BMW F800R

[Petektm91]

Hi All,

Been looking around recently for a Yamaha xt660z Tenere however I've recently noticed a few BMW F800R's for sale.

Does anyone have any experience with the F800R? I'm looking to ride it mainly 2 up doing a bit of touring around Europe.

Thanks,

Pete

[Mawnanian]

If you fancy a mid range Beemer the 800R is a nice bike but for touring I think the F800GT is better, more weather protection and a slightly more upright seating position.
I admit I've not ridden an 'R' except as a demo and loan bike but I covered 33k miles on my GT with many miles European touring.
On the other hand the F800GS is more akin to the 660 Tenere.

[Scott_rider]

60bhp in the Yamaha vs 95bhp in the BMW.

[Jersey87]

Hi

Had my F800R since 2010 and put over 38000 miles on it mostly touring in the UK and Europe (don't rack up that many on this little rock). It's taken me as far as Morocco, Norway and Croatia without any serious issues and was very happy using it as a tourer. Good fun in the twisty bits but also very happy to sit on the motorway all day and crunch the miles.

I didn't find the sitting position overly uncomfortable. I'm not particularly big though (5'7, 9st 5) might be a bit tight for a bigger rider. Made a few changes to make it more touring orientated - Puig screen, Acerbis handguards, 20mm bar risers and Airhawk seat cushion (it's actually got a pretty comfortable seat but for 500 mile days the cushion helps).

Ended up with Touratech panniers but initially found it simple enough to just strap on a few Kreiga bags.

Fuel economy-wise - the F800 engines are known to be very good value IMO. Managed over 200 miles to a 16ltr tank on A roads fully loaded in Norway on one occasion (took a while to find a petrol station that was open on a Sunday!). Generally was getting over 180 miles before I'd start to become concerned otherwise.

Only had experience travelling solo however so can't comment on how it would be 2 up. That could well be the deciding factor I'd say.

Any questions just ask.
Jersey

[sprintster]

I hired one for 4 days on Madeira at Christmas and really liked it.I'm also a titch,5'5",10st so I liked the low seat height and light weight.And it was easy to manage on the tight roads with it's relatively wide bars.I never noticed much wind blast on the dual carriageway so the flyscreen must have been doing it's job.

[PeteDuke]

Thank you very much Jersey87.
That was the experience I have been looking for. I am going to Spain to a relatives later this year, which would mean travelling through all of Belgium and France.
I really wanted to go on my bike but was worried to the point of thinking of doing the unthinkable - changing to another bike.