Dancing the Polka

It’s the money thing. Ultimately that’s why I get excited about smaller-capacity ─ and therefore more financially attainable ─ motorcycles like the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, or Honda NX500, or Benelli 502X. 

These are bikes that I can actually picture myself being able to afford within the next five-ish years. Bikes that are powerful enough to handle real-world motorway speeds (ie, capable of cruising at slightly above the speed limit), that I can use to ride to Switzerland or Slovenia or whatever. 

So, ostensibly, I am very interested in the F 450 GS “concept” that BMW unveiled at EICMA this month. But I won’t know for sure until sometime next year.

That’s when production of the F 450 GS is scheduled to start, according to BMW. Only then will we get a price tag for this thing, and only then will my heart be able to choose between the diametrically opposed responses of, “Oooh, I want one!” and “Who the hell is this for?” 

Powered by a twin-cylinder engine of yet-to-be-specified capacity (one assumes 450, but BMW’s F 800 GS has the same 895cc engine as the F 900 GS, so nothing’s certain), the bike will have a peak power output of 48 horsepower. Very little solid information is given beyond that. Although, we do know it will be loaded with technowhizzbangery, because BMW.

The F 450 GS will set “new standards in the areas of safety and functionality in its class,” according to a BMW media release. “The relevant features range from BMW Motorrad ABS Pro (dependent on lean angle) to a performance brake, to freely configurable riding modes. With BMW Connectivity on board and the 6.5-inch TFT display, the networking of the motorcycle and smartphone as well as other accessories is enabled.”

Meanwhile, although nothing more is said about the bike’s powerplant in BMW’s media materials, there may be some value in looking to the people who make all of BMW’s current F-series engines: Loncin. The Chinese manufacturing colossus (it produces more than 3 million motorcycle engines a year) is also the driving force behind Voge, whose 525DSX adventure bike arrived on the UK scene this year to high praise. That bike has a 494cc liquid-cooled parallel twin that also delivers roughly 48 horsepower.

If you know my uneasiness with Chinese motorcycles, you’ll know that all this counts against the F 450 GS in my mind, as does BMW’s promise that it will be “extremely compact.” 

“We have succeeded in designing the Concept with the sporty dynamic appeal of our large off-road icon in a particularly compact form,” says Alexander Buckan, head of design at BMW.

The bike is slated to sit between the existing G 310 GS and F 800/900 GS models, rather than replacing the G 310 GS ─ which probably puts another strike against it in my book. If the roughly £6,000 G 310 GS isn’t going away, that means the F 450 GS will cost more. Especially so with all its promised tech.

And while I’m being critical, I don’t really understand BMW’s use of the word “concept” when it is talking about a bike that it describes as “near-production-ready” and for which it plans to start production in 2025. Isn’t it actually a prototype? Or a pre-production model? I guess it doesn’t matter, but I would have thought Germans would be more linguistically pedantic.

“We will implement the bike as close as possible to this concept,” says Johann Simon, vehicle project manager of the Concept F 450 GS. “We will only adjust the seat height for better accessibility and easier handling. As an alternative to the cross-spoke wheels (19 inches front, 17 inches rear), lightweight but high-strength cast aluminum wheels in the same dimensions are also conceivable.”

So, we can look forward to this but slightly not this. I’ll be interested to find out whether this is something I actually want.