A spec sheet can only tell you so much before it starts reading like a dating profile written by the manufacturer’s legal department. Light weight. Daring. Complex. ready for anything. Sure, friend.
So when BMW Motorrad Philippines invited me to ride the new F 450 GS ahead of its local launch, I wanted to know if it was actually that good or just extremely talented at standing out under the flashy showroom lights.
Our route covered a distance of about 130 kilometers or about 81 miles from Manila via Talisay to Tagaytay. I know this road like the back of my hand, including the corners where drivers inexplicably stop, park, reverse, or attempt a three-point turn as if gravity and common sense are optional. Think of it as a condensed Philippine Stelvio Pass, hotter, more chaotic, and occasionally occupied by a delivery van driving at six miles per hour.
This climb is full of steep descents, blind turns and extremely tight hairpins that can give inexperienced riders a sudden religious feeling. Unfortunately, there was no off-road section, which is a mildly ridiculous way to test a motorcycle wearing a GS badge. Still, there was considerable demand for the route to uncover bikes with poor fueling, vague steering, excessive weight, or suspension not calibrated by someone who hates vertebrae.
For reasons I can’t fully explain, I believed for many months that the F 450 GS had a 270-degree crank. It’s not like that. BMW’s 420cc parallel-twin instead uses a 135-degree crankpin offset, which either sounds incredibly clever or like someone entered the wrong number into an engineering spreadsheet and decided to defend it.
When I first learned this, I thought It is possible Be a deal breaker. As someone who has owned three Yamaha MT-07s (yes, I know I’m a bit of a weirdo), you could say I’m obsessed with the whole “crossplane crankshaft” craze. And I am not alone. The 270-degree crank has become the pumpkin spice latte of parallel-twin motorcycles. Everyone has one, everyone claims they have more character, and we should all nod our heads in agreement when hearing yet another exhaust note described as “V-twin-like.”
But the F 450 GS doesn’t need it. The engine is smooth, eager to rev, and far more entertaining than its sensible displacement suggests. It doesn’t move with the fury of a bike trying to invalidate your insurance policy, but it has enough power for overtakes, mountain roads and sustained highway speeds that won’t make you wish BMW had hidden another cylinder somewhere under the tank.
Photo by: Enrico Punsalang
Our group was traveling smoothly at about 120 kilometers per hour, or about 75 miles per hour, whenever traffic permitted. The engine didn’t fail, the bike didn’t start spinning in the lane, and none of the components seemed eager to resign. It just got to work, which is becoming rare in an industry increasingly obsessed with giving motorcycles seventeen riding modes and a companion app that no one asked for.
Speaking of mods, yes, the GS has mods. But they’re extremely easy to use, and refreshingly practical. Road and Rain modes are as you’d expect. Meanwhile, Enduro mode allows you to pop smaller wheelies, but keeps the ABS on. Enduro Pro mode, on the other hand, puts all the control in your hands, making riding the bike much more fun than any business.
Photo by: Enrico Punsalang
The climb to Talisay is where the F 450 GS begins to make an annoyingly solid case for itself. Corners tighten without warning, slopes steepen dramatically in the middle of turns, and local traffic apparently operates according to a rule book written by raccoons… or in this case, by stray cats and dogs. This is exactly the kind of road where the motorcycle’s foibles stop being theoretical and start trying to throw you into the scenery.
But the BMW F 450 GS just did the trick.
Yes, it sounds like something printed on the warranty of the refrigerator, but that is the most accurate description. The bike was easy to position, easy to correct, and reassuring when a corner turned out to be tighter than it looked. It did not require dramatic physical movements, blind faith, or the finesse of a professional cyclist. However it rewarded skill and deft control. You just pointed it somewhere, and unless you made a really bad decision, it went there.
I rode the Exclusive variant for the first part of the route. Its fork is not adjustable, which will inevitably cause many “forced adventurers” on Internet forums to faint and fall onto the sofas. However, the standard setup was perfectly fine on the road. It remained through hairpins, dealt with broken pavement, and never once made me think that the front end was calibrated using two broom handles and a bucket of cooking oil.
Photo by: Enrico Punsalang
On the return trip, I switched to the Sport, which gets adjustable front suspension. The extra control will matter to riders who carry stuff, ride aggressively, take setup seriously, or simply enjoy turning small screws and telling everyone within earshot about compression damping. It’s a better choice for riders planning to ride the bike hard, especially off-road, but the Exclusive never came across as a poverty-spec version assembled from leftover parts.
Sadly, the Trophy Edition is not available in the Philippines yet. That means no loud rally-inspired graphics and, more importantly, no fancy-ass spoked wheels. Cast wheels are lightweight, practical, easy to clean and perfectly suitable for use on the road. Unfortunately, none of that matters when spoked wheels make an adventure bike about 63 percent more capable when parked outside a coffee shop.
Photo by: TVS Motor Company
This trip was also influenced in a different way because I had visited the TVS factory in India last year, where the F 450 GS engine is made. Its production area is separate from TVS’ main assembly line and is located inside a climate-controlled facility filled with state-of-the-art machinery. It looked less like a traditional motorcycle factory and more like a laboratory where extremely serious people build mechanical parts for expensive toys.
At the time, the engine was still just an impressive collection of components, machines, and manufacturing processes. Now I was riding a finished product on roads I’d known for years. I didn’t try to romanticize the whole thing because motorcycles are machines, corporations are not our friends, and nostalgia is how manufacturers sell us anniversary paint for extra money.
But yes, it was absolutely a full-circle moment.
Photo by: TVS Motor Company
I saw these engines being built in India, witnessed the environment and technology behind them, and then drove through one of my favorite roads back home in the Philippines. That connection made the test feel more meaningful than the usual launch routines like riding a motorcycle, eating lunch, and showing off a branded USB drive as an exciting gift.
More importantly, the finished bike lives up to the sophistication of the facility that produces its engine. The F 450 GS is light, accessible, loaded with useful equipment, and versatile enough to travel, tour, go through mountain roads, and possibly get dirty when someone finally lets me point them to some dirt.
After 81 miles, my main complaint was that BMW wanted the motorcycle back. I wanted to drive it far, put stuff on it, take it on rough roads, and find out if the GS badge was earned or simply applied with great confidence by the marketing department.
That’s probably the best thing I can say about it. The ride left me relieved that the F 450 GS lived up to expectations. It made me angry that the ordeal was over and I was mentally rearranging my garage to determine what could be moved, sold, or emotionally discarded to make room.
Needless to say, riders in America are going to have a lot of fun. The F 450 GS is easily one of the best-equipped adventure bikes in the 450cc class, and it manages to avoid becoming an overweight rolling electronics display in the process. It’s got enough power, a really friendly chassis, modern tech and versatility to make you start inventing reasons to own another motorcycle (guilty as charged).
It just works. Which sounds boring until you realize how many motorcycles don’t do this. And yes, I would seriously consider putting it in my garage.
13
Source: Enrico Punsalang
