2009 BMW G450X Review

[Administrator]

Original Article:
2009 BMW G450X Review

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[mscuddy]

A crankshaft mounted clutch? 245 lbs & 51 hp?
Stainless steel frame? WTF?!?

Wonder how the maintenance factor is, and if you get 35 hours out of the motor before it explodes (al la CFR450, YZ450, et al)? Doubt it, if it's based on the 4 banger street bike.

Let's all contribute to stem cell research so I can get one of these babys...

WOW...

[RonXX]

Polaris (an American Company) used the 'coaxial countershaft/swingarm pivot' years ago on their ATVs. There are probably other manufacturers that have done the same thing long before BMW.

[jmcintire]

Very impressive power-to-weight ratio if the brochure figures are close to real world measurements. Wonder if there will be a street-legal version introduced here in the States. Would probably be over $8000. A great bike I'm sure, but will likely debut pretty low on my value totem pole.

[nesbit]

Nicely done, Jeff.

[Duken4evr]

Interesting bike. Egads though, sometimes I do stupid stuff on my dirt bike. Bad enough riding a wheelie into a tree branch on my lowly (but indestructible) DRZ400. Doing it to something that says BMW on it would not work for me...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...kewheelie2.jpg

And no doubt the BMW would be awesome on this trail, the thought of grinding a $10,000 dirt bike along the rocks that litter it, well, I just could not do that either. I can do it with reckless and joyful abandon on a lowly battle scarred $2,500 Suzuki DRZ though

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...CO/676sign.jpg

[Kenneth_Moore]

Somebody 'splain this countershaft/swingarm pivot/sprocket setup to me. I think I get the idea that the sprocket is mounted at the swingarm pivot, thus remaining fixed in relation to the rear sprocket no matter how the swingarm travels. But what makes that sprocket go? There has to be something like a primary chain spinning it, right? Or not, is the shaft built into the cases and driven by gears?

"It’s ironic that BMW would be the first manufacturer (not counting start-up MotoCzysz) to implement this ingenious design..."

I think you mean: "It would have been ironic if BMW had been the first manufacturer to implement this ingenious design, but it isn't because MotoCzysz did it already." Personally, I hate irony.

Does it have the CAN bus? I guess final drive failure won't be an issue. How about USB ports? Gotta have USB ports, I'm installing a few on my Strom. I'll rig up the LEDs to wink out messages that I program in with my laptop like the Goodyear Blimp .

[The_AirHawk]

Originally Posted by Kenneth_Moore

Somebody 'splain this countershaft/swingarm pivot/sprocket setup to me. I think I get the idea that the sprocket is mounted at the swingarm pivot, thus remaining fixed in relation to the rear sprocket no matter how the swingarm travels. But what makes that sprocket go? There has to be something like a primary chain spinning it, right? Or not, is the shaft built into the cases and driven by gears?

This is just a guess here - but I'm betting the countershaft is merely a hollow tube with the pivot-bolt passing through it and a hole in the opposite-side case. Possibly a couple of small support-bearings in there as well.

Hard to tell from the small pic.

Might be a machined boss & bearing on the ODE case, and a "stub shaft" through the swingarm into that.

In that case, it would probably be just like a "standard" countershaft - with a sealed-bearing inside a counterbore on the end of the shaft/sprocket assembly and "floating" stub-shaft into the Drive.

Those are the two ways I would engineer something like that, just off the top of my head. There are advantages and disadvantages to each.

[Kenneth_Moore]

Originally Posted by The_AirHawk

Those are the two ways I would engineer something like that, just off the top of my head. There are advantages and disadvantages to each.

Thanks, AH. There should be more articles on this bike out there to read up on. Isn't Motocwxyzwxyz the company that did something neat with a Sportster engine; like put it into a high performance sport bike frame? Hmm, even more stuff to read up on.

[The_AirHawk]

Originally Posted by Kenneth_Moore

Thanks, AH. There should be more articles on this bike out there to read up on. Isn't Motocwxyzwxyz the company that did something neat with a Sportster engine; like put it into a high performance sport bike frame? Hmm, even more stuff to read up on.

No, Motosnyxcheezey split a GSXR cylinder-head in half and spun them around so there was two intake and two exhaust ports on each side, then plunked 'em down on their own block that had two counter-rotating two-cylinder crankshafts in it, and mounted it all longitudinally in the frame. They also made these square-girder phorks with roller-bearings in them and a teeny-tiny damper (like on a springer or BMW front end).

All this was gonna "revolutionize" the moto-industry and the way everybody engineered motorcycles. Of course, it didn't because all the shyte was too F'n complex. That or it was simply a matter of "The Man" just keepin' Motohxzygreezy Down - same thing happened to the dude what invented the 100mpg carburetor.................

As we can see, BMW is already copying their ideas, and there's no way they Engineered this on their own, independent of any outside influences.