BMW 450 Ride

[Boomhauer]

Today we were out marking trail for our upcoming enduro. A guy in our club just bought the new BMW 450. We traded bikes for about 10 miles or so and I was highly impressed with the new Beemer. The power delivery was by far the smoothest of any 4 stroke I have ever ridden. The ergos of the bike fit me well. If I saw a root in the trail I just twisted the gas and up she would go. It also has a factory cooling fan. The funny thing was that it never really boiled over like most 4 strokes. The bike also felt very light. It is going to be quite interesting to see how Knighter & Juha fair on them in 09.

Overall I will rate it a 7 out of 10. It has the zoke forks but no black coating on the tubes.

A few draw backs or concerns.

1. No frame to protect the engine. If rocks were around where we ride I would be highly concerened about busting the bottom half of the engine.

2. The seat is all one piece. There is no way to get a taller seat. Hopefully a company will come in and make one.

3. The way the rear shock is mounted gives it a very weird rear end feeling.

4. The factory muffler is huge!