A very drab and dull colourscheme ,that will look very tatty with a month's road grime .
0 out 10 for BMW .

But a very purposeful looking machine with a good engine configuration , we await the specs for HP ,weight ,tank size ,etc etc etc .

Black panniers? = Hot contents ! = rather silly .

An 850 Stelvio would be the bike for me , better styling and a decent colourscheme , air cooled engine and shaft drive [ hopefully more reliable than BMW's ] - not that I'm averse to chaindrive .
A Latin lover rather than a Teutonic dominatrix !!!!

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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

I am a Guzzi addict per se - but I have to say I'd wish Guzzi made the new Stelvio just a tad more out-and-out globetrotter worthy: Longer travel on the springs/dampers, hand guards, heavy-duty belly pan, crashbars, etc etc. I have to admint that the new F800GS is a serious contender to the free space in my Guzzi-only garage...

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HansP
All you wanted to know
about riding in Norway

The bumblebee yellow and black bike that has the luggage fitted also has the accessories that BMW will be offering, don't you think?
Take a look at the exceedingly large centrestand that does not appear in all of the pics - in fact, in many cases, it isn't there!

In some of the pics that bike has the luggage mounted quite high on the frame (and there is not a lot of room for a passenger) while in other views it seems to be lower - could it be adjustable in height of mounting?

+ this is not a bike that is useful for two up riding? (much like the existing F650GS).

Early days as they say, but I am trying to get my head around what I will see at the bike show later this month - there is never enough time to take it all in on the day.

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Dave

Touratech will be rubbing their hands because in typical BM style, the footpegs are tiny. There seem to be no bark busters to keep your hands out of the wind, and that exhaust looks very vulnerable to a bike dropped on the right hand side.
But BM have always made their small bikes 'basic' to keep the price down, with an endless list of 'extras' to make them more usable - and bump the price up.
We shall see......

When I was sure the new Tenere was the solution to my problems, these BMW guys come and bring this espectacular 800GS...come on, everybody thinking they were gonna come up with a roadie like the V-Strom and they put spokes, knobs, and height enough to fight against the elements in every situation (at least it seems capable of that...). I have to wait to see the price, because having the F800ST for 9900 euros and the R1200GS basic for 13800 it is quite obvious they will ask for at least 11.000 euros for one of these beasts. The Ténéré is said to be 7500-7800 euros and that its much less money than the beemer.
Just for info I have made a comparison of the heights of the F800 and Ténéré vs the known 640 adv and V-strom. I have scaled the photos using as reference the 21" front rim (back rim for the v-strom, as it has 19" front) I think It can give a good idea of how big will be, before seen them in flesh.
Best regards and be patient until the begining of 2008, when these two machines will come out of their factory's hideouts and we will face them.

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Jules
Now Kawa KLE500 dirty-knobby tires, noisy Thunder exhaust.
Waiting for the new 2008 Yamaha XTZ660 Ténéré

I think that's a smart move from BMW, why pay for extras you don't need? It's better to make the bike fit your needs then to make your needs fit the bike.
Normally BMW has a lot of extras and Touratech (and others) complete the list, more or less.


A group of German engineers have no clue how I would like to set up my bike, that’s up to me….

But is it a smart move? Only for the accountants. The bikes are 'highly' priced to begin with and the extras can easily add on another 10-20% .

It would have been nice if the bike was cheaper. Eeeh, what’s the price?
More extras would have increased the initial cost even more.

I have heard that the bike has good suspension. If it’s true then it is the first GS that has good suspension and that is worth at least 2000 euro…. You can buy a lot of gadgets for that price!

Seriously I mean that BMW is the cheapest ride you can have… When my bike had passed 150kkm someone wanted to buy it for more then 50% of the new price.
Yes it was a bit more expensive then a jap-bike (or KTM) when I bought it but what is the value for a KTM640 Adventure after 150kkm? 10%? 20?
Up here insurance costs are much lower on BMWs then for most other bikes, and it ads up during the years. Parts are also cheaper.

Off course it is early to say if this statement is valid for the new 800.

I've lusted for these "top end" overlanders too, but have discovered the true path to enlightenment. I've got a XT250 serow. It'll do 85 mpg, cruise happily at 55 mph all day. Both my feet touch the ground and I can pick it up without unpacking it. It cost half what these "big" bikes do and it's repairable on the road by an idiot like me. I rode 370 miles on it Saturday, in comfort. There's a very worried tiger in the garage at the moment, gathering dust !

Hello Margus and guys,

You have had that BMW injection haven't you Margus........haha? After being a BMW owner for the last 20 years and still owning 6 of them I am beginning to waiver in my thoughts to where the company is going.

Ok, the 800 is a pretty neat looking bike and will be great for the weekenders who are riding nowadays. But for something a little more robust and that will stand up against harsh punishment I am inclined to begin to lean toward the Japanese now.

BMW have a BIG problem with their warranty issues. Like the 1200GS, if you take it off the road it tends to break, in a big way too! I have a 1200GS parked in Nairobi with no suspension and a square front rim (even though I asked for spokes originally I got alloys) This will take BMW around 3 months for a new set of shocks & rim. That is if they cough up at all? The bike has just done over 10,000 km! I have never heard of this before but apparently it is common! So why not fix all the warranty problems they have with the older bikes before introducing new models. Remember the R80GS & the R100GSPD (great bikes) and continued to go & go & go. So why not the newer models?

Just my thoughts guys, I do hope that the 800 will prove me wrong and that they will manufacture a decent off road bike again.

Cheers
Ivan

Hehehee, mine's been always fuel injected model, well, now almost a decade old underpowered fart bike compared to the new 800 or 1200 ...but tough as an old boot considering all what it has been through. Thats the main reason why I argue, anyways.

Hmmmm... There could be some truth there - looking at the BMW Motorrad International web now, the 2008 versions of 1200GS and GS Adventure have completely changed drive trains, both gear ratios in gear box is changed and shaft drive's final ratio is reduced.

But the main thing is what BMW says in their desctription of the bike: "More serene – a drive train that won’t let you down."

The translation & interpretation I leave to you.

You wrote about this in an earlier thread and it’s not very related to the new 800, but still:

The Moyale road (which killed your bike) has taken out a lot of bikes during the years.
Few bikes have suspension good enough to handle that road on a bike with luggage.

The standard suspension on the 1200 is not up to it, this is common knowledge.
The spoke rims for the 1200 is not very good but to go that road with the road-biased rims are not very smart, it’s like going barefoot to Mount Everest.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ims#post142646

It looks like you will mount the same parts again, that’s your choice but there are better options which you can have in maybe two weeks. But after all Nairobi is a nice place to spend some time and it’s easy to avoid import-tax on parts.
You can probably make it to Cape Town with original parts if you avoid places like North West Namibia, the best places in Uganda and all the potholes.


I’m a bit surprised that you came so far, the Wadi Halfa – Dongola route is also pretty hard on the shocks.
I have heard of shocks braking on Honda, KTM and Yamaha on the same route, some people also have cracked frames there. Look at it this way “you were not prepared but made it pretty good”.

These are the new bikes being presented in an italian motorbike show.

http://www.moto.it/focus/focus01.asp?ID=33

Hey,

Just reading over the posts and gone are my hopes of getting F650 Dakar. Just curious will the single cylinder F650 be faded out or will they keep both bikes online?

Was planning on going for the F650 or Ktm 690 but now this new F800 has stirred my blood up and hoping it will turn out as good as it looks. Just a few cancers though, would the big Ktm 950 be similar but with a little more punch?

Either way he big F800 and F650 seems to answer all the few issues with the old bikes.

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I spent 90% of my money on women and drink. The rest I wasted

what do you guys think about the new XT 660 Z Ténéré , the bike look great and still very nimble, hope to see some in the US.We need more choice..


Voir les photos de la Yamaha XT 660 Z Ténéré