Beware: F800gs Rims Are Junk!

So, I take my BRAND NEW (5 days old) F800GS "Dual Sport" bike on a ride down dirt roads. My buddy who was with me on his 1200GS had his daughter on the back, we WERE NOT doing anything hardcore. It was a leisurely ride enjoying the scenery of SoCal post-rain. Really taking it easy. Of course we hit some ridges and such, but we were not going fast. When I got home, I noticed that my front rim was bent away from the tire bead area about an inch. WTF! I could not believe it (still cannot). I called the dealership, "Not covered by warranty, you were off road" To which I replied, "But you market it as an off road capable bike." So, I call the actual BMW corporation (US) and get told the same thing. Huh? So a bike that is supposed to be capable of going anywhere comes with rims that cannot handle mild dirt roads?

After reading some great info here, I call Woody's. They were very nice, helpful, knowlegeable, etc, and told me that this is common on the F800GS. So, when I got home from work last night I inspected the rear rim....same issue! WTF!!!

Because the bike is absolutely USELESS to me if I cannot ride off road, I am having Woody do the Superlace/Excel rim upgrade. I can't say enough about how great Jill at Woody's has been at explaining everything to me, etc. However, I am still absolutely STUNNED that BMW can get away with this.

When I get home tonight I will post some pics (shot of bike showing it is in fact, brand new; shot of paper license plate; shot of odometer reading 500 miles; and shot of each shoddy/substandard/POS rim).

I cannot believe there has not yet been a class-action lawsuit.

"I cannot believe there has not yet been a class-action lawsuit"



When are YOU going to file it?

Buchanan's does nice work as well.
I would recommend you change your rim widths while you're at it.
I'm very happy I did this mod.

Hey while we're on the subject of wheels and replacing them, anyone have any guidance on where I could pick up a pair of tubeless super-moto wheels as a second set?

I don't own one, but I have watched another inmate ride his F800 off ridges, up embankments, jumped off fairly good size jumps which bottomed out the suspension...AND ride 2500 hard miles on the Transamerica Trail with the stock rims and none of that has damaged them.

I have to think something else is up with yours.

You know.....I am just some dude in the military (and yes, I will be WIDELY spreading this issue), but I do have access to a legal service office. I am going to look into this.....what the hell!! The more I think about what I paid for the bike and how easily the wheels were damaged, the more pissed off I get.

That is good info, do you know what year that bike is?

I put close to 7000 miles on my stock rims. They are beat up, but still very straight. About half of the miles were off road.

Out of curiosity, what tire pressures were you running?

--mark

Its not just the rims, they don't stop there. The entire bike is a substandard piece of utter crap too. Wait, you'll see.

I've got about 8k on mine with a lot of off road on rocky trails around the area here. No flat spots or dents in the rim. I have heard the rims are soft and there are others who have had the same problem, so you're not alone, I'm just not one of them.


I have not heard of anyone with problems with their rear rim though.


If you do get Woody's wheels, he's probably already told you to go narrower.

I bent mine almost immediately as well. I was initially very surprised. I had an easier time believing it once I put the bike across a scale, and a few more miles on the suspension to realize that this is a capable bike, but it's no dirtbike, and you have to keep that in mind when riding it. (Woody is doing my wheels as we speak...)

edit: 2 dents front rim, one in rear. After that I changed my riding habits...

Thanks for the informative and intelligently made post there.


There isn't a bike made that doesn't have some issues. I'm curious why you would post shit like that?

Pics or it didn't happen.

He/she/it is just flaming the thread. Does that make the person a flamer?

It's a 2009. Check out the TAT blog in my sig line and you can see some of the abusive trails we rode on.

EDIT: I completely forgot that he rode Alaska right after he got the bike, so he has pounded the gravel in Alaska, hammered the Transamerica Trail from Memphis to Moab and done some serious jumping on some backwoods track riding with me, with no damage to the rims.

just 2 cents to help give perspective.

I've had my 800GS through some very harsh mountain trails running my TKC's around 22 front - 24-26 rear and haven't had a problem…even loaded down with camping gear.

I'll definitely keep a closer eye on the rims for damage though. Sorry to hear you're having such a negative experience with BMW. My bike has been lots of fun to date.

Yes the rims are soft, wait till you discover a few other shortcomings when used as a dirt bike. Low quality suspension, instant low speed throttle response and a tall first gear, all will make 1st gear rocky trails an adventure all by itself.
2nd new bike in 45 years, so after the sticker shock I expected a race ready bike. Well it is not, dig deeper in the wallet and you can make it better.
Now I just feel kind of sad, that a bike that had so much potential, gets emasculated when an accountant becomes part of the design team. I would have paid more for upgraded componants on the bike instead of forcing me to do the job. Would have been cheaper too.
I bet you were running 22-24lb in the front tire, at least that was the pressure when I dinged mine. Nothing below 30 front and 28 rear now and no new damage.

Considering you were riding "off road" as you put it, what tire pressures were you using?

Normal 1-up riding calls for 32psi front, and 36psi rear. If I were riding offroad I'd probably drop that to 22 & 24. However, if the rims are really soft, that may be ill-advised.

I was in S. America on a F 650 GS ..new twin..and we had the same problem..we were riding mainly on reasonable gravel with the normal potholes and bent several stock rims..Woody to the rescue..maybe you can buy the bikes without the rims and get Woody to put real rims on both the 650 and the 800..bj