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As you guys are aware,our local BMW dealer put on a test ride day for the New Beemer and having seen the pre production model earlier this year,I was keen to have a ride,
As it turns out I was first to put my name down for the ride, so I was the first punter aboard.
The dealer had two 450’s there to ride,one with 10hrs on it and the one I was on had just 1.1hrs on it, The deal was that the dealer had a couple of young local blokes that can really peddle, work out a 20 minute loop for us to put the beemers through their paces.
Once on the bike, I over heard the dealer say to the young fella (Adam) to go easy on us old buggers and I was relieved that we were gunna do nothing stupid.
We took off from the MX track onto the tar for a short transport section to the trails,go easy on the old fella my arse!!! In no time flat we were cracking along at 140kmh!!! I was happy to see the start of the single trail and believe me Adam didn’t slow down much at all, he can ride real good. Not wanting to look like a Nancy, I did my best to keep up and I don’t think I shamed myself to bad.
The beemer tracks along nicely and felt light and nimble in the tight lantana trail which had us riding head down arse up to avoid getting whipped to death.
At this stage I will say the bike definately needs hand guards as the Brembos stop it real fast when the lever catches a wayward vine.
I soon became apparent that I was being lead up a trail that wouldn’t normally be used as a demo trail, as it was not for the faint hearted,with slippery logs and rutty mud holes to negotiate all of which the Beemer took in it’s stride.
The bikes had the standard pipe on them still, which makes them whisper quiet and at times make you think you are not getting into it enough,but a quick glance at the speedo reveals you are going a darn sight faster than you realise.
The power delivery took me a little time to get used to, as the bike in my opinion needs to be geared a little lower for single trail as I stalled it 2 or 3 times and the bike doesn’t really start in gear real well, so you have to dick around finding neutral.
I jumped on the bike expecting a power delivery similar to the grunt of the KTM530, but that was not the case as this bike needs to rev hard to get the wheel lifting power I was looking for,the power kind of comes on like a 2 banger power band.
On the handling front,it will do things my XR600 wont, like go where you point it whilst under power, jumping logs was a breeze and the bike really came into its own when I came across an unexpected erosion mound at speed, a quick blip of the throttle and I was airborne and still in control. It jumps beautifully and lands just as well.
My only real criticism of the bike is that the rear brake pedal is awful close to the plastic skid plate and at times catches your foot while you are desperately looking for some rear brake pedal. Here you are ,trying to push down on the skid plate hoping the bike will stop as you career into some unexpected corner,which I found myself doing more than once.
I got a good twenty minute ride and returned happy that I had gotten a go on it and that I hadn’t crashed a brand new bike.
All in all I will say, it is a very nice bike but if I had the choice I would pick the KTM530 over it, as I prefere a little bit more instant response, low down grunt, which could probably be achieved with a little bit of tweeking of the gearing.Here is a pic of Taylah and I with the Beemers
micknmeld wrote:
Quote:Yeah 140kmh on a long straight,private access road.Did the over-rev warning come on?
Apparently if you sit at 120K/h for 10 secs after the warning comes up it gets logged in the EFI computer and when BMW plug in to the bike they know you’ve abused the bike and warranty gets voided.The std 15 tooth front sprocket is too big for single track, better with the 14 and the bike is torquier off the throttle, much nicer
WikdBeemer wrote:
Quote:micknmeld wrote:Quote:Yeah 140kmh on a long straight,private access road.Did the over-rev warning come on?
Apparently if you sit at 120K/h for 10 secs after the warning comes up it gets logged in the EFI computer and when BMW plug in to the bike they know you’ve abused the bike and warranty gets voided.The std 15 tooth front sprocket is too big for single track, better with the 14 and the bike is torquier off the throttle, much nicer
Dunno about any over rev warning!! I was to busy watching where I was going, to look down at that stage!!
I had heard that the bike is capable of dobbing you in via the BMW computer. I don’t think warranty is a problem for these two bikes we tested as one wasn’t even run in and we were flogging it,that is what test bikes are for. There were plenty of better riders than me lining up to put them through their paces,so I am sure the bikes got what for ,after I rode them.
Hey Wikd, have you got your bar risers in the forward position or the back holes? The two bikes were set up differently and I prefered the back position of the bars.
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