BMW F800GS Rider review

To be honest, I took an immediate dislike to this bike. Of course, getting straight off a R1200GS onto an 800 feels like getting on a bicycle; it is really awkward to start with, and the huge front wheel takes a minute or two to get used to. Ah well, I thought, I do not have to go far today, I'll stick it out on the 800.

This negative attitude lasted less than ten minutes. I very, very quickly started to enjoy this beautiful little motorcycle. But I'm not going to sell my 1200GS for an 800 any time soon, and here's why.

At 6'4" and 230lbs, I was always going to be a bit too big for this motorcycle. Yes, the engine does have quite a punch, but where the 1200 does not really seem to notice my weight, it makes the 800 significantly slower. I've ridden next to other, smaller people on 800s, and they do seem to be much quicker off the line. When I'm on it, it's
still quite willing to accelerate hard, but it does not seem 100% happy about it. I have to admit the bike is tall enough for me though; putting my foot on the ground was always comfortable.

BMW brakes tend to be quite good, and I had the ABS on the whole time on the 800, since I did not venture onto any dirt or sand (although I would have loved to). But to put the bike to the test I did some very hard braking. The system did not seem to function as well as that on the bigger bikes, and I would actually prefer to switch off the
ABS permanently and instead practise better braking techniques - which are better than ABS, if you're skilled enough.

Since I already mentioned that the motorcycle feels small to me, it's probably no surprise that rider comfort was not superb. It certainly is not as uncomfortable as, say, the 1050 Tiger, but just thinking of spending 400 miles on this machine made me hurt all over. Which is not to say that at any point I wanted to get off the bike and go to the office - I was having far too much fun for that.

Very noticeable was the heat coming from the engine. Compared to my usual boxer engine, my thighs felt ridiculously hot (which sounds unintentionally sexual). Not so uncomfortable in winter (or in the rain, when I was riding it), but when you're wearing full gear in summer, it will get awfully hot in traffic.

As far as the instrumentation goes, the design and layout seems good but not spectacular. The gear indicator throws up these huge numbers, just in case you're motorcycling with some serious eyesight problems. Altogether I find the display on the later GS much more amenable.

So far I've made the 800 seem like an ordinary bike, which it is not. There are several very good reasons why you should want one. The primary one I've already mentioned: it is enormous fun to ride. The throttle is responsive but not twitchy, and pulling away hard lets the bike make a very satisfying growly noise (I was riding with a
performance exhaust, which helped). Being used to the boxer engine, I generally don't like pushing the revs up too high, and consequently never came near the top of the rev counter on the 800. Clearly, there were a lot of ponies left to play with up top that I never got to.

Cornering is a very pleasant experience. Again, it may just be the contrast with its big brother, but the 800 feels like it wants you to whip it into corners. Whip, not turn. I don't want to give it a definite thumbs-up yet, though; I will need to take it up and down a few mountains before I pronounce judgment.

The outstanding feature, and one that indicates that the cornering might actually be very good, is that the F800GS is superbly balanced. You get used to being on it very quickly, and then discover that you almost never have to put your feet down. I really loved playing with this at traffic lights and stop signs. This makes me even more sorry I
couldn't give it a decent go off-road. I suspect that it will be brilliant not only on sand, but on extremely tricky rocky bits as well.

As for the looks, I think it's a beautiful bike. It looks capable, but doesn't try too hard to put on stylistic bells and whistles. The Black version I rode also stands out, although I could have done with a little less writing on the body. I mean, how many times do you really need to write 'Black' on a black motorcycle?