F800GS owners.......A Penny for your thoughts...

....How are you getting on with it?
Good/bad?

Thank you in advance.

12,000 miles and love it. No regrets.

I ought to just keep this reply as boilerplate and update the mileage each time someone asks this question. But here goes:

I just passed 43,000 miles on my 2009 F800GS. I've ridden it through hell and back all over the western U.S. and parts of Canada and Mexico; Continental Divide Route, Death Valley, Baja, the old Pony Express Route through Utah and Nevada, you name it, both on and off pavement. It doesn't get babied. I've dropped it more times than I can count. But it has never left me stranded. Not once. All of the first-model-year recalls (which were minor) were done during the course of my regular services, and I've never had to bring it into the dealer for anything other than regular services.

And yeah, I still have the stock seat, and have done two Iron Butt rides on it.

There isn't a better all-purpose bike.

I've done the Southern Hemisphere metric equivalent and concur.

There are things I would like to see BMW do with it to make it better for what I want, but concede that this may not fit with their target demographic, and as such may not be realistic.

Some of the aftermarket fixes are problematic in and of themselves. The Ohlins rear shock is one. The front end is the other. There are no "profoundly better" options for the wholly inadequate standard suspension for what I want to do with it.

Basically it's a medium/heavy weight tourer, in my case being used as a 2-up off road (what the US guys would call Jeep trails/fire trails) adventure bike. It's never going to do what I want, because what I want isn't a realistically achievable option.

Lowering of expectations started a while ago. I've been much happier since.

Mine's still working.

About 18k & climbing...

Though, the Berg cut in on our dance.

HF

Had mine since 9/08. The first year it had about all the updates and recalls the bike was allowed. In hindsight other than the front axle recall, pretty trivial.

Never left me stranded, but twice it made think it might. I think the first was the result of a shallow stream crossing, which caused it to repeatedly die. That straightened itself up but had some after affects cured by a map update. I think it was caused by our smog canister ingesting water.

The second was similar. The bike would not idle. A dose of Techron and a 50 mile trip cured it.

The vibes bothered me for a while. At about 20,000miles they disappeared. Could have been the mileage, some mods I made or the nerve disease I have has just deadened my ability to feel it.

Has run like a clock since.

I just purchased a high mileage 2008 F800GS. I rode it the 350km home on Saturday and a short ride Sunday.
So far I love it.
I have a G650 x-challenge which I have enjoyed for the last few years. That is a great adventure bike. Go anywhere.
My decision was spend money on the x-challenge (Seat and tank) or buy something a bit better for 2 up and long distance. So when the F800GS came up at the right price I went for it.

I had an R1200GS before the G650. The 800 is very similar to the 1200. Similar feel. Very nice road manners.
I have not taken the f800 on gravel yet. That's for this weekend. (I'll let you know.)

The x-challenge was great off-road. Very capable and a great tool to learn teh dirt on. While I have had an F650 (Funduro) and Pegaso in the past the x-challenge was my first serious dirt bike. (As far as a 650 goes anyway).

So, the f800. great. I am sure it will be a hand full in mud. But I am looking forward to some gravel and long road trips.
Love it.

p.s. Low mileage x-challenge for sale in New Zealand. (Wife won't let me have 2 bikes)

14,000 plus miles on mine. I like it more every time I ride it. It doesn't get babied either. I ride it like I stole it! Never left me stranded and have only replaced wheel bearings and 4 rear TKC 80's and just about to put on a new front TKC80. No regrets with this bike.

Haven't checked in here for a while but this thread seemed like as good as any. Just passed 12,000 painless miles on my clock. I live in Vegas so the heat coming off the engine on my knees is pretty gnarly but only really noticeable above 90 degrees. Other than that it's been everything and done everything I could have asked it to. Riding straight to my buddy's house in San Diego (400 miles) with only a single quick gas stop is easy-cheesy.

60,000 miles. Stator failed at 50,000 or so... No regrets.

2009 w/ 22,000 miles

Sargent seat, Engine gaurds, vario bags, other goodies. Problems with the evap canister injesting water, short term fix was to pull the drain hose up on top of the transmission, long term fix was removing the evap canister. Bad chain, replaced with DID.

On 8000 mile trip to Deadhorse AK and back in 16 days. Worked well.

On the whole a good bike. Its not an XR650R or a KTM950SE but does well putting down the miles. Something between those bikes and a R1200GS.

Don't get your expectations too high, BMW is "only" charging you $12K to become part of the family.


David

I have a 2011 with 11,000 with no problems. I have had it from Moab to Alaska. It does well on the hwy. great on Forest Service roads and even does single tracks if you are a good rider. I have had it in places it was never ment to go. I don't know of any bike I would like better.

I'm clocking in at about 24k miles with nary a problem. Love this bike - does whatever I ask of it (which is waaay less than it's capable of).

No performance mods; just cosmetic, electrical, etc. C'mon in, the water's warm.

I took mine to South America and back. It ran fine. Dave

I have a 30 YEARS edition model, which I bought in Feb. 2011.
Made now 11.100 km without any problems. Still happy.
Only sometimes on the German Autobahn I think about an alternative, when R 1200 GS are passing by.

I have watched the eight Videos in this series and it looks to be one hell of a good bike.

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I'm very interested tbh, and MissB loves the look of it (So that is a step in the right direction).
Will wait for the summer to put in an appearance and get a demo ride on one.
In the meantime I'm working through the owners opinions on here and UKGSer, and ploughing through the Reviews on Youtube.

Still loving it.



Just back from a 3500-mile trip through the American west.

Just hit 20000 miles a few days ago. Runs like a Swiss watch. No problems at all. Feeding it a steady diet of Mobile 1 Synth. and K60 tires along with a strict maintenance schedule done by yours truly. No regrets.

2011 model (30 year edition), took it about 30.000 kilometers through south america last year. hardy any issues. ball bearings disintegrated after about 20.000 kilometers, stock chains replaced after 25.000 kilometers. couple of rough falls, no serious damage to the bike. i've replaced the rims now, they're too soft, although i've had less issues with them compared to my fellow rider. snappy throttle response is sometimes a bit tricky in the dirt, since it was my first bike i couldn't compare and just got used to it i guess. some change the sprockets.

all in all great all purpose bike i suppose (can't compare), eats miles on the highway and handles okay on the dirt, although on the heavy side (especially geared up). reach is okay even with stock tank for most times, carried two rotopax nevertheless. used them twice within half a year in south america i think.

lots of aftermarket equipment available. good dealer network in the main cities (again i can only talk about south america, europe set aside).

edit: btw ran like a champ at all altitudes up to 5.000 meters above sea level, fed it with all sorts of fuel and never had an issue. maybe fortune does favor fools...

Guys (And girls) Thank you very much for the info so far, I'm really liking what I'm reading.

I have a question: are there any technical differences between the 08 and 2010 bikes?