I meant that the bike was buffeted sidewards.
850 GSA
- Thread starter Wapping
- Start date
No - because they’re all locked in their mounts…
The 4 button mount is keyless...
It is - unless you fit a Zumo Lock to it…
Indeed it is. I used one quite happily for years and the earlier ‘clip the device in’ Garmin mounts.
Possibly the bods who are paranoid about GPS theft are the same bods who wander off, having left their helmet dangling on the mirror, with their gloves tucked inside. Leaving them on top of fuel pumps is another favourite.
I don't know where the red line is ; but a ton at 6000 sounds like real world gearing to me; using 2 thirds of the available revs means a ton is a doable cruising speed.
Indeed so.
The gearing is pretty good as standard.
The gearing is pretty good as standard.
What else?
The three position heated grips work well.
The cruise control, which I flicked on during a quiet stretch of the M11, works just as well as it does on my 1600.
The fairly narrow back of the fuel tank probably needs a bit of Stompgrip adding to it.
The three position heated grips work well.
The cruise control, which I flicked on during a quiet stretch of the M11, works just as well as it does on my 1600.
The fairly narrow back of the fuel tank probably needs a bit of Stompgrip adding to it.
Congrats. with your 850.
I share your point of view regarding the size and power of the bike. Being in the position where I may freely choose between a 850GSA and a 1250GSA my preferred solo ride is the 850.
For braking I find it very helpful to touch the rear brake before hitting the front brake, it really helps to reduce the dive. Even so, a cartridge for the fork from Tractive/TT is high up on my list.
Lots of my friends worry on my behalf about the chain. I find it to be no big deal. My bike has now 17K km on the meter, and to this day I have not needed to adjust the chain beyond the adjustment done after tire change.
I used to have a F800GS, also a great bike, but I find the 850 engine to be a great improvement. Guess the 270/450 crank helps the engine to rev more easy.
All in all, a great fun bike
I share your point of view regarding the size and power of the bike. Being in the position where I may freely choose between a 850GSA and a 1250GSA my preferred solo ride is the 850.
For braking I find it very helpful to touch the rear brake before hitting the front brake, it really helps to reduce the dive. Even so, a cartridge for the fork from Tractive/TT is high up on my list.
Lots of my friends worry on my behalf about the chain. I find it to be no big deal. My bike has now 17K km on the meter, and to this day I have not needed to adjust the chain beyond the adjustment done after tire change.
I used to have a F800GS, also a great bike, but I find the 850 engine to be a great improvement. Guess the 270/450 crank helps the engine to rev more easy.
All in all, a great fun bike
Thank you.
I agree about the chain, not least as I always had no problem with chains for years, before getting my first GS.
Being lucky enough to also have a 1600, it’s great to enjoy two bikes that are very different from each other. Next a moped and my life will be complete.
I agree about the chain, not least as I always had no problem with chains for years, before getting my first GS.
Being lucky enough to also have a 1600, it’s great to enjoy two bikes that are very different from each other. Next a moped and my life will be complete.
nice looking bike and glad you are enjoying it . I had a 900R yesterday as my Evo was having a recall done , charger diode / cable or something . I think The F900 has a similar engine . Thing I noticed on the 21 plate demo was how odd the clutch felt . It felt grabby and it seemed shagged out . It had 1700 miles on it . I asked the fine chap at my dealer and he said there had been issues with clutches going in young bikes . I know there is a 3 year warranty but did you notice anything ? I know cable clutches feel different to hydraulic . Nice Motor though
C400GT? I’ve just got one to go with my R1250GSA
I have an Evolution leccy scoot . Complements the 1250 GSA well
The gear assist pro (quick shifter), on the 850 bikes have a strange effect upon the clutch lever feel when changing gear using said lever. The clutch is cable operated and one can feel a discernible click as lever is released, as though the cable is frayed and catching. This has been discussed at length on an F850gs forum and it seems a feature of all f850 bikes. Nowt to worry about - they all do that Sir.
Alan R
That’s exactly as it felt . I will stop worrying
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
My F750GS does exactly the same. Spent ages checking and lubing the cable before reading about it on the 850 forum
When I took my 850 into Jefferies for my first service I told them I thought I had a problem with the clutch (same symptoms as above)
Before I could elaborate the young lady behind the counter explained exactly what my concern was, concluding by saying 'Don't worry, they all so that'
2k later it's still doing it but doesn't seem to be as noticeable unless it's just me getting used to it.
Love the bike and the front fork dive on braking can be greatly reduced by applying the rear brake just before the front, as we used to do in the 'olden days' before we had computer controlled link brakes that almost made the rear redundant.
Mike
Interesting and useful report. When the deal on my current 1250 ends in mid '23 both my wife and I will be almost 70 and with her back problems (she fractured it - L2 - in August) she's talking about stopping being a pillion.
As that's the main reason I have a 1250 nowadays I have been thinking about changing to a middleweight bike, and the 850 seems to fit the bill.
I did try an 800 before I bought my current bike but it was too small for two up touring and the fork dive was horrendous.
I'd be happy to spend money getting the suspension sorted though and the rest all seems good.
As that's the main reason I have a 1250 nowadays I have been thinking about changing to a middleweight bike, and the 850 seems to fit the bill.
I did try an 800 before I bought my current bike but it was too small for two up touring and the fork dive was horrendous.
I'd be happy to spend money getting the suspension sorted though and the rest all seems good.
The GSA version is quite a tall bike, so having panniers and / or the top box on, might make clambering on a bit of a challenge. Have a look at the RT which, despite my dislike of the water cooled engine, is much lower and very comfortable.
Having used the GSA solo on my jaunt to the Ardenne this weekend, I have got used to the dive on the front. Just by way of an experiment, I put the panniers and top box on but they are very far from full. The extra weight to the back, seems to offset some of the dive…. Or I have got used to it, as I said.
On the positives, the bike is all day long comfortable. I had an hour of near enough empty mototorway down to junction eight at Cambrai, so I set the cruise control to a steady 88 miles an hour. The bike just trundled along at just over 5,000 RPM quite happily. Whilst it will pick up its skirts in second, third and fourth, it is quite a lazy engine when it has to be. The gear position indicator has, just like my little VW Polo, got a suggested change up symbol that appears above the gear number displayed on the screen. It cannot wait to get you changing up at quite low rev’s. That being said, the change up symbol vanishes if you twist the throttle and let the gear run through its rev band, just as it does on my Polo.
The change up indicator will, if you obey it, see you in sixth around town, the engine (I have the standard exhaust, catalyst etc) sounding a bit like one of those very small French diesel cars. I like rev’s and value the much faster pick-up that a lower gear brings in town, should a sudden burst of umph be required. I’ll take throttle response over economy any time. I see no reason or value at all to change the exhaust from standard; I have grown out of the noise for noise’s sake mentality. If an engine is naturally noisy *, great; don’t just make it noisy if it functions very well quietly, as it was designed to do. You really won’t go much faster just through making more noise, trust me. All you’ll do is piss more people off, which will bring in more legislation and see bikes being banned from some roads at certain times, which bods will then moan about as an infringement of their liberty to make as much noise as they like and when they like.
What else? The seat is all day long comfortable enough. I generally start my days out around nine AM, with a coffee stop around 11:15’ish and lunch around 13:00’ish. I can easily do the two hours or even the full four hours without feeing crippled or finding that I am sitting on a plank. There again, others like (or need to) stop more regularly. If I had any critism of the seat, it might be a bit too soft, which I think might lead to some of the critism of it that I am reading about. But hey, everyone is different. I have got used to the position of the side stand and the main stand, so can flick each down with ease. The two potion screeen in the GSA variant is fine for me at six foot. I wear a Shoei flip front (not the world’s quietest helmet, perhaps) but do use decent ear plugs. Just to find out what happens, I put the screen up high and lifted the lid at about 90 mph on the motorway….. the ripping effect of what has now become a sail attached to your neck is, how shall I put this…… um….. er….. interesting.
I sort of miss the hill start assist thing, that’s on my 1600, not that I can’t do hill starts. I quite like just flicking it on when stopped in traffic, rather like using a handbrake in a car. But hey, I can sit with my foot on the rear brake or just hold the bike by leg power alone, so no biggy, as the kids say. The keyless ride is a bit daft when the panniers are locked via a key and as for the damned sat nav being locked. Remind me, just how many sat navy’s been nicked really.
I can’t remember what tyres it came with as standard but they are fine in the dry, in the wet and on greasy autumnal French and Belgian country roads.
* Very few day-to-day road vehicles are.
Having used the GSA solo on my jaunt to the Ardenne this weekend, I have got used to the dive on the front. Just by way of an experiment, I put the panniers and top box on but they are very far from full. The extra weight to the back, seems to offset some of the dive…. Or I have got used to it, as I said.
On the positives, the bike is all day long comfortable. I had an hour of near enough empty mototorway down to junction eight at Cambrai, so I set the cruise control to a steady 88 miles an hour. The bike just trundled along at just over 5,000 RPM quite happily. Whilst it will pick up its skirts in second, third and fourth, it is quite a lazy engine when it has to be. The gear position indicator has, just like my little VW Polo, got a suggested change up symbol that appears above the gear number displayed on the screen. It cannot wait to get you changing up at quite low rev’s. That being said, the change up symbol vanishes if you twist the throttle and let the gear run through its rev band, just as it does on my Polo.
The change up indicator will, if you obey it, see you in sixth around town, the engine (I have the standard exhaust, catalyst etc) sounding a bit like one of those very small French diesel cars. I like rev’s and value the much faster pick-up that a lower gear brings in town, should a sudden burst of umph be required. I’ll take throttle response over economy any time. I see no reason or value at all to change the exhaust from standard; I have grown out of the noise for noise’s sake mentality. If an engine is naturally noisy *, great; don’t just make it noisy if it functions very well quietly, as it was designed to do. You really won’t go much faster just through making more noise, trust me. All you’ll do is piss more people off, which will bring in more legislation and see bikes being banned from some roads at certain times, which bods will then moan about as an infringement of their liberty to make as much noise as they like and when they like.
What else? The seat is all day long comfortable enough. I generally start my days out around nine AM, with a coffee stop around 11:15’ish and lunch around 13:00’ish. I can easily do the two hours or even the full four hours without feeing crippled or finding that I am sitting on a plank. There again, others like (or need to) stop more regularly. If I had any critism of the seat, it might be a bit too soft, which I think might lead to some of the critism of it that I am reading about. But hey, everyone is different. I have got used to the position of the side stand and the main stand, so can flick each down with ease. The two potion screeen in the GSA variant is fine for me at six foot. I wear a Shoei flip front (not the world’s quietest helmet, perhaps) but do use decent ear plugs. Just to find out what happens, I put the screen up high and lifted the lid at about 90 mph on the motorway….. the ripping effect of what has now become a sail attached to your neck is, how shall I put this…… um….. er….. interesting.
I sort of miss the hill start assist thing, that’s on my 1600, not that I can’t do hill starts. I quite like just flicking it on when stopped in traffic, rather like using a handbrake in a car. But hey, I can sit with my foot on the rear brake or just hold the bike by leg power alone, so no biggy, as the kids say. The keyless ride is a bit daft when the panniers are locked via a key and as for the damned sat nav being locked. Remind me, just how many sat navy’s been nicked really.
I can’t remember what tyres it came with as standard but they are fine in the dry, in the wet and on greasy autumnal French and Belgian country roads.
* Very few day-to-day road vehicles are.
I agree with the comments about the ‘click’ in the clutch operation. I thought I was imagining it at first. You don’t always notice it. It doesn’t bother me.
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