got deathly quiet And his face lost all expression Said, “If you’re gonna race, boy You got to race it right ~~ You got to know when to hole shot’um Know when to clutch’um Know when to roost away And know when to WFO run. You never count your points lead When you’re Beer benchracin’ The’ll be time enough for countin’ When the Trophy’s dealins’ done ~~ Every Pro rider knows That the secret to surviving Is knowin’ what shit to throw away And knowin’ what shit to keep. Cause a heavy right hands a winner, And very numb hands are losers, And the best hands you can hope for Is no arm pump for a grip you can keep. ~~ And when he finished speakin’ He turned towards the signup sheet Crushed down my Gator Aid bottle And somewhere in his bench race story, The old guy rider he broke even And in his final words I found bullshit that I could keep ~~ You got to know when to gass’em Know when to power wheelie’um Know when to smok’um away And know when to have yeehaw! fun. You never count your secret race money When you’re sittin’ at the parts counter The’ll be time enough for part$ countin’ After the Wife’s household countin’s done ~~Gasser Classic~~

I can't help it... 2 strokes just sound so freaking gnarly, I can't own or ride anything but! edit: It was a nice idea, BUT... I bet it's no fun to change that front sprocket with the swing arm pivot bolt going through it!

I remember when these came out and they paid Knighter big money & they had big hopes,sadly BMW pulled the plug mid project bit like they did with the Mini wrc campaign.i still have all the magazines and the dealer brochures

BMW $hould Go for it 😁... We want another dirt bike with 3-year 36,000 mi warranty 👍🏾

Having spent most of my life in the motorcycle industry as a multi line dealer, it is sad to say that a large percentage of people, base the opinion of their motorcycle's on the opinion of the media and other peoples opinion. There was nothing wrong with the 450X.

Bmw like Cannondale before them tried to reinvent the category. They made a big splash and signed a couple of top riders one that walked away from the contract well before the end of the season. He never came to terms with the handling. The clutch wore plates quickly as well. No one at the factory seemed to understand the marketplace.

It's a tractor

It's wierd that bmw being a motorcycle company first.. never really got into mx

It was never going to work the thing ran backwards so the front end is powering into the ground when you open the the throttle you’re never going to lift the front end, KTM did adopt the rear tank for the 690 enduro though

When i seen one i had no idea what it was and it turns out to be for sale.. the gentleman let me take it for a ride..very powerful and fun..but he wanted to much for it

A better comparison would have been a ktm 450 exc seeing as that was the direct 1 to 1 competitor

Bmw yes they should try again but this time listen to the people on what they want and not what bmw thinks best thats how ktm are doing so well bmw you make good cars because you listen to the people now do the same with your off road bike's make one for super cross keep the bike easy to fixs and make one 2 stroke as well and y not let billy bolt take it on his track then and see how it would do

Anything is possible and anybody can do what they want if they really want to do it I'm sure BMW has the technology the engineers and the money to build probably the world's best bike if they wanted to I'm absolutely 100% positive that they could build a competitive bike if they wanted to I'm a fan of BMW cars I have had quite a few BMWs I would love to try one of them bikes I thought they only made on road bikes or Adventure bikes

They used this motor in the CCM GP450 a few years later. Nice little 450 adv bike at the time!

It is a very tall bike and you cannot change the height, otherwise a great bike. I love mine.

Had 2 ov thease at the same time 1 standerd and 1 modified thay were both animals love the back wheel and been bmw thay come with the best shocks and best brakes

More of a KLR450/CRF450L competitor than an actual enduro bike. The BMW was a great dual sport and made a good rally bike. CCM used this motor in the GP450 and the was a mega long distance trail bike.

BMW and KTM own the offroad realm idk what ur talking about

interesting vid i never knew BMW had made that bike, the KTM sounded great

Brilliant content!! I own a Husaberg with the 70° engine it. They also did a FX450 MX bike with that same revolutionary engine. Be great to see one on the channel and the story of KTM killing the premium brand and stealing all their tech and even branding "Ready to Race"

Considered by Dirt Bike Magazine to be one of the worst dirt bikes ever made

For those thinking this gap isn't much, it is. let me explain. 7 seconds in two minutes is a big margin in Enduro. Most special tests are around 10-12 minutes for an enduro or sprint enduro, with most races 3-6 special tests. If we extrapolate that out to real world race terms - 35-42 per special test. Depending on the event, that's somewhere in the region of 1.5-2 minutes for a low special test event or 3-4 minutes on a event with more tests. That's often gonna be the gap between winning and coming last in your class. Source: experience from racing Welsh & British Enduro champs and working at world Enduro champs. @positivemasculinity42

Juha Salminen also rode this bike in 2009 and 2010. Came 2nd in 2009 riding E2 class.

Would have compared to 450 four stroke or XR 600.

you can tell the forks especially are super soft, lots of nose dive and a unbalanced chassis….did you try adjusting clickers etc?

David Knight hard enduroed one of these if I remember right

BMW 🤮 what a horrible looking bike! Keep the videos coming Max 👍🏻

I own a 09 with over 20,000km on it. Does it all well - by means if you're a good rider and tall. With a few tweaks for gearing and usually upgrades this bike can handle what you give it. Faster the better.. Great bike for the in-between single track to road/double track. Who's sitting down!!! put some sheep skin down for extra kush for Sunday riding. Haven't had any issues other than the stater issue that was under warranty. Bought it with 5,000km. My second bike is a 1995 KDX200 to fill the gap in performance and fun. Good to see some "updated" content on it!

Im fucking delighted youve made this video....im sitting in a bar in Catalunya watching it.....and ive just remembered from years ago in uk.....special test times ....maybe it was Simon Pavey on this abortion of a bmw......and a builder on a Yamaha It 25O faster on tesr times😊

Wonder how it would be as a SuperMoto ? The Porsche 930 turbo of SuperMotos ? With that fat ass would it slide well, or be too fat to back it into a corner ? Shame that BMW does this from time to time good and bad too. Theyll make something as cool as the Z3M coupe (aka clownshoe) that nobody wanted cause how it looked . But those who knew what was underneath saw it was a masterpiece and now its super desirable and its looks have grown on us ! !! But then they wreck the look of the M3 and M3 with those beaver teeth front grills . When the previous generation was GORGEOUS ! WHY BMW why ?🤯? They can make a awesome Sportbike with the M1000RR, a brillant Adventure bike with the GS line and then fail so miserably just like this G450X did ? I just dont get why or how they do that ?!!?

They were 60hp if the setup was done as it ment to.

Looks like it rides like a DRZ400E. Heavy tail end, heavy bike for off road all together. But goes anywhere you need it to.

Next, the Husqvarna cross version, with coaxial swingarm end contra rotating engine

Lgend goes that the clutch eas made this way in order to leave space for the coaxial swingarm

have you tested a Aprilia MXV 450? another cool design that didnt work out so well as a motorcycle

Saw one at the dealership. Always wondered why i never heard of it

Great comparison and some inovative features on this unusual bike. My guess is that the BMW is a good starting point for further development (as David Knight said), but BM thought it wasn't worth the bother.

I heard about those bikes sometimes being restricted to about 44 hp, and putting out slightly above 50 when unrestricted.

why did Triumph and Ducati do mx'ers ?

Only ever seen one of these bikes once at a dealership and it was supermoto really slick looking bike wish I would have scooped it up

Nice job

A cluth directly at the crank can be much smaller, because there is no reduction (around 1:3) like on standard primary drives. So the torque it has to handle, is smaller by the factor of a standard primary drive gear ratio. I think that is the reason. A clutch on the crank was also used in old MZ 2-stroke bikes from east germany.

Id still love one as a talking point at meets!

David knight was contracted to ride it he hated it manuel lettenbekler got 2 nd at erz berg on it it didn’t last long

It would be nice, to see how much faster the bmw would be when the suspension is sorted out. Now results were odd, old 450 fourstroke with unsorted suspension against modern 2 stroke with good suspension. Fair comparison would be bmw vs 2008 ktm exc 450f, both with stock gear but suspension adjusted for the track.

I really enjoyed this one. I like seeing the "failures" be reviewed and compared. It gives us a fresh perspective again of the older and "flawed" products that got slammed down and into oblivion by the purist to be never seen or heard of again. A shame, really, as I would have liked BMW to keep developing this oddball. They were different and that on itself it's a win for me. Can't blame them for trying. Stay weird and fresh, #BMWMOTORRAD ! 🤘😎👍

They should give it another go. Like you said though don't try to reinvent the wheel just make small tweaks to what already works. Glad you got the bmw, I had forgotten about this bike all together.

Went to David knight's talk night at last year's TT.. He talked about his time at BMW, the issues and the 500 grand a year they were paying him! 😉

As soon as I heard the word, Dual-Sport, I knew it wasn't going to end well.

Next time ccm 450 gp

Bmw has a way of screwing up cars and bikes by overcomplicating them. I've owned several of the redhead BMW HUSKIES. They were absolutely trash, over engineered, complicated for no reason and a pain in the arse to work on nevermind get parts for. STEER CLEAR.

I wish @999lazer you could build a banshee engine in a dirtbike

Great Video! I think it would be cool to compare the bike to an enduro bike from that time period. Thanks for explaining all the weird design features of the bike though!

I did a ride put on by AMA ..and honda ....Started in SanBerdino ca'. To Las Vegas neveda. ..it was riding in the mountains and desert.. and 2 guys frim German rode,,, BMW'S..AND WHAT A JOKE ...THEY SERIOUSLY SUCK IN THE SAND WASHES ...NOT GOOD AT ALL FOR THE DESERT AND MOUNTAINS..

There is a race map 3 for the te449/te511s fixed the flame out problems. Very hard to find parts for them now days. Bit unfair it’s a complete different bike to the husky 300 would of been compared to the wr450 or something like that

I had the 2012 Husqvarna SMR 511. Which is basically better, bored out, more evolved version. With full titanium Akrapovic w/akra race map 3. Definitely put the seat concept foam and cover on. Was MUCH better. Was definitely a different bike. With some quarks. But overall was a really fun Supermoto. It was sumo from factory which was cool. I would post a picture if I could. HUGE THING!! Change your oil ALOT! Besides a few sorted out bits. changing oil a lot is the absolute best thing you can do. I had a great time with my 511. Was not like having a usual 2012. The power was incredible. A bit surprising at times. Sold it because I had a 20’ KTM 690 Smcr. Found myself just never riding the 511. Thank you for the video 🤙

I had one, it was fast and a fun bike. I didn't keep it long traded it for a Land Rover.

If that thing is anything like it's street bikes or cars. You better PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE IT. THE CARS AND STREET BIKES ARE THE SAME. NO DOUBT. 😂😂😂😂

I rode the ISDE qualifiers 06 - 10. 300EXC, YZ250F, G450X, TE310, 450EXC. Having fuel injection in 08 was miles better for coping with location changes than the 38/39mm carbs. The suspension wasn't any harder to figure out than the KTM's PDS. The only actual bad thing I would say is that the frame was a little on the flexible side. And the long swing-arm made the flex more noticeable than the older KTM's in really soft/sandy conditions. And yah, while you "had to pull the swing arm to change a sprocket" but how after are you really doing that mid-weekend ride, but the better traction available from the setup in long climbs or super rough conditions was awesome. And it felt weird. Like really weird. Wide at the pegs because of that sprocket location, narrow on the knees because of the frame geometry, and generally tall. Really encouraged you to always be standing. But, it brought me the same gold medals the others did. I guess I'm just really disappointed by the bike you chose to compare it to. A 22 TE300 could not be farther away from the target rider for the G450X or a more unfair comparison. Get a bone stock 06-08 450/525EXC and try again.

That was entertaining as hell 🔥👊✌️😉

That bike should have been compared to a 2009 Model bike something like a CRF450x. That would be comparing apples with apples

It would be cool if BMW made a GS 500 X to compete with the 690/701 and Kove 450. Don't dive in to full on dirt bikes, but make a really killer rally style dual sport, not a race bike with plates. Rear tank concept would work great and they could develop a front aux tank with some wind protection and nav tower. Think a 300 Rally but better. BMW does have Dakar roots.

Come to Michigan USA. Ship your bikes to "Peacock LTD" bike dealership in Baldwin Michigan, (find sponsorship). Come ride the great single track in the area, inexpensive lodging, civil area still, and inexpensive (but very good, "Club 37 dinner".) eats. I will let you ride my YZ250 single track trail ripper. I spent 3 winters making it the way I want, and it is a better YZ250 trail machine than I have seen on YT, (stronger low end power and better handling). 2 or 3 days riding around there, you will be taking home great memories and new friendships. :) Doug in Michigan.