With the entry of first Triumph and now Ducati into a market dominated by the Japanese and the Austrians, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for German manufacturer BMW to consider re-entering the competition dirt bike market. They made a 450 enduro from 2008-2011, but it didn’t sell well. The engine and frame were transferred to Husqvarna (which BMW owned at that time) and were used in TC, TE and TX449 models until 2013, when Husky was sold to KTM.
The BMW enduro was called the G450X, and it had a Kymco-sourced, liquid-cooled, DOHC, fuel-injected single cylinder engine that reportedly made 51 hp with the competition Akropovic exhaust installed.
BMW has deep pockets, a well-established dealer network worldwide, a long history of success in competition and a reputation for engineering innovation. If they could bring a bike to market at a competitive price, would you consider racing one?
if its a good motorcycle and performs well in the races. I consider it being my next bike 🤷♂️
I work for a bmw dealer, I have a tourer and no way in hell would I buy one because they don’t know how to make a proper motocross bike
Probably not based on their past attempts. They just don’t have any MX experience. Unless they hired Ricky or Antonio as consultants, I don’t believe they could produce a competitive bike.
No! If they build it like they do their cars it will cost a fortune and be a PIA to maintain.
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They did. I didn’t. They don’t anymore.
They tried. They failed. Then they bought Husky. That was a failure as well. They will not be making a dirt bike anytime soon.
And how are those new Triumphs selling?
If they made a competitive product like Triumph, I'd consider it for sure. As for the Triumph, I can say that would be my first choice for a 250f right now.
Would it come with a stylish black sweater…?
No, they never made a motocross bike. Yes, their enduro bike didn’t achieve the desired sales from 2008 to 2010. But BMW has a long history of success off-road, going back as far as the ISDT in the 1920s. The GS model won the Paris-Dakar race many times. Multi-time World Champion MX racer Gaston Rahier rode factory GSs to 2 P-D victories. In 2000, the BMW team swept the top four places at this race, with American Jimmy Lewis finishing third on a boxer. The factory team stopped racing off-road after that, but how hard could it be for them to make a comeback if they were motivated?
Am I mistaken or does Danny LaPorte’s name belong in there…?
I saw a BMW sponsored desert guy starting D37 races with a backpack full of parts.. and he still didn’t finish very often.. BMW had too many good ideas that weren’t fully developed, or maybe they weren’t such good ideas, whatever the case they just weren’t good motorcycles.
Sounds like you are trying to answer your own question?
Maybe that bike they designed in 2009 or whenever it was wasn’t a full on moto bike, but it was certainly off road, and based on what you said, they should know off road and have had precious success.
But for several reasons, that bike wasn’t a success (Mainly because it’s performance missed the mark, big time and it was never competitive from the day it launched).
So when that bike failed commercially, management doubled down and bought another company that had and made an established off road line products, including a full MX line! They did this as they realized that industrializing a competitive dirt bike design is hard and it was maybe cheaper to buy an existing one.
But - the complete oem purchase didn’t go very well either, and for a multitude of reasons. In the USA, the best bmw dealers were not equipped to sell off road.
So after a few years of hard struggles, BMW management cut their losses and sold Husky to ktm - at a loss.
I highly doubt you will see a bmw mx attempt anytime soon. They learned the same lesson Triumph and Ducati will probably learn, only it was 10 years earlier. The off road marker is hard. The competition off road market (motocross) is even harder.
The GS and ADV market is way way different then the single cylinder 250/350/450 dirt market that they tried - and failed - to enter back around 2012.
Maybe the 1920 isde results willl help carry them, but I am not holding my breath.
According to Wikipedia, AMA Hall of Famer Danny LaPorte finished second at Paris-Dakar in 1992 (not sure what bike he rode). And that’s an incredible 10 years after winning the 250 MX World Championship in 1982. I love that guy.
Let’s not pretend that it takes a wizard to make a motocross bike. We’re talking about a company with a century of experience and the wherewithal to hire the right talent if they wanted to. I’m not saying that they want to now, but if you doubt they could, take a look at what Ducati is doing. These Euro OEMs are seeing some value in developing high performance 4stroke singles for the world market and they are using MX as a way to promote their brand.
I had a 2013 Husqvarna TC449 which was mostly BMW...(Kymco made engine on both btw). I really liked the bike, it was different but not just for the sake of it like some of their street bikes. Parts werent terribly expensive since it was a "Husqvarna"...I do concur that if it was a BMW and sold via BMW dealers, the pricing would be expensive for the sake of it.
It looks nimble...
Bro, they tried. And they failed. And when they failed, they went out and bought a whole company. And that failed. And that was in recent times. Not the 1920 ISDE and not with Danny Laporte on a Beluga whale. Like within the last 10 years.
They ain’t coming back…
Pit Row
David Knight got pretty fed up! 😆
Why doesn't the USA build bikes? Seriously. Never got that. The Austrians can, Italians, Spanish, French, Britain... Just nothing from this industrialized nation.
He rode a Ducati powered Cagiva.
… the Cannondale and Buell Griffin project comes to mind…
Don't forget ATK.
Hardly. Trying to reinvent the wheel just never seems to work. The BMW/Husky 449/511 platform was radical, but, why change a proven layout. Triumph come in, everything as it should be and has blown people away. Ducati a little unorthodox, but, the concept is well proven, plus almost endless budget. I'd not think anyone would buy a steel bike from Harley, made in China!
Triumph has made a good, single-cylinder MX bike with a proven set of geometry and layout. I'd be worried BMW would try to make some kind of opposed-twin, shaft-drive MX bike with 12 spokes in each wheel and a linkage fork because "their testing proved it in real-world conditions." Pass.
No, their ccustomer service aappears to be garbage from what i see on the street bIke side
The BMW enduro bike had some cool stuff but wasnt quite a success by any means, the BMW owned Husqvarnas were actually great dualsports and still are.
The ultimate BMW "dirtbike" was the HP2, they didn't make many and are hard to find and a nice one still sells for $20k+, I think it was over 100hp and 80lbs of torque big boxer motor.
Maybe if they just ask Yamaha for their engine’s suspension and frame and just put their name on the plastic yeah they might sell one or two
This reminds me of the Aprilia experiment 🥴
The dirtbike Aprilia didnt work out but the Supermoto versions are still ripping around guys spend big money keeping them running, the power to weight and handling is still insane compared to any other supermoto platform.
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