Pete Peterson: The BMW is a great bike to get if you want to try every other bike. Show up anywhere and the exotic James Bond of dirt bikes draws attention, and you'll have plenty of offers to trade bikes for a loop - take them. The BMW felt big and clumsy and had the worst riding position of all - way forward and high. The suspension wasn't plush, and I never felt comfortable enough to try anything on this bike. It sure looks exotic, though.
This was truly the most disappointing bike out of all the bikes, what a pig.
Owning a BMW GS1150R I was thinking this bike would reflect the design ingenuity of my GS, boy was I wrong.
First off the gearing on the bike was awful. The gearing was so high in the low gears that if you wanted to go through anything technical you had to continually slip the clutch to go slow enough yet not stall. This in my mind made the bike worthless as a dirt bike.
I did not care for the handling of the bike. The only place I can see using this bike would be to ride on fire roads with no technical terrain. The only problem with cruising down fire roads is that if you sit back and relax on the seat you get the hard rubber plug of the gas cap cover jamming up into your tail bone which was quite uncomfortable. Who ever thought of putting a hard rubber plug in this spot should be shot. I could not relax and sit on that portion of the bike. I had to slide forward towards the tank to be semi comfortable.
If someone wanted to impress their friends by buying a "BMW" dirt bike, I would say save your money buy any of the other real dirt bikes above and not waste your money on this turd.
-Sean "Salty" Crowley
As noted in the test, the BMW fits a taller rider best, and I actually got along with the handling and the riding position decently. I'm comfortable standing, and I like the slim feel of the bike. The seat is a plank. I found the power was smooth and energetic, but the gappy gearbox is beyond annoying. What saves this bike for me is the fact that it is fairly light for a street legal bike, and you can ride it on fast roads of the street without wringing the engine's neck. I guess that is where that gappy gearbox is a plus. What it all comes down to is the warranty. If I was planning to ride a lot, and by that I mean dual-sport riding, the BMW would look really good with that three-year 36,000-mile warranty. That will take the fear out of owning a four-stroke!
Karel Kramer
6'1"/225 lb./B rider
I rode this bike before most. And I'm still sort of impressed with the BMW even after it proved to be a lackluster performer in comparison to the established brands and new bikes in the class. When looked at as an engineering marvel, the things German designers have done are definitely unique. A crankshaft-mounted counter shaft sprocket and clutch that also acts as a swingarm pivot? Whoa. That's a lot of intricate brain work going into re-designing a seemingly simple standard drive system that has worked for a long time. But BMW isn't about being simple, they're about building stuff that's theirs. I look at the G450X as a stepping stone. A somewhat jacked up first step in the progression of an off-road brand. I like the way this motor delivers pumped up power. And this is a brand new motor. It's really good at bringing the noise. My favorite thing to do with this bike is to find a fire-road or desert straight and see how fast I can go. It goes really fast. But I can't tell how fast because my eyes are shaking in my head and I can't read the speedometer. The chassis needs a lot of fine-tuning for the masses but surprisingly, we had a couple big guys that could get the bike to work decently. For the average-sized rider, its suspension performance is too poor. If you're heavy enough to get the fork past the harsh initial range and not riding terrain fast enough to bottom it, it will work. Also, the ergonomics fit those around 6-foot tall better. It definitely misses its mark as a potent adventure bike (since it lacks a good road seat and ample fuel capacity) and now sits in a quirky position as a bike that doesn't do anything very well. With their alignment with Husqvarna, their dedication to racing the World Enduro Championships in Europe with a true "A-Team" and a lot of feedback from their first run, I'm sure BMW will come out with a much better real-world off-road bike the next time around. At least, I really hope they will.
Jesse Ziegler, 5'10", 175 pounds, Intermediate