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new Africa Twin or F800GS? new Africa Twin or F800GS?
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Which Bike? Comments and Questions on what is the best bike for YOU, for YOUR trip. Note that we believe that ANY bike will do, so please remember that it's all down to PERSONAL OPINION. Technical Questions for all brands go in their own forum.
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  #1  
Old 10 Aug 2015
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If you've got that kind of cash to buy, personally I'd get the new AT over any of the bikes you mentioned.
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  #2  
Old 10 Aug 2015
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Originally Posted by docsherlock View Post
If you've got that kind of cash to buy, personally I'd get the new AT over any of the bikes you mentioned.
that's what I am inclining to but the AT is kinda expensive for throwing around...
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  #3  
Old 10 Aug 2015
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Tremens, where do you live? its good to know which market you will be buying a bike in, as some bikes are not available in different markets, take a moment and fill in your location in your profile!

Im interested to know what you didn't like about the 800XCx?

The new AT looks good, but I couldn't recommend buying the first year of a new production run, there are bound to be some niggles with it, unless you have time for them to work themselves out and be addressed before you head to Mongolia.

If you want a bigger bike, then its hard not to recommend the 800 GS Adventure, with its 24 litre tank, though be aware that some owners have found the rims are made of cheese..... if you don't mind a thumper, the XTZ660 has good range and is physically quite big (and heavy)

Also, if you are handy with the wrenches and don't mind buying an older model, a late, low kilometre KTM 990 Adventure would be a lot of fun
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  #4  
Old 10 Aug 2015
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I rode the f800 for a year, but found it "buzzy" on road right at the speeds I wanted to cruise
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Old 10 Aug 2015
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I find the first and even second year of a new models bike's are generally a bit unfinished.

This is where they let YOU find all the problems.

If you really want the Africa twin why not wait a year until ride reports are back in and maybe pick up a nearly new one for £2000 less than new.
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Old 10 Aug 2015
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Originally Posted by johnnail View Post
I rode the f800 for a year, but found it "buzzy" on road right at the speeds I wanted to cruise
One of the problems with the F800GS and its F650GS twin and F700GS twin variants is that it has a close ratio gearbox which is fine for a road sports bike but not ideal for a dual sport. Consequently BMW had to choose between having all the ratios biased towards low (F800GS) or biased towards high (F650GS).

If you had changed the F800GS 16/42 sprockets to the 17/41 of the F650GS twin you would have found it much nicer for road cruising. I once did 960 miles in 23 hours on the F650GS twin from Poland to the UK (with the help of an AirHawk saddle).
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  #7  
Old 11 Aug 2015
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gipper View Post
Tremens, where do you live? its good to know which market you will be buying a bike in, as some bikes are not available in different markets, take a moment and fill in your location in your profile!

Im interested to know what you didn't like about the 800XCx?
Hi Gipper,
Regarding Tiger 800 XCx I didn't like fly by wire, I didn't like high pitch, annoying engine sound, disconnected engine from throttle feeling, lack of torque at low revs, heat coming to my heap from the left side etc etc
I live in Poland at the moment BTW and I don't see anything interesting on the market except F800GS and xt660z but the tenere is not available somehow in here this year. That's why I'm looking forward to new AT. If not, BMW will be the one.
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Old 12 Aug 2015
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I test rode a Tiger 800XC a couple of years ago and I found the throttle was pretty bad - the fact that the dealer had not bothered to set up the bike properly and adjust a bunch of slack out of the throttle too did not help, I agree it feels snatchy and disconnected.

Its bottom end torque can feel pretty weak compared to a twin, a lot of owners drop a tooth on the front sprocket or increase rear sprocket size, but it is super smooth at highway speeds and loves to rev

Good luck!
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