To get the gearbox sprocket in-line with the swingarm pivot meant BMW had to move the clutch so it runs directly off the crank, and the starter motor sits at the front instead of the back. The whole engine is canted forwards 30° and it gives the 450 an angular, funky look that immediately sets it apart from the Japanese competition. There’s a beautifully simple Öhlins direct monoshock at the rear, a pair of Marzocchi forks up the front and the petrol filler lives under a rubbery cap in the seat.
Enough talk - let’s ride. The 450X is pliant to sit on and feels incredibly light as we head out into the hills behind Malaga. It’s pretty lofty and short people will struggle, but the stretch to the bars is comfortable and the bike feels good beneath. It feels right. Compared to the RMZ250 I’m racing this year the BMW doesn’t feel that much heavier, although it is wearing the Akrapovic race exhaust (£250 extra) which shaves 2kg off the dry weight and gives a wonderfully sharp ‘blatt!’ to the exhaust note. We may only be in 41bhp mode but there’s plenty of crisp power, the bikes spinning their chunky enduro tyres across the tarmac as we prepare to head out into the rocky, dusty, Spanish wilderness.
Christ, this thing can climb. There’s two routes marked for us, yellow and red, and I point the 450X towards a gnarly single-track and off we go. I’m hopelessly out of practice at enduro riding, but the BMW makes light of the vertical, gripless mountain trail in front of me while I huff and puff and make a right meal of things. Leaving the bike in second gear and using the torque means it will just grunt up steep slopes, and the long swingarm and constant-tension chain mean the X finds grip where a conventional off-roader may well be scrabbling for traction.
What this does mean is that the X will wheelie on steep climbs as the rear digs in and shoves you forward, so you’ve got to constantly balance your bodyweight and the clutch. 10 minutes later and I have my first crash of the day. Five minutes after that my second, and I think 30 seconds after that, my third. Through no fault of its own I thoroughly tested the BMW’s survivability that day, dropping it onto rocks, boulders and myself, and apart from a slightly tweaked sidestand the bike proved entirely unbreakable.
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