New Dawn

Since the personal computer was introduced in the 1980s, technology has been developing at an incredible rate, and motorcycles haven’t missed out. The ’80s, ’90s and ’00s saw some major engineering triumphs, even by Triumph, but the greatest of them all came in the 2010s.

As technology boomed in other industries, the bike business adapted it and began redesigning masterpieces to survive the rigours of dirtbike riding. Things like electric motors, lithium batteries, intricate fuel-injection systems, smartphone apps and digital tuning found their way into bikes and the machines we used to love that dripped fuel through a series of jets to combust and turn a set of wheels that went up and down using springs and oil are now relics only admired by collectors and “old-timers”.

Here’s a list of bikes that have supplanted what we thought was impressive at the turn of the century:

2011 BMW G 450X

BMW’S G450X ENDURO first hit the scene in 2007, with a bunch of big tech ideas designed to blow the other manufacturers out of the water. They were firing shots across KTM’s bow as the Austrian brand was starting to gather momentum as the “must-have” enduro bike. But then BMW bought the Husqvarna marque to power its off-road assault and the G450X looked set for the scrap heap.

However, it had one