BMW F 450 GS: Why’s Everyone Excited About This ADV Bike

The world’s biggest motorcycle show – EICMA – has concluded in Milan, Italy. One of the biggest showstoppers of this storied event was at the BMW Motorrad pavilion.

No, we’re not talking about some big, burly exotic that costs a limb or two to buy (we’re talking BMWs remember), but something a lot more exciting while still being accessible to a wide swathe of buyers in India, and across the planet.

Say hello to the exciting new BMW F 450 GS – a small capacity adventure (ADV) motorcycle concept that wowed show goers and motorcycle fans across the world.

What makes the upcoming BMW F 450 GS so exciting?

It’s got an engine you’ve never seen before…

Let’s begin with the heart of the matter – the engine. The BMW F 450 GS is powered by a brand new 450cc, twin cylinder four stroke engine paired to a 6 speed gearbox. The motor makes about 48 Bhp of peak power and around 45 Nm of peak torque. It’s liquid cooled, has four valves, a twin overhead camshaft and everything that you’d expect from a modern-day twin. But wait there’s a surprise, a massive one at that.

BMW Motorrad claims that this engine has something that no engine has: a 125 degree firing order. Normally, you’d expect a 270 degree firing order on a twin powering an ADV given the low end and mid range torque that such an angle offers. But BMW Motorrad is going for a very radical approach, and the sound that the F 450 GS makes is just music. Just listen to this.

BMW Motorrad says that this firing angle was chosen to differentiate the F 450 GS from other bikes in the ADV space, which is getting quite crowded. Also, this firing order is meant to give the bike plenty of low and mid range grunt (torque) to make riding on the trail quite rewarding while having more than enough top end performance for high speed highway cruising and quick overtaking.

The power output is specifically restricted to 48 Bhp to meet A2 license requirements of developed countries. This means that BMW Motorrad is aiming not just at experienced riders who want something light and manageable for on-off road use but also a bike that beginner riders can access.

To be sold at a price that will stun you, and the competition too!

Enter TVS Motors! The F 450 GS will be built by TVS Motors at its Hosur manufacturing facility, the same facility that has been building small capacity motorcycles for BMW Motorrad for nearly a decade now.

A high amount of localization means that the new bike can be sold at a price that’s accessible. Think of a starting price of Rs. 4-4.5 lakh for the Indian market, and around a lakh more (about USD 7,500) for markets abroad. This price will make the F450 GS slightly more expensive than the KTM 390 Adventure and the Aprilia 457 twin – in keeping with BMW’s badge value – but affordable enough for most buyers.

And such keen pricing is only possible because the bike’s built in a high quality, low cost manufacturing set up in India. TVS Motors has proven to be a stable and reliable partner for BMW Motorrad over the years. The 450 GS will be the culmination of this partnership that began in April 2013, when both companies signed a deal for building sub-500cc motorcycles for India and the world.

Will replace the BMW G 310 GS

Let’s face it, the BMW G 310 GS, despite being positioned as a baby ‘GS’ never really set the market on fire. The engine was rough, the power was barely adequate and the bike never really felt like a scaled down version of the Big GS’, despite all the marketing spin of it being a scaled down version of the big GS.

While the rough engine has been a pain point for most buyers in India and abroad while the lack of grunt (it makes just 34 Bhp) made it too slow for most international markets. So, it’s time then to say goodbye to the G 310 GS, and replace it with the F 450 GS. And that’s exactly what BMW plans to do.

This time around, BMW Motorrad will not make too many compromises. The F 450 GS has been designed to look and feel like a scaled down R 1300 GS, and it shows. For instance, the concept’s bike front end seems heavily inspired by the top-of-the-line R 1300 GS, and so does the exposed steel trellis frame, the seat position and even the overall stance of the bike.

Even the exhaust note, thanks to the 125 degree firing order, has been designed to make the F 450 GS carve out a very unique identity in its class, just like how generation after generation of the top-end GS’ have done.

It’s almost production ready

The good thing about concept bikes is that they’re usually designed with imaginations running riot. Production bikes are often toned down too much, to the extent that they look nothing like what was shown through the concept.

In the BMW F 450 GS’ case, it’s almost production ready. The production version of this bike is going to look very similar to the concept, and this is what BMW Motorrad assured everyone at the time of its EICMA unveil.

Now, let’s understand what’s going to change. The front end will get a conventional headlamp, the suspension travel will reduce (from the 230 mm to something lower to about 180-200 mm), the seat height will drop from the 885 mm of the concept to about 820-830 mm, and BMW is also expected to offer a low seat.

Cast alloy wheels will be offered on lower trims. The Enduro Pro mode and high end electronics (already showcased in the concept) will also be pared down on lower trims. The idea, we feel, is to have multiple iterations.

A base trim positioned at an attractive price tag, and a top-of-the-line trim, with all the electronics that BMW is very good at, and of course with tubeless spoked wheels. This is a strategy that BMW Motorrad follows with most of its motorcycles, and the F 450 GS is also likely to get similar treatment.

And there’s a whole bunch of twin cylinder affordable BMW bikes coming in…

BMW Motorrad won’t stop with just the F 450 GS. The new engine will be fulcrum around which a bunch of new twin cylinder offerings will be built. A roadster to replace the G 310 R and a fully faired supersport machine to replace the G 310 RR is very much a part of the plan.

BMW Motorrad wants a bigger play in the fast growing mid-size motorcycle segment, and the F 450 GS is going to open the floodgates. And our homegrown TVS Motors will be in the thick of things. How cool is that? And what a time to be a motorcycle enthusiast!