- BMW really screwed up with the G450X.
- BMW wanted to extend their brand into a new sector, and released the G450X.
- As you know, they already owned Husqvarna.
- The smart thing to do would have been to use a known and reliable product from the Husqvarna stable, and brand it BMW with as few mechanical changes as possible.
- But no. BMW decided to adopt a high risk strategy by extending their brand with a brand new product. A new engine. Complete new bike design, and totally ignore their in house Husqvarna brand.
- This backfired as there have been a lot of reliability issues with the G450X. Just look on thumpertalk to get a flavour. I had one for a while, had terminal starting issues and cracked crankshaft, and got my money back at 20 hours.
- Frikkin idjuts. This has destroyed the BMW brand in this sector and arguably damaged it in other sectors.
- A number of dealers really tried to sell the G450X, got burned and totally lost interest.
- Such a shame that BMW decided to flog away at this low margin highly competitive sector, at the expense of the G650X which is the gem in the BMW range IMHO.
- Hopefully the G450X engine has now all been sorted and will have a long and happy life at Husqvarna.
- Despite all this, I loved the design concept of the output shaft also being the swing arm pivot. Not a new idea, but I gather BMW were first to take it to production.