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Loncin BMW G650-engined sportbike

5.4K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  Richard230  
#1 ·
Anyone happen to recall the BMW F650GS before it gained another cylinder? It is now called the G650GS (to differentiate it from the current F650GS - which is really 800ccs in displacement) and is currently powered by a single cylinder engine (which used to power the F650GS before it grew another cylinder and used to be made by Rotax in Austria). Well this engine is now made for BMW by the fine Chinese manufacturing firm of Loncin. It seems that Loncin, since they had this engine laying around the factory anyway, has decided that it would be perfect for a new sportbike of their design and manufacture. Should you wish to read about the this new Chinese motorcycle you can visit this page where there are links to the Loncin press release, videos of the bike running around a track, photos of the bike and comments from around the world. All very interesting. [lol] And guess what? I picked this up before the NewsBot did. [:D]

http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/showthread.php?2508-Loncin-LX-650-launch
 
#3 ·
That is correct. Loncin makes the BMW G650GS engine for BMW. It is shipped to Germany and installed in the G650GS chassis there. However this new LX650 is an entirely Chinese model, although I'll bet that they hired an European designer to design it.

Still it doesn't look as nice as the 1998 Bimoto sportbike that used the BMW F650 Funduro engine. That thing looked sharp, even if it did cost around $12,000. I don't think they made very many of them, though. I have only seen two in person and both were up at Alice's restaurant, where they were being sold (which they never did) in their small accessory building at the time. I guess that Bimoto felt that the engine would work in a sportbike - even if their customers apparently didn't.