Throughout its history, Italian boutique manufacturer Bimota has focused on street bikes. Most of these bikes use weirdo chassis design paired with engines from another manufacturer. But now that Kawasaki owns a big chunk of the company, Bimota seems willing to try new things, which is how we get the BX450 enduro bike.
Wait—doesn’t that machine look a lot like a Kawasaki KX450 motocrosser? If you said that, you’d be right. This is based on the KX450, but with a much larger 10.7-liter gas tank, an 18-inch rear wheel and Bimota-specific graphics. It’s not 100 percent clear, but it seems the suspension may be changed as well. There’s a new set of tires (Metzeler Six days MST Super Soft up front,, and Metzeler Six Days M+S Medium in rear). Bimota gave the bike handguards, a new ECU, a skidplate and an Arrow exhaust.
All useful pieces, no doubt—but also all bolt-on, which is not the usual Bimota way. So why bother?
Maybe this was built under some sort of Kawasaki orders, or maybe Bimota wants to get its name in front of more eyeballs, and is planning to race the European enduro circuit. Or maybe they think this is a quick way to make easy money, tarting up a Kawasaki with minimal effort. We’ll know more soon, we’d expect!
One thing is for sure: Bimota seems interested in changing things up. Almost a year ago, we had our first hint that Bimota was interested in building an ADV-style tourer, perhaps in the “adventure sports” segment where Kawasaki has its Versys 1000. At last week’s EICMA show, Bimota once again said this bike was coming; it’s called the Tera, and you can see its suspension testing below. Apparently, this machine will be powered by the same supercharged four-cylinder engine that Kawasaki uses in the H2 series. Just the thing for powering for the Alps, although it may be a bit much for local gravel… chances are this thing is going to be a lot more touring-friendly than it is dirt-friendly, despite long-travel suspension.
