2021 wasn’t Sherco’s best year in the Dakar Rally. Having finished in sixth place, the brand fought hard in the off-road event, but came up a little short, so as a resolution for the new year and the next season, the brand announced its new factory Dakar rally machine: The Sherco 450 SEF.
Based on the Enduro 450 SEF Factory, the new rally bike will be fielded in Dakar 2022, to be held in Saudi Arabia. These three new bikes will be used by Lorenzo Santolino, Rui Goncalves, and Harith Noah.
Sherco took what they’ve learned from the Morocco rally, and put it into the new bike. Details about the Dakar SEF are a bit scarce at the moment since Sherco hasn’t released details about its latest model. Although, it’s fair game to infer that the same semi-perimeter molybdenum steel frame used in the Enduro 450 SEF will be retained. In that frame, will beat the same 450 single-cylinder four-stroke engine, but no specific power figures have been released by the French brand. Expect a six-speed manual gearbox to be mated with the engine and a drive chain—standard stuff. The bike is also finished in the standard blue and high-viz yellow colors that Sherco doesn’t leave the house without, but since this is a race bike, it gets a bevy of sponsor decals from the likes of TVS, Motul, and Akrapovic.
As for the differences, the Sherco 450 Rally will feature a fairing up-top that’s synonymous with the rally bike look. The standard SEF will come with KYB front and rear suspension, but the Rally version will get a BOS MAC racing suspension. While the standard model comes with a standard exhaust, Akrapovic provided the system on the Rally version.
That’s about it for the initial impressions and what we can gather from the images, but Sherco will go into more detail come December 28, 2021. Stay tuned for their presentation until then.
