Testing middleweight adventure bikes (a take on the F800GS vs 800XC)

Ross Dean

Ross Dean

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I posted this on the MCN site a few hours ago. Any thoughts?

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/c...id=4532221&__ia=message4532221#message4532221

"The recent article 'Homeland defences’ in MCN prompted this post.

I had better confess immediately that I recently bought my second BMW F800GS (with a K1300S in between). Before buying I sat on an 800XC but didn’t test ride it - my heart is with the 800GS after 9500 (trouble-free) miles of riding around the UK, France, Spain and Morocco ... and the beginners BMW off-road school on the same.

Riding long term on roads, a day or so off-road and a morning’s ride around the Peterborough area (nice as that can be) are not the way to test the F800GS, 800XC and all similar middleweight adventure bikes.

They are marketed as capable of many miles of rough-road travel with full luggage and the ability to reach those roads with a decent degree of comfort. So, please, test them properly. My suggestion is take all the current middleweight offerings on the ferry to Santander, ride to Morocco, rough trail through the Atlas Mountains, spend a few days testing in the Sahara and then ride home. It took my partner and I seven weeks on an F650GS and an F800GS but we dawdled a great deal. I think three weeks should do it. Carry your own tents and use them frequently. Ride one-up as they are middleweight bikes with significant luggage. Stay away from long motorway rides – these are the territory of 1200GS and the new Tiger equivalent. These bikes are supposed to excel on A/B/C roads, tracks and the wider rough trails.

Yes they have to do the pleasure trips and commutes as well but there are many bikes out there that can do that – these are adventure bikes … so go and do it!"
 
Ross Dean said:
I posted this on the MCN site a few hours ago. Any thoughts?

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/c...id=4532221&__ia=message4532221#message4532221

"The recent article 'Homeland defences’ in MCN prompted this post.

I had better confess immediately that I recently bought my second BMW F800GS (with a K1300S in between). Before buying I sat on an 800XC but didn’t test ride it - my heart is with the 800GS after 9500 (trouble-free) miles of riding around the UK, France, Spain and Morocco ... and the beginners BMW off-road school on the same.

Riding long term on roads, a day or so off-road and a morning’s ride around the Peterborough area (nice as that can be) are not the way to test the F800GS, 800XC and all similar middleweight adventure bikes.

They are marketed as capable of many miles of rough-road travel with full luggage and the ability to reach those roads with a decent degree of comfort. So, please, test them properly. My suggestion is take all the current middleweight offerings on the ferry to Santander, ride to Morocco, rough trail through the Atlas Mountains, spend a few days testing in the Sahara and then ride home. It took my partner and I seven weeks on an F650GS and an F800GS but we dawdled a great deal. I think three weeks should do it. Carry your own tents and use them frequently. Ride one-up as they are middleweight bikes with significant luggage. Stay away from long motorway rides – these are the territory of 1200GS and the new Tiger equivalent. These bikes are supposed to excel on A/B/C roads, tracks and the wider rough trails.

Yes they have to do the pleasure trips and commutes as well but there are many bikes out there that can do that – these are adventure bikes … so go and do it!"
Click to expand...

Why don't you test ride a Triunph XC800 ? and then post your own thoughts ?
 
MGJ said:
Why don't you test ride a Triunph XC800 ? and then post your own thoughts ?
Click to expand...

I'd have to be true to my first post and take one off for three weeks. I cannot afford a second bike but could afford three weeks to ride an 800XC if I could get one - any thoughts on how to acquire one for three weeks?
 
Ross Dean said:
I'd have to be true to my first post and take one off for three weeks. I cannot afford a second bike but could afford three weeks to ride an 800XC if I could get one - any thoughts on how to acquire one for three weeks?
Click to expand...

Can't answer that one, but I have had one now for 3 months, and love it. Do I use it yes just under 8'000 miles so far.

But a test ride would give you a taste for a bike that has been selling very well.
 
The journo has had the bike for a month and he's already using it to commute to work and has a trip to Spain planned in August. That seems to me to be normal use for most bikes, and a fair reflection for a long term test. Who knows, the off road ability of the Tiger might tempt him to go and get dirty too, but I think you're expecting too much for a 3 week trip to North Africa - as deputy editor, I imagine he's got a lot to do back at his desk :nenau
 
Twotter said:
... but I think you're expecting too much for a 3 week trip to North Africa - as deputy editor, I imagine he's got a lot to do back at his desk :nenau
Click to expand...

I know and that is an aspect of what I was trying to say - if MCN want to test bikes then they should test them against fitness for purpose and that may mean spending some money. Otherwise, what do their columns really tell us?

I am sure that they could recruit enough volunteers for such a test (fuel and ferry paid, bring your own bike and be prepared to swap around). I'd go :thumb
 
Don't knock it....there's some parts of Peterborough which are rough as old boots :D
 
They've got fountains in Cathedral Square now :D

3119869210.jpg
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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