I think that F800GS is a very good bike, there are thousands out there, some of them had problems, but I would like to know how many ( talking in %). I have one, now with 49.000km with no mayor problems, only valve cover gasket with 11.000km.
Al the time 2up (all the time, yes), offroad (Marocco), all Europe, and now we are on the way to Mongolia, pamir, etc..
I would not choose other bike for adventure traveling (2up), maybe to go alone a 650 dakar.

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http://viajarenbmw.blogspot.com/

I've been massively impressed with the quality and reliability of my two Speed Triples.

Once my daughter is out of school, I'm thinking seriously about bringing home either the new Tiger 800 XC or the BMW F800 GS. The bugs should be worked out of the Tiger by that time...

Likewise (minus the daughter in school lol)..

The new tiger is too expensive for me at the moment and that suits me fine as I'll let everyone else do the beta testing.. I still wouldn't buy a BMW though. I'd never seen one with problems yet...

The 660 Ten is now on my shortlist. Nothing seems to go wrong apart from the rectifier coupling as Tim kindly pointed out. I'd just put a stockier plug on it and take a spare.. Easy !!

For now though, I think a 650 V-Strom is on it's way to my garage

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Hilarious. probably from one of the goons who ride around Guilford in full Charley Boringman gear, on the way to Waitrose-do you really need 2 zegas and a top box for Pimms??

My F800GS is currently on 23000 miles. First owner bought it new in 08 and rode it to Cape town. Only fault was the clutch burning out on the way.

Having fitted new chain and sprockets before he left didn't suffer that fault. He'd also fitted jubilee clips to the coolant hose, so didn't have that problem either.

I bought it at 8500 miles, and rode it to Morocco. Was faultless for me, including one stint of 828 miles in one day.

Since then, it's had a new rear wheel bearing, and a new clutch when the nut dropped off the rod - another well documented fault. Luckily both were repaired under warranty, and despite those incidents love the bike to bits - would happily take it round the world.

Ted,
As you know I am riding RTW on an F650 twin and have had no trouble so far it has now done about 18000km many thru the crap rides in Africa, I upgraded the suspension before I left and I still have the original chain and everything else.
However I don't go along with the theory of buying an older bike as they are easy to fix as one thing I observed on my travels thus far is that most people on older bikes were indeed doing just that, and if I recall you had to spend quite a bit of time at Jjs repairing your older bike. I have just spent another week at Jjs and noticed the work shop full with KTMs & a couple of DR650s (incidentally my favourite bike) but the BMWs were all parked up. I think this thread is turned to a bashing BMW topic & you only every hear the bad stories not the good, of course there will be lemons in every bike but it annoys me when the owners of BMWs are sniggered at, but I suppose they can console themselves by going to count there money !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My 2 cents
Paul

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....rather Die Living.....than Live Dying !
www.globetrekkers.net.au

I agree. Older doesn't mean better,but it often does mean simpler. The repairs I did to my 2003 DRZ were changing chain & sprockets, getting a new tyre and having my home made racks welded after a crash. The bike was fine and still is

I don't think this is a BMW bashing thread... Just bashing the small minded folk who refuse, point blank, that their mega bucks bells and whistles bike are more suited to riding up and down beach front cafes than anything else. You are not one of those folk.....

BTW. I do not hate BMW's at all. I hold them in the same esteem as Ducati, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, KTM etc etc. They are all capable of making fantastic motorcycles (and often do), but they sadly often chose to spend the R&D money on flashy marketing rather than engineering when it comes to some of their models.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Ah Ted, how I do enjoy your posts! Please don't hold back though, tell us what you really think

As much fun as it can be to wind people up, I don't believe that anyone would truly think that such disparate manufacturers as BMW, Ducati, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, KTM can be grouped together in meaningful way. They are such different companies from different countries with different corporate cultures with different strengths and weaknesses that any attempt to broadly paint them with the same brush doesn't result in any easily drawn conclusions.

And I know that you know this, but even light hearted bashing of folks as small minded if they refuse to see the world your way...although good for a chuckle, could be perceived by some to be small minded.

Doesn't it seem reasonable that the reality is that some of the higher priced bikes such as BMW are actually very well suited to long distance touring but they are also attractive for different reasons to urban folks who just ride it down to the corner cafe on Sundays? I certainly think so.

As the very loose poll here on HU shows and also based on all the overland bikers I have run into on a few continents, there are a heck of a lot of different bikes out there including a ton of BMWs as well as plenty of bikes you don't see discussed here very much such as KTM. We all have the choice of either believing that the owners knew what they are doing in researching, buying and riding their bikes and made good choices for themselves, or that they didn't.

Based on my experience, whatever the bike, they all seem to function fairly well with different, easily researched, issues that the owner planned around or dealt with on the road. Some were better than others in different ways. At the end of the day, bikes in general are so well built compared to not so long ago, that almost any bike is rarely the limiting the factor in travelling the world and seeking adventure, the limiting factor is usually us and our willingness to push ourselves and put up with discomfort.


P.S. If you do end up doing the Yukon, there are a few good shake out paddles you can do here in B.C. beforehand. You're welcome to drop by and borrow my canoe and gear to break in those old muscles before the big trip.

Mine's one of the first UK batch and has not given trouble. I have done 6,000 miles in the three months since buying it with 4k on the clock. I did open the rec/reg coupling and fill with silicone grease, which may have helped. The main problem with these bikes is the short life of the cush drive rubbers, which get hammered. I've sorted mine using the tried and tested method of adding bits of inner tube. I glued them to the lumps of rubber using bicycle tubular tyre cement.
As of a couple of days ago I know it will cruise two-up at over 80 on the motorway and still return 58mpg.

Gentlemen,

I'd like to thank you all. I've been fancying a new bike. The Triumph Tiger ticks many many boxes including keepng the dealer/parts contacts I've built up with the Bonneville, but as the stalling issue video on the XC thread shows it's just too new. My second choice Tenere fails because some of the use is with a pillion and 660 cc's plus a tall seat and short rider just doesn't work. I'm also damned if I'm going to buy a £6000 bike and stuff old inner tube in the cush drive. If I was happy with less power than the Bonneville, I'd get a Scrambler, everything I know just newer.

So, despite my better judgement after my last experiences of BMW I'm thinking of the F800. The underseat tank, Rotax bits and other assorted weirdness does nothing for me (at least it hasn't got the *****y three thumb indicator switches I'm currently trying to strip off the Brick) but there is a 2 year old yellow and black one on e-bay at decent money. Then I read this thread. Too many reminders of how BMW reacted to shorts in my F650 single, the waterpump in the desert walk and the three front shocks on my R1100 it took before they found one that didn't fail overnight.

So, the Bonneville (that hasn't done anything I couldn't fix with the stuff I had with me for the last seven years) is getting more petrol and a new back tyre. I have a big birthday in 2014 when the 790 will then have ten years use on it. We'll see how the Tiger is rated then I guess.

I would offer you a out of the cash I just saved, but I'm still saving up (and tight).

Andy

Rear/front wheel bearing,steering head bearing failure after 10-20.000 km on new bike?BMW?! After over 100.000 km on each my Jap "crap"(TTR,XTZ)It only takes some grease.
I was thinking about changing my old bikes,old wife...for new one
but now I'm no so sure any more...

Why not? I did mine and the result has been excellent over 2000 miles. It's about the only problem with these bikes - although less vibration and a bit more power would be welcome. Just in the middle of a two-up tour around Wales; with three box luggage, it will cruise on the motorway at >80mph and still get 58mpg.

The bike manufacturers (Especially BMW and Ural) love you

So where would you draw the line? Putting your own oil in and air in when you collect the bike? Checking all the nuts and bolts to find the ones they've missed? Rewiring it? Replacing the "Hand Grenade" alternator with a car bit you buy on E-bay? Throwing the whole thing away and buying a new one because they missed a bit out of the engine (but they all do that Sir)?

If we buy this crap and fix it ourselves, they'll just sell even crappier stuff next year

Andy

All good points but after some 50 machines I have yet to own a bike I didn't manage to fix something on eventually. Sure I'd like the cush rubbers to be better made but if that's the only major flaw in the bike (airbox drain tube slowly fills with oil, oil changes are a pain... I know), the replacements aren't any better than the original and it's easily fixed I'll live with it.

Agreed, there has to be a level of tolerance, but I compare what I'm offered by the bike people and say a small car or electronic gadget and I worry bikes aren't going the same way.

I had a BMW R1100 that died on me on day 2. The dealer (since fired by BMW for not getting a grey slate floor) was a star. They recovered the bike and sent me off on a loaner. They let me keep this for almost a week as getting away from work to swap back was difficult. They replaced the duff starter relay and ignition switch loom the factory had used and improved the mounting with cable ties and conduit to stop a repeat. They saw the rusty shock and replaced it. I wasn't happy with BMW but the dealer recovered it. Then they tried to charge me for a new tyre as it had arrived on the recovery truck with a flat. I refused to pay on the grounds that if I hadn't had the ignition failure I wouldn't have been parked in a gutter full of nails near a DIY shop. It took the manager to intervene and waive the bill. I wouldn't hold it against the service guy for trying to pass on the charge on a "consumable" as if I'd had the puncture without the ignition failure that would have been a fair policy. I bought another bike from that dealer and servicing done there for years.

If Yamaha admitted they had the cushdrive issue and announced they'd changed something, I'd buy. I understand they won't do this as some fool would claim the old cushdrive had made him fall off/lose his hair/be unable to get a girlfriend or whatever his lawyer suggested. Hopefully they'll just sneak in the improvement and in two years we'll be saying "Cush drive issue, I rememeber that". Unfortunately, the example of say the BMW drive spline thing is going to give them ideas that simply denying the whole thing might be a lot less hassle.

Andy