BMW look set to reveal a highly anticipated F450R naked roadster next week, having shown the blacked-out silhouette of a new small-capacity street bike on social media on Wednesday, September 23.
We’re expecting the finished machine to arrive on Thursday, October 1 at 4pm – with all signs pointing to an A2 licence friendly upright, powered by the 420cc parallel-twin engine already found in the F450GS adventure range .
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Although no official details have yet been announced, the move is hardly a surprise – with the older G310GS single also sharing the spoils with the G310R naked variant as well as a fully-faired G310RR in some other markets. Like those bikes, the 450 continues to be built in partnership with TVS Motor in India – with the brands working together since 2013.
On top of this, BMW Motorrad CEO, Markus Flasch sat down with MCN at the EICMA trade show in Milan in late 2024 during the reveal of the F450GS concept model and said, “We will bring the spirit of the R, RR, and GS to new segments, and one of the segments that we will enter is the 450 two-cylinder segment.”
“I don’t want to disclose what we’re doing with the 450 platform – you can think yourself that the GS will not be the only model that we will bring. So, we will focus on strengths.”
A glance at the existing GS appears to show the incoming model will share the same five-spoke cast rims and single front disc brake setup. The header pipe routing also looks to be the same, with the trellis mainframe also likely to be shared to keep the costs down.
It’s unclear from the teaser image whether the exhaust routing and swingarm will be carried over or revised – with the side profile appearing to show a low seat and gentle pegs to appeal to the widest range of potential customers.
Up front, there’s a colour TFT dash and LED lighting – potentially in the same X-pattern as the GS – with space for a pillion and what appears to be a preload adjustable shock slotting in at the rear. We would also expect at least one variant wearing BMW’s Easy Ride Clutch system that removes the need to use the left-hand lever even at a standstill.
We’ve been expecting BMW to reveal a parallel twin naked bike for the A2 licence market for some time now and it looks as if it’s finally going to happen next week. Should it be what we think, the eventual production bike will have a huge range of competition to beat from the European and Japanese establishment as well as China.
Dan is a fully-trained journalist, with a Gold Standard Level 3 Diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists. He has a passion for motorcycles of all capacities, but feels at home aboard a sportsbike. He's been working for MCN in print and digital for the best part of 10 years, with regular contributions to RiDE Magazine on the side.
News Editor, trackday fan, lover of 90s sportsbikes