F650/800GS road test reports by UKGSers

Picked mine up Friday afternoon - did a couple of hundred miles Saturday.
Seat - comfortable for my ar*e, no problems at all
MPG - easily got 70 on a steady throttle at 70 mph
ABS - it works! Got me out of an Oh Sh!t situation with a blind car driver
Engine - sounds great - standard can
Steering - went a bit wide on some bends (big front wheel?) but once used to it, made the turns ok
Heated grips fine but need the protectors fitting - due Friday, they ran out of bits in Germany
Weight - a lot lighter than my old T reg 1150 GS
Handling - apart from the above fine
Screen - might get the bigger one but no real problems
Alarm - works ok and allows a little movement (no false alarms) before going off
Wind - not quite as planted as the old 1150GS in a high cross wind
Tyres - gripped ok on damp roads when brand new with release compound all over them
Overall impression - I love it! Now to try off-roading and a few long runs. Consumption seems to be ok - even for a fat (110kg) old (52) git in VERY windy conditions. Well worth waiting for!
Cheers
Nige
And thanks to Harald at Park Lane for getting it ready as soon as he did.

Test rode an F800GS Today

Hiya All, am new on here

I testrode the new BMW F800GS earlier today and placed my order with a delivery hopefully of May 31st.

Just wanted to give my impressions, this will be my 5th bike.

We've all seen the pictures so no need to go on about its good looks, you can see BMW quality in a lot of places but can also see where some cost savings have been made such as the framework.
I was lucky enough to take one on a 3 hour test ride and found it to be a great ride. The power delivery in 1st is quite flat no matter what you do but 2nd and 3rd gear are a dream. Get upto the mid range torque and your away with it pulling like mad, not unlike the Triumph Tiger 1050 to be honest. Got her on the motorway and on the slip road twisted the throttle back and was rewarded with a great loud noise from the exhaust and cars disappearing in my rear view mirror. Once ehem slightly above the speed limit it was very smooth with the screen doing an excelent job of keeping my head from being buffeted. Get into 6th and it pulls and pulls, 96 mph at around 4000 revs on the test track.
So engine powerplant has plenty to keep it going.
Handling wise its sublime, drop it into corners and accelerate away, it held corners at 50mph no problem. When it came to speed bumps it just loved going over them, no more avoiding them when on this baby !. The front fork dive, yes its there when you first get on the bike but after a couple of hours I barely noticed it. This thing handles really well, i have more confidence on corners on this than i do on my sprint 1050.
The three hours went by very quickly and I got off the bike feeling like I;d only done 10 minutes. Its a great bike, great engine with sublime handling and I cant wait to get mine.
Alan Jeffries : I dealt with Richard Watson today and he was superb, nothing was too much trouble and the whole place was very laid back.

Well thats my intro post done and I just wanted to share my own review of my soon to be new bike

Nice report, not sure about this bit tho "into 6th and it pulls and pulls, 96 mph at around 4000 revs "

I spent the weekend trying to keep up with a Tiger1050 whilst attempting to keep the revs to 5000 or below, which in 6th gear was 80mph. That's the same final ratio as the Tiger , 5000 rpm=80mph in 6th.

So either my gearbox is built wrong or you were reading kph? If 96mph was 4000 rpm the bike would be geared for a top end of near 200 mph.

I picked up my new 650 this morning, spent 3 1/2 hours in the saddle trying VERY HARD to keep below 4000rpm, did an awful lot of miles on the A and B roads riding from Oxford to Aylesbury to MK, to Buckingham, back to Aylesbury, onto Thame, then Princes Risborough and then home....I am cream crackered and the only thing I can add to this right now is

Congratulations Celeste , my grin is getting wider with every passing day so i know how you feel.


Update on mine after 350 miles. Feels like a supermoto on tarmac now,crazy (for me) lean anges and the standard tires feel great in the dry once scrubbed. The 21" front wheel matters not a jot once you get used to it.
Had a play off road too and it did reasonably well in muddy conditions, esp for those tires.

On the downside, the framepaint by my heals is already starting to vanish. The standard heel guards are too low for me with all this roadwork until 1st service. Time to get some sticky backed plastic.
Anyone noticed the number of unfilled bolt holes in the engine? I'm up to 3 so far.Would have been nice if BMW had put rubber bungs in them or something before they fill with crud.If anyone had any ideas on where to source some feel free to say.Ta.

blackie said:

Any pics? I'm dying to get mine but meanwhile I'll just have to lurk around here and eye other peeps 650s.....

Click to expand...

Heres my babies.
I like shiny things.

test rode the 800GS and 1200GSA yesterday

my thoughts on the 800, great bike, great engine (goes barmy above 6000 ) dont like the nodding dog of a brake resevoir though
is that the standard screen no good with a Tour-X, I got the full windblast in my face, both of these can be modded no problem I'm sure

BUT would it replace my 1150GS, answer for me is a big NO, its a great bike but a totally different bike to the proper GS
I would need both bikes, which I cant, so I wont be in the market for one.
It just didnt quite give me that feeling I get from my 1150, you know the sitting at the helm of the starship enterprise feeling

As for the 1200GSA, well I just loved it to bits and that is what I would like next
this one seemed fully loaded with electrickery suspension, seemed to work, but will it go wrong and how much to replace

Another guy was there on his K1200LT, showing of his electric centre stand gizmo

Delivered last Saturday from Southport Superbikes, Excellent service thanks to all Roy, Mike, Jim, Becky, Clive and the team.

Having thought long and hard there were going to be a couple of mods that needed to be done to help put the icing on the cake

After looking at the Display bikes at the NEC and noticing that the GS stickers on the sides were beginning to peal at the corners I decided to get venture shield to cover the most vunerable parts with there protective film, no more boot marks, peeling stickers, stone chip damage etc all expertly protected. (anybody interested and it is well worth the money, drop me a line and I will forward the main mans contact details)

Next problem was the lighting system, inadequate to say the least.
A visit to Les Wassell and the problem was solved in a couple of hours and suddenly night became day and all the traffic moves out the way. Thanks Les simply excellent

Zumo mount and bash plate acquired from SS as well as large hand guards and extensions

Having had a couple of 1200GS’s that were very good the new toy is without a shadow of doubt the dogs danglies, road holding, handling, fuel consumption, performance (yet to go over 4K so it can only get better)

600 Mile service due on Tuesday and then its off across the Irish sea to sample the black stuff and have the craic

rubberscrubber said:

my thoughts on the 800, great bike, great engine (goes barmy above 6000 ) dont like the nodding dog of a brake resevoir though

Click to expand...

Sorted mine ... no probs.

Twenty minutes, part number 32 72 7 666 151



www.adventure.gs

emdub said:

Carefull with this mod if you've got the hand protector bars... it WON'T fit without modification to either the bars or the cup. I modified the cup by heating it and denting it inwards. I'll post pics if anyone's interested. Other than that I must say it's the best "extra" I've bought for the bike...

I just registered to post this "warning".... I'll introduce myself tomorrow.

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I certainly aint fitting the BMW hand protectors... they look naff

Got some Touratech ones on order

Welcome to the site emdub hope you enjoy

I've got the hang of this 'goody' bits by now! BMW supply Touratech with a 'bike well before launch for test and evaluation, and for Touratech to develop special parts for it. Great

But having developed a special part that becomes a BMW part number then Touratech can't sell it, only manufacture it for BMW aka the engine bashplate!

So then Touratech had to make a similar part for their own catalogue, for them to sell, but of course it won't be as good as the first part they originally designed for BMW...

So now they develop a second rate part in the first instance for BMW to place in to their parts manifesto... and THEN they make the superior part they can sell

That's very clever Touratech



www.adventure.gs

emdub said:

This is the screw and fitment I say gets in the way:

This is what I did to the cup so it fits:

Click to expand...

No sensible answer

I rode the 650 first and was really impressed by its smootness and how nimble it was. I thought that this is just the bike for me for my next "special" birthday next year! I was following the young salesman (on the 800GS) who I know well and really it would have been foolhardy to travel any faster than we had been going. He indicated that he was pulling over to change bikes and I put on the anchors with my accustomed touch of the forefinger - and not much happened! (I have the servo assisted coupled discs on the 1200.) No real problems however, just a question of 'habitude.')

I fely very much at home on the 800. It didn't feel particularly small after the 1200 (a fault I had found with the other 800's and the 650) and it had all the power I could want, even imagining it fully loaded, two up. From a sensible practical point of view the 650 would be quite satisfactory - but sitting there in a pretty blue colour beside the 800 it didn't look a grown up bike. I challenged the salesman to tempt me, thinking that for 3,000 euros I might be persuaded to change - there was a new 800 model in the colour and with all the bits that I wanted in stock. We got down to 4,000€ and I left it at that. Coming back down the autoroute the old 1200 felt great, everything a bit sharper after its service (18,000 kms.) - just like a new bike but nicely run in.

So what is the next step? The sensible answer is do nothing -the 12200 is Ok for another few years. (Do you know ANY sensible 'motards?')

Look on the briht side!

rin_sun said:

That's what I'm worried about, saving up for the bike at the mo then I think I'll be getting a softer seat!! (and hand protectors, louder exhaust, side stand base (do they expect you to go off road with this and never stop?) and headlight by the sound of things).
I spend many hours on my bike and I love it, I don't want it to be spoiled by the cramp I got when I took the full height version out for an hour. I've ordered the lower seat version, I'm 5'7". Wondering yesterday as I squeezed my old 650 thro' narrow gateways and turned it on gravel how all that will be on tip toe. Looking forward to the smoooth gear changing and the extra power tho'.
Catherine.

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I am sure that you will spend even more happy hours on this bike (the 800) than on your present 650 single. You don't NEED any of the extras you mention - but by the time you can aford them you will have had time to settle down the seat upholstery and become used to the exhaust noise etc;etc; and make a sensible decision. The heated grips cannot be added afterwards - you will need them because you will ride it through the winter.

Well here's my sixpenneth for what it's worth....

Refrained from posting impressions of the F800GS until the initial infatuation had been confirmed, or otherwise, by covering a few miles....

I've done over 300,000 miles on my BMW's since 1993, been motorcycling for over 45 years, and at 61 years of age have nothing to prove..... well not much

Now done over 2,200 miles on my 800GS and have this to say...

Comfort OK for me. Low seat/fat bum 200 miles easy. Start to squirm but then realize you've just covered another 50 miles... so no probs

Windscreen... no buffeting but noisy (Schuberth C2 helmet) but with good earplugs no problem

There are those that complain about a snatchy throttle being no good for off roading, but having taken three hours to cover 8Km in the Black Forest last week due to the road being hard packed snow and ice, again I have no complaints. Second gear, just off tickover, and the 'bike was surefooted. The road was blocked with jacknifed lorries and snow ploughs but we picked our way through 'em

There were five of us, two 'bikes went down, one twice, no injuries, very little damage, the only bike's to fall were ABS equipped, none ABS 'bikes didn't go down

One ABS equipped 'bike didn't go down ... well done Bilko

A razz round der Nürburgring later in the week showed the 800GS having to wait for the 1200's

125mph (ish) indicated going down Fuchsröhre heading towards Adenauer Forst, later confirmed as 119mph on the GPS and the 800GS was completely stable

The 21" front wheel never caused a problem. I thought at first that it might want to 'drop in' on corners like the 650 Dakar did, but no... it always felt well planted. Although there wasn't a lot of feedback from the Bridgestone BattleWing tyres they never gave a moments concern, even taking the rear tyre to the very edge

I will concede that the 800GS has to be worked round the corners. My 1200GS-A would just take you round the bends with what seemed to be very little input... see the bends and you were round them. The 800GS will oversteer left to it's own devices and you just, quite simply, have to ride it round them yourself and make it do it! Perhaps this is a legacy of that 21" front wheel

Each time we filled up the 800GS would take from three to five Euro's less than the 1200's

Visited Touratech down in the Black Forest, bought a likkle 'bling' but useful bling at that

The HID headlight/dip beam conversion from Les Wassell is nothing short of outstanding, absolutely worth every penny. Superb quality, easy to fit... great bit o' kit

That's about it folks... hope of some interest. Some piccies of the White Forest and 'bling' ...



www.adventure.gs

PS... the 'relocated' front brake master cylinder reservoir no problems to date

Just another couple of observations I forgot to mention folks.....

Thw 800GS is very good in strong side winds... very stable, one of the best. I'm impressed

Suspension very good. If it wasn't I'd be replacing with Wilbers asap. Hoping to blag some Wilbers for next years 'Cape to Cape' but for now they do the job quite well. One particular uphill right hander I know in Germany, a very bumpy roadsurface, will have most bikes stepping out of line as it hits each bump. Most certainly my 1200GSA with standard suspension did so. Not so the 800GS

One early road test said that the front brakes 'lacked bite' and the tester feared that two up with luggage the brakes might not be up to it

Mmmmm they do lack the bite of the 800ST for sure, but then you don't want that bite on the rough stuff/off road cos you'd all to easily lock the wheels up. The twin pot sliding front brake calipers certainly need a good pull on the lever.... but they work just fine. The harder you pull the quicker you stop... simple. But you do need to pull hard on the lever under emergency conditions I'm happy with that

But the brakes slow you down ... so we don't need them eh



Now done about 3,400 miles and all OK.... it just gets better

Just check your gear lever... the clamp bolt was tight but the gear lever was still loose on the splines, only a small amount of play, but loose nevertheless This would eventually wear the splines with expensive consequences. Had to 'lean' on the clamp bolt... all now OK

Rear brake lever doesn't naturally lay under my foot, foot slipped off a couple of times

Gentle use of formidable strength and all is resolved



F800GS? Is this the new 'real' GS

Brian ROSEN said:

Whilst on this subject, I can understand that those on the 800GS may not have the bite of those on the servo assisted linked system on my current 1200GS - but there would seem to be no reason why they would be different to the 800ST. Can someone suggest reasons?

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The brakes on the F800ST, a pure road 'bike, were four pot calipers, those on the F800GS are twin pot but with sliding calipers. You certainly wouldn't want the bite of the 800ST's brakes on the loose that the 800GS is more destined for! The 800GS's brakes are certainly up to the job, it's just that they need a bloody good tug to produce the goods!

The ABS wasn't turned off on the ABS equipped bikes chrisjk, and I really don't know why the ABS 'bikes went down but not the none ABS One ABS 'bike didn't fall so maybe it was just down to luck on the day! Maybe my slant on ABS from previous posts had me making the little 'dig' ... but a year last Novemember we got caught in heavy snow in the Eifel, and one bike (ABS) went down, and the two none ABS didn't

You're right of course, maybe they thought that ABS would save them, maybe ABS is a substitute for skill, but knowing the guys in question luck certainly didn't enter in to it... John and Decky are as good as you get

There are four UKGSer's in the piccie

Micky said:

Brian.... when you dropped the 'bike and holed the crankcase whereabouts was the damage exactly?

Was it a rock or something that caused the damage... just wondering how vulnerable the engine is, trying to work out, when available, what would be the best in engine protection

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I am not even sure that the crankcase was holed - but there was a lot of oil all over the road; It was escaping from below the circular alternator casing - if that's that circular dish on the right hand side behiond the exhausts. There was also a broken headlight, badly scuffed topbox and nasty scars on the bodywork. . It could have hit against the kerb - this was NOT off road- but on my normal way home - a corner I have been round thousands of times! At the moment the dealer is awaiting parts - so very shortly I (or at least my insurance company) will receive a list of those parts and I will be happy to let you know what is NOT protected. (Apart from my ego!)

John Armstrong said:

Got any salt to rub into his wounds Micky

Guess you've seen these:

http://www.touratech.com/shops/008/product_info.php?cPath=2_35_244&products_id=8056


http://www.touratech.com/shops/008/product_info.php?cPath=2_35_244&products_id=8057

at about £93 for the pair, plus P & P I guess

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Cheers John... yeah I've seen 'em, wuz at Touratech couple of weeks ago, and then Wunderlich. Certainly not rubbing salt in to Brian's wounds, but want to know where and what is vulnerable. Going down through Africa next year (from di Nord Kapp)

The BMW bars don't look to be far enough out to protect the radiator, the Wunderlich engine bars look like the offspring from a kids climbing frame having mated with a zimmer frame

If Hepco & Becker make a protection bar as neat as those they make for the F800S then they'll do nicely

Cheers

Or SW Motech: http://www.mo-tech.de/produkt/index.php?produkt_id=1935&marken_id=142

And they might have some photo's when the Trax panniers are ready

Here's mine.....picked it up on Friday night, only 120 miles so far but loving every minute of it !!!

My riding background is from years of scooters (I'm an old mod really), but have developed a taste for bikes over the last few years thanks to trusting friends who have let me try thiers (and of course Ewan & Charlie....don't knock them....oh of course and you lot on here). I passed my full licence 5 years back but it was restricted to auto as I still only rode scooters albiet bigger ones (Fuoco 500cc).

Just taken he plunge this March and passed it again for my first 'big' bike......now the controversial bit. I rushed off with my new found licence and friends in tow and bought myself a lovely yellow R1200GS (thanks Pipster). There followed 3 not very pleasant weeks where my confidence dipped and every ride culminated in a sense of relief when I returned home in one piece. Too much bike too soon I determined, also not helped by my 5'8" height and 28" inside leg (thanks TT for the low seat but it didn't help much)......so I sold it (hope you're enjoying it Griz) .

So off to SBW to test ride the F650GS (again.....the first time I had my heart set on the F800GS.....but see inside leg above).......loved it.....had to have one! A few frustrating dealer weeks later.....I descided to look for one myself and thanks to Alex at North Oxford I've got just what I wanted and available in 1 week......now that's service !!

So how is it.........as I've explained I don't have much bike experience, but loads of riding experience . To me it's the best bike I've ever riden for my current requirements.......not too fast but pokey enough (GSXR1000 was nice.....but a tad scarey when you opened it up). Tourable with a nice upright position (Sprint ST lovely but a bit uncomfortable on he wrists after a while). Road capable yet still greenlaneable (it must be a real word )....thanks but no thanks R1200GS.

I now come home from a ride out and want to go straight back out again.......that to me is what biking is all about and how your own bike should make you feel.

Off to Turkey on it in August........in at the deep end again I suspect....but at least I'll feel happy on my bike.

Congratulations on the new bike, it looks good in red. From my short experience riding the two bikes onroad and offroad I don't think there's much at all that the F800 can do that the F650 can't, and it's better to 'struggle' with the F650's lower ground clearance than to struggle trying to touchdown with your feet.

I think the new F650 is a terrific all-rounder bike and will be interested to learn how it copes on your Turkey Trot.

Tim

scowler said:

carried out a small modification to the rear brake pedal , does anbody else find it too low ? might have to invest in touratech adjustable clutch lever also. cheers:craig clap

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It's certainly too low especially wearing boots with heels! ( Daytona LadyStar) I got round it by taking the rubber off the peg to make the foot peg lower. Had already adjusted the gear shift up and couldn't be bothered to adjust it back so have left the rubber on the left peg. I can't seem to notice any difference even though my left foot is higher than my right!


Didn't realise TT did an adjustable clutch lever. Does it adjust to a smaller span than the original BM one? I find it's a bit of a stretch even on the narrowest setting & get wrist ache after a hard days riding ( Saturday's road ride at the Baskerville being the mosst recent!)

Sorry, Marksk forgot to congratulate you on your new bike. I've done 2500 miles on my 650 now and it's brilliant. At the weekend Prof was trying to persuade me to get a "proper" bike i.e. one with sticky out engines but what is the point. A bike that's too heavy or too big just saps the confidence and ruins your riding. As long as the bike fits you and does everything you want to hell with others opinions! There's a lot more bike in the 650 than people think. I'm sure like me you'll have a whale of a time on it, and your riding will improve no end too. Have fun!


By the way don't discount high heeled boots! Daytona do a mens one I think it's called the Day Star. Basically it has a hidden integral wedge heel. doesn't help get your toes down but you can get your foot flat quicker to support the bike...useful in those horrible wobbly moments!