F800gs test ride

[Ian Porter]

Just thought I'd jot down my impression of the F800gs I rode in New Zealand seeing as 3000+ miles seemed like a decent distance to test ride one.

I'd always considered the F8 as a possible bike for the future which is why I'd chosen it for this ride.

Within the first day I knew it wasn't a bike for me.

The front end felt distant and wandered in corners, so much so I thought there was a problem with tyre pressures or head bearings but they were fine.

Front brake dived badly and didn't seem to have much bite.

The bike was quick enough and overtakes were easy but it had no urgency about it.

I put some if this down to it being a 2 year old bike with 50,000km on it but another rider on a brand new bike was complaining of similar.

I learned to live with it and by the end of the tour I was used to it's quirks but never did quite gel with it.

One thing that was really good on the bike was the gearbox but that's not enough to persuade me to buy one.

Towards the end of the tour I swapped bikes for a while and I had a ride on the Tiger 800, now that was a nice bike and one I'll be test riding again (it did have a crap gearbox though )

 

[Ian Porter]

I just didn't find the gear change positive, and finding neutral was a real pain.

The guy who was riding the tiger said the same and found the GS gearbox to be much better.

 

[Whealie]

I am pretty sure that what you had there was a bad gearbox. The Tiger 800 gearbox was a dream when I test rode one.

 

[Rubberchicken]

These are rental bikes he's talking about, I'd assume a life across town from easy street.

(That said, the DR650 I had in similar circumstances was a peach.)

 

[Ian Porter]

These are rental bikes he's talking about,

True, but the brand new F800 was much the same as the one I was riding.

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

Interesting report of the f800 Ian.
I can't recall any negatives with the xc gearbox