Hi all,

In my previous post about traveling to the Stans and Siberia, (then possibly Australia and south east Asia) several of you talked about the F800GS. Although "sexy", I had not been completly convinced by the bike after trying it 2 years ago.
Now, I just come back from an enduro training at BMW Hechlingen enduro park (Germany) where I had a chance to ride for 2 days that bike and I have been quite impressed how easy i was to handle it on rough terrain and especially the feeling of ligthness and fantastic balance it has. What I did not like is the lack of low-end torque, the very long 1st gear, the throttle that is not so smooth... All in one, it forces to use a lot of clutch and to always have quite high revs... Have you experienced the same?

I also found lots of contradictory information about the reliability of the bike on the web, but very few reports of travelers riding it on RTW for overland trips. What is the the value of the bike for long-range dual sport travelling? Has it been seriously experienced now, after being for 3 years on the market? Have the youth problems been fixed? Besides the better power on highways, especially for a loaded bike, the better resale value, is there really an added-value compared to the F650 Dakar?