BMW HP2 Enduro

2006 BMW HP2 - Bike Test
7/2/2006
By JC Hilderbrand

The question of what you would do if you won the lottery is something that everyone has probably contemplated at one point or another. The answers to that question are as individual as the people who ask it, but when it comes to motorcycle freaks, there's no doubt as to the answer. Buy bikes - lots of bikes. Big bikes, mini bikes, street bikes, dirt bikes, expensive bikes, cheap bikes, new bikes, old bikes, yada-yada-yada. You get the idea, and you know exactly what I'm talking about because the fact that you've taken the time to find this website and read this article obviously pegs you as a two-wheeled freak.

Well, I was mulling over the lottery issue a couple days ago (I seem to do that at least once a week) and, to my surprise, the answer was immediate and it involved something I hadn't consciously admitted to having a hard-on for. I'm the kind of guy who can appreciate expensive, high-quality European engineering: but if given the choice, I would opt for a burly, extra-cab, suspension-lifted, super-swamper, Power-Stroke Ford over a sleek, leather-lined Mercedes. I will never purchase anything from Dolce & Gabbana or shod myself in alligator-skin loafers. I can hardly spell Gucci and can't pronounce Louis Vuitton the same way twice. Don't get me wrong, because I think fine Euro products are sweet, but basically my interests have always lied elsewhere. Not anymore.

During our dual-sport adventure I struck up a hot-blooded relationship with a sultry seducer. Two short days was all it took to consume my fantasies and I've found myself lusting after the tall, long-legged German in the weeks since.

"The mind-blowing 105 bhp H2 Enduro, BMW Motorrad's first pure dirt bike, is here," the Germans boast in typical PR style.

Yes it is, but BMW's introduction has two statements that are a bit misleading. First is the factory's claim of 105 ponies, which is actually a still respectable 92 hp at the rear wheel. Interestingly, it made only 87 hp when we first measured it during dyno testing at Hansen's Motorcycles with the stock Metzeler Karoo dual-purpose knobbies, 5 less than when equipped with a more street-biased Trail Wing we tried afterward.


Secondly, while the HP2 is undoubtedly the most dirt-oriented machine to ever come from BMW, let's establish right away that this is not a pure dirt bike. It's too big, too heavy, and for cripe's sake, it's street legal. Call me picky, but that automatically disqualifies any two-wheeled machine from being coined a "pure" dirt bike.

Now before you BMW die-hards go clicking your way to the closest Beemer support forum and start flaming us, let's get into the reasons why the HP2 is so great, just the way it is.

Once taking delivery of the new Indigo Blue/Alaska Gray Beemer (the only color scheme available), we had to decide what kind of testing regimen to put it through in order to sort out just what this machine is capable of. Touted as an off-road bike, the first instinct was to take it out to our awesome network of local trails and flog it to our hearts content, but we ultimately decided against that for several reasons. The first sign of trouble was while backing the 420-pound (tank empty) beast out of the van. It's heavy.

Once we caught our breath, like any good motorcyclist would do, we immediately hopped on and bounced up and down to test the suspension, but performing the new-bike ritual proved harder than expected. Upon swinging a leg over the supposed 36.2 inch seat height we were unsuccessful in finding solid ground on the opposite side. Finally, after tiring of hopping from one foot to the other, we put the bike back on its kickstand and further inspected it visually. The next concern is that the bike is nearly devoid of crash protection. That might be acceptable on a normal bike, but for one that costs $20 thousand, it made us more nervous than usual.


So, with images of pruning back flora on our favorite single track with the protruding cylinders, we opted to skip out on the super tight stuff and focus on the twisty mountain roads, both paved and un-paved, where the HP2 is more likely to be ridden. The wide, low-profile knobbies of the Karoos would be far superior on pavement than moto tires, but they also looked like they could fare well in the dirt. In both cases, we were correct. Riding a street-legal off-roader has rarely been this much fun.

"With the big knobby tire on the back I was able to get it to step out on the tight turns, but I didn't dare go full-moto on this thing," says Editorial Director and person responsible for its safe return, Ken Hutchison. "If it was mine, I would love to ride it like a supermoto, but since it was a test bike I had to hold my mullet instincts in check."

With an 1170 cubic centimeter engine at our disposal, we couldn't resist the idea of cranking the Beemer open on a long strip of highway. We had the feeling that this bike would be awesome as a dual-sport which - I'll spare you the suspense - it is. We spent two full days on the freeway, highways, improved gravel, unimproved gravel and 4x4 Jeep roads with an occasional venture into unmarked trails of southern Oregon and northern California that proved its dual-sport status.


Being the directionally challenged and socially needy guys that we are, we enlisted the help of Jeff Moffet from Oregon Motorcycle Adventures (OMA) along with local legend Dave Riant with his trusty 2005 R1200GS, an established world traveler and BMW aficionado, to serve as our guides. MotoUSA's Ken Hutchison and I would take turns switching between the HP2 and a legalized ATK 450 on loan from Oregon's Best Motorsports while our accompanying photographer, Tyler Maddox, borrowed a DR-Z400E from Moffet's rental company.

The collection of bikes gave us a terrific picture of where the HP2 would stack up in the dual-sport world. The ATK was basically a motocrosser with a street kit, the two OMA Suzukis have become a staple of dual-sporting enthusiasts with a slight dirt bias, and the GS has more of a street application on the high-dollar end of things. It was the perfect lineup to shake down the radical HP2 with.

The R1200GS has been BMW's flagship adventure-touring bike and has been the only real option for Beemer riders looking to go off-road (unless you count the single-cylinder F650GS and GS Dakar). The R1200GS Adventure ups the off-road ante with a longer-travel suspension and larger fuel tank. As it is, the GS is a competent off-road bike but it can quickly get out of hand in gnarly dirt stuff. However, when designing the High Performance Enduro, BMW engineers decided to take the strong points of the GS and incorporate them into the much lighter HP2. For a rough breakdown, basically what they took was the engine, driveshaft and variations of the brakes, wheels, tires and front end bodywork. Colossal differences in the two machines are found primarily in the frame design and suspension components.

In the week prior to our nearly 400-mile journey, we got acquainted with the BMW through a regular routine of daily commuting and office-escaping lunch break expeditions. It only took one or two rides before we started remembering all kinds of different errands that had to be taken care of; some of which were fictional and others quite real.

"When I first threw a leg over the HP2 I was thinking it was going to be a real handful since I could barely reach my tippy-toe with one foot," says the 5'8" Ken after his initiation period. "After riding the bike for a week, I really didn't care that I couldn't touch the ground easily because it's so damn much fun riding this bike."

While Ken has ridden a plethora of BMWs, I have a special bond with the HP2 because, aside from being my first, the German and I were introduced at a unique time of my life. After waiting seemingly forever until I could summon the courage to bend over and take it from the DMV, I finally took my endorsement test on the motorcycle I feel most comfortable with - a big dirt bike, the HP2. I passed, which likely makes me the only person in the U.S. that can claim they got their motorcycle license on one of only 250 hand-assembled HP2s imported this year. Hell, taking a drivers test on any bike worth $20 large has to be an anomaly.

While I was at the DMV a scruffy fellow manning a petition booth commented, "Nice bike, too bad it's not a Harley."

Smiling, I avoided the impending memoir of a life-long Hell's Angels wannabe with a quick, "Yeah, I get that a lot." But deep inside I wanted to slap my leather glove across that mangy beard and stomp his balls with my Kommando boots, all the while explaining that my behavior was a precise demonstration of what the HP2 will do to any Hog the exact moment it encounters that first patch of gravel, or a twisty road.

Utilizing virtually the same engine as the R1200GS, the HP2 gets its 92 ponies and 74 lb-ft of torque from the pair of horizontally opposing cylinders of BMW's popular Boxer engine. Each cylinder has a bore and stroke of 101mm x 73mm and an 11:1 compression ratio. Dual 36mm intake valves and 31mm exhaust valves control the flow of fuel and emissions for the air/oil cooled Flat-Twin. The motor has been modified slightly from the GS to assist in weight reduction so crucial to the off-road world. Where the GS is intended to spend the majority of its time on the pavement, the HP2 is not, and so the GS's balancer shaft has been removed with little concern for a rider's numb butt.

"It was quite a surprise that the motor churns out as much power as it does," Ken admits. "The engine operates without the counter-balancer so it does vibrate a bit more than the GS does, but it also has more bottom-end snort. When combined with the lighter chassis, it actually makes the HP2 feel much more powerful. You can wheelie the bike easily and lofting the front wheel over obstacles is actually possible. You are not often going to be able to pull that off on a GS."

The only other differences are the addition of a splash guard on the air intake which is located above the right-side cylinder, and a remapping of the ECU (Engine Control Unit) for added horsepower. The exhaust system is a mixture of old and new with a smaller, 4.4-pound lighter muffler that is connected to a GS manifold.

The HP2 takes anywhere between 300 and 750 miles to break in and ours was delivered with exactly 700 miles on the odometer, so early qualms with power output, notchy shifting and the like were of no concern. All of the gearing ratios are the same between the two bikes, with the off-road HP2 getting reinforced bearings in the 6-speed transmission for additional durability. Shifting the shaft-driven Beemer is clunky compared to traditional chain-driven off-roaders, but Ken verified that it was nothing out of the ordinary for BMWs.

In a twisted sense, the HP2 is like a Honda CRF50 on steroids. Not Barry Bonds' does-he/does-he-not roids, we're talking about a blatant ball-shrinking, vein-popping Jose Canseco juice-fest. They rule opposite ends of the size spectrum, have disproportionate radiator shrouds, identical exhaust notes, stubby front fenders, tamed-down knobbies and motors hang off the front of the chassis rather than being cradled.

A tubular-steel trellis frame utilizes the motor as a stressed-member as it dangles beneath a steering head that offers a very mellow 29.5 degrees of rake and lengthy 5 inches of trail. The design is based on the chassis used on the factory R900R Dakar Rally bikes used from 1999-2001. In the dirt bike world, the HP2 is very long with its 63.4 inch wheelbase. The elongated body and relaxed rake angle make for a very stable platform at speed. For dirt bike applications, this immediately points to desert racing.

Off-road racing stud-muffin Jimmy Lewis has been an intricate part of developing the Beemer and recently guided the HP2 to a seventh-place finish in the Pro Motorcycle class at the SCORE Baja 500. The dominant desert machine over the past decade has been Honda's XR650R, which has 27.8 degrees of rake and 4.3 inches of trail for comparison, and the Honda's wheelbase is more than five inches shorter. Even the GS has a more compact stance of 59.8 inches.

Riding the HP2 is comfortable with a seat plusher than some off-road bikes, but more firm than street tourers like the GS. The peg height makes sitting very easy on the knees and the wide handlebars are comfortably placed as well, though a bit distant for off-roading. You do sit down into the bike more than on most dirt machines, and the large by design and small in capacity, 2.9 gallon fuel tank stretches your groin if you try to get really forward. That isn't much of a problem, however, since the cylinders inhibit movement to the front of the bike. Aggressive riding positions are basically limited to standing since an attempt to throw your leg out in a corner results in bruised shins. Riders are forced to move their leg directly outwards thanks to the Boxer configuration, which creates a very different balance point than normal riding technique.

"The jugs hanging off each side of the Boxer motor are always the first thing off-road riders brought up when they took a peek at the HP2," says Ken. "Despite that it was caked in dirt and grime, had just been ridden through Hell and back, people still whined about the cylinder heads. Get over it. If you crash a bike, bad things happen so be prepared. The HP2 was pretty durable in our test, although no major incidents took place. The optional BMW cylinder-head guards (and emergency kit for leaky valve covers) are highly recommended.

"The riding position is excellent for my taste," Kenny continues. "The bars are wide and the riding position doesn't put too much weight on my wrists. The seat was a little bit stiff over the long haul, but it is, first and foremost, an off-road machine, so you shouldn't spend a lot of time sitting in the saddle anyway."


Unlike many dirt bikes, the HP2 gives riders the luxury of keeping track of their speed with a simple analog speedometer. A clean, minimalist digital display to the right of the speedo offers gear indication, engine temp, trip information, fuel range and warning signals. The hydraulic clutch is smooth and, with such a torquey motor, we never really had to abuse it off-road. Brake levers were very effective as well, with the steel-braided front brake line and rubber rear hose contributing to good rider feedback.

Both the front brake lever and rear brake pedal are adjustable. The hand lever uses a set screw to tailor the distance between the lever and hand grip. A folding spacer on the rear pedal is intended to offer variation for standing and seated riding. We tried it both ways, but found that leaving the spacer in place for the standing position worked best for all applications. A dual-piston, single-action caliper pinch a single 305mm front rotor and a 264mm rear.


"The brakes actually work really well on the HP2," notes Ken. "The front binder is plenty powerful on the street and offers up a decent amount of feel which makes it decent in the dirt as well. The rear brakes lock up pretty easy on the dirt but seemed to be good enough on the street where there was at least some resistance offered up from the asphalt." Much of the rear end's impulse to lock up on the dirt was attributed to the mild Karoo tire.

Suspension-wise, BMW has fitted a 45mm inverted fork with 10.6 inches of travel instead of the Telelever system used on the rest of BMW's Boxer bikes. For adjustments, it has a clicker at the bottom of the fork legs for traditional compression damping and one at the top for travel-dependent compression damping. There is no spring preload or rebound damping adjustments. While the Telelever has anti-dive properties, the HP2's conventional long-travel fork suffers from heavy diving when the throttle is chopped or under braking. Despite this, performance on highway and during moderate off-road use is very good and extremely comfortable. Stiffening the fork to the point that it could handle larger impacts and resist diving only made the front end intolerably harsh at lower speeds and over smaller obstacles like the imbedded rocks common to gravel roads.

The pitching front end and intermediate knobby on the tubeless 90/90-21 front meat gives a squirmy feel on the pavement when riding hard. The 140/80-17 rear tire was also a bit vague on the highways, but both tires did a decent job of making the transition from street to dirt, though we'd opt for a more aggressive knobby if riding primarily off-road.

BMW joined forces with Continental Automotive Systems to create the HP2's innovative air shock. At just over five pounds, the shock looks enormous, but the concept is simple. Instead of having the usual independent adjustments for preload and compression and rebound damping, the trick shock instead has adjustment for its air volume that varies the ride height while also having an effect on both compression and rebound damping. According to BMW, "adjusting the air pressure to the rider's weight is enough to ensure the optimum balance of compression and rebound damping." A dial on the shock can be switched from "Sport" to "Competition," which varies the internal valving for better action when the bike is being hammered off-road.

We love the idea of an air-only shock, but the adjustment and application of the technology wasn't all we were hoping for. The problem we ran into wasn't so much that the shock couldn't be pumped up to meet the rigors of off-road, but that to do so raised the seat height to oxygen-starving elevations. BMW uses another simple concept to adjust the ride height. Keeping an eye on the bubble level mounted on the right side of the frame where your knee would normally rest, a rider can adjust rear sag without taking any measurements. Simply add air to the shock to raise the rear end and bleed air to lower it. Centering the bubble for my 190 pounds required such a towering seat height that my 5'11" frame had no chance of comfortably touching the ground, never mind Ken. BMW does offer an optional seat that lowers the height by 0.8 inches, which we would have loved to try out.

"The suspension is pretty soft for an off-road machine but it sure makes for a nice ride when you're logging miles on the chopped-up mountain roads we chose for our dual-purpose journey," says Kenny. "If you plan on jumping this hog, you'll want to spend more time and effort sorting out the rear shock. The fork is soft too, but seems more willing to handle hits than the rear. Keep in mind we're talking about relatively small jumps here, nothing moto-sized. That would be plain crazy."

Wailing down a dusty power-line road or carving canyon highways hardly necessitate dropping a foot, but sooner or later you have to stop. Though I never thought I'd say this, I was ready to trade two wheels for four after 10 minutes of hitting every stop light on the way out of town. The additional air pressure turned small imperfections in the pavement from no-brainers to ass-painers. Off-road riding also suffered at lower speeds, though it did perform much better on sharp impacts due to the increased air volume available for compression. All told, I was much more willing to deal with soft suspension for the sake of comfort and plushness, to which Ken fully agrees. Both ends work well enough if kept within the boundaries of dual-sporting, but the suspension is a limiting factor of what the HP2 is capable of.

"Besides the overly tall seat height, the biggest gripe I had with the performance of the bike was that the suspension was a bit too plush for hard off-road riding," he says. "The good news is that with some more time and help from our BMW dealer, it sounds like we could have got it closer."


So what exactly is the HP2? In its current form, the bike will never pose a serious threat in the adventure-touring class because of its small fuel capacity, no luggage options and a shortage of comfort compared to other bikes in the class. Although we did not get to play with it, the BMW Motorrad Navigator II GPS unit is one aftermarket feature that is available for the HP2.

"My complaint on the street centered on the rider accommodations," moans Ken. "If the seat was a bit softer and there were a few BMW accessories in place like optional heated grips and hand guards, maybe a slightly taller windscreen as well, then this bike could well be one of the best multi-purpose rides on the adventure-touring market today."

The HP2 obviously isn't a motocross bike because of its weight, soft suspension, long wheelbase, shaft drive, horn and blinkers - not to mention the price tag. Tossing in the fact that its motor is about three times wider than any comparable bike puts a kibosh on the enduro angle. It's not a cruiser, not a sportbike, and not a standard either. It is, in fact, an unwonted yet undeniably phenomenal dual-sport. Our average fuel economy throughout our testing was a penny pinching 42.4 mpg. The lowest that we recorded was 37.1 mpg during a long stretch of hard off-road riding.

Our two-day test showcased the best of what this bike can do. It's fast and smooth on the paved sections and has the ground clearance to give those bulky jugs some breathing room on the trail. That same 12.6 inches of clearance allows the bike to be ridden aggressively off-road where the unique suspension components handle most everything you encounter with confidence so long as the pace is reasonable.

"In back-to-back rides with our tour guide's 2005 GS, the thing that both bikes had in common was soft suspension and a tall seat height that made dabbing a bit of a stretch for my stubby legs," says Ken. "It was easier to reach the ground on the GS but the extra weight negated any advantage when it came time to muscle the bike through some rough obstacles. I still had a lot more confidence in the HP2. The lighter weight and less bodywork to damage make it an easy choice when it is time to venture on the road less traveled."



The joy of riding this bike sneaks up on you, and it wasn't until a few days after our trip that Ken and I realized how badly we were itching to ride it again. It's no wonder BMW has a loyal following of adventuresome riders. The GS is a street rider's way of probing those hard to reach places, but the HP2 is the answer for off-roaders who want to leave their buddies in the dust when the going gets rough. BMW has opened the door for any serious dirt rider who can afford a $19,990 retail price to transform themselves into a modern day explorer. Now, if you'll excuse me, PowerBall is up to 25 million and my fetish for High Performance German beauties is growing stronger by the minute.