Has anyone ridden 2up on the f800gs?

[BcDano]

I've had my 800 for two years and the wife has her own 650twin. We have done a few trips on the 800 two-up though and it has more than enough power. Comfort wise ours is great as well. I will say though that we have a an excellent custom seat (stock is terrible as documented by many) and I'm bigger guy with a smaller wife. You can see what we did on the bikes first trip at the link below.

http://www.worldwideride.ca/blog/our-first-bike-trip/

[RexBuck]

I rarely ride 2 up as my wife has her own bike. However, she did ride with me for a couple of 6 hour rides in Mexico on the 800.

If we were going to ride 2 up on a regular basis, I would not use this bike. It was adequate for this purpose, no more.

Felt cramped. Was dragging pegs in sharp twisties - I never ride aggresively enough to drag anything on this bike but the extra weight compressed the suspension a fair amount.

Power was fine. Comfort was fine but I have a custom seat on this bike. Wife said it was more comfotable than the back seat on the Ultra which is like a Lazy-Boy.

[PatoM]

I went on a 4100 miles trip (17 days) with my 8GS and my GF as passenger on last March, riding on every kind of roads.

I must say that was not the best situation, but was tolerable...

I really enjoy riding alone, so that was the first and last time I went for a long trip with her

[Snowy]

Wifey and I go 2 up into the State Forests and National Parks along the coast and in the "Alpine" region here in Australia.

It is a handful on a washed out 4x4 track. Suspension needs to be seriously upgraded to achieve solo handling when 2 up. I have the .55kg/mm springs in the front and they are way too soft. I have a 21kg/mm spring on the rear and the Ohlins was revalved specifically for 2 up. It works well now.

I've had people in 4x4s stop and tell me they own a GS as well, and they'd never take it where I do solo, let alone with a pillion. I figure that's their loss.

The F/GS will test everything you know about riding in the dirt when you put a pillion on the back. You need to completely rethink how you tackle simple obstacles and rough terrain. Ice 2 up is eventful. Wet clay is eventful. Frozen wet clay....well...I managed a 360 spin the other day without falling off...and I have no idea how I did that 2 up with a pile of camping gear. But my hip hurts like crap now.

Finding space to tie everything on is really difficult. 2 people take an exceptional amount of "necessary" stuff when they go camping. Your significant other will hate your guts if she tells you she's freezing to death at -8, and you roll over in your goose down sleeping bag and say "That's weird, I'm toasty". It's hard to find the room for everything you'd like to take, so you find yourself prioritising. Apparently MY priorities are not HER priorities. I told her she should pack her own stuff then. I think she hates me.

Your significant other will hate you when you decide to take the shortcut through the Forest by following the Powerline track you ride your trail bike on all the time. She'll hate you more when you line up one of the 8 knee deep wet clay ruts to descend the hill she doesn't want to go down, and then then dump her on her head.

Regardless...and I can't tress this enough...regardless of how many times you've ridden single track in the mountains, your significant other will NOT appreciate you taking her along one. Especially the part where you get stuck in a river and get her to push before dumping the clutch. Women don't find "wet AND cold" funny.

If the track is made of hard white clay, and it's raining, you really shouldn't be doing 60 or so. Tell your significant other to NOT put her arms out to break her fall. She will break her arms. If she "thinks" her arm is broken, you should NOT tell her to harden the fuck up and lift the bike off your leg.

On an average weekend on the bike, we'll do around 200km of dirt roads and forest tracks, 4x4 trails and the occasional "short cut". Throw in around another 200~300km of asphalt and you'll know why it's a Gelande Strasse.

Front tyres wear bad 2 up. Typically, about half the mileage I'd get solo. Anything aggressive will wear badly. It's all down to brake force on asphalt...and riding style.

Rear brake pads wear fast with heavy off road. You find you are constantly trailing the rear on descents. I've gone through 2 sets of pads in 25~30000kms.

The F/GS has an amazing engine. It will work hard when fully loaded, but the good torque and nice peak power work well with the ratio split in the box. In the mountains when I get excited on the asphalt I work it hard through the gears. Fuel consumption averages about 4.7l/100km. I've seen figures over 10l/100km while pushing it hard.

The furthest I've gone 2 up in a day...about 1200kms. Wifey not happy. Walking like we were on honeymoon. I wish.
.
Fastest 2 up...180kph. It handles ok. Not brilliant. I wouldn't ordinarily push it over 130 fully loaded. The soft front and extra weight can make a hard stop very eventful. I just gave it one good squirt to see if it would. Wifey nearly crushed my rib cage.

[arjones]

I live in northeast Brasil and I did a "shot trip" (30 days) to Ushuaia, Argentina. Over 11.000 km, 2 up. Wife happy, bike great and I wishing I had more off road skills to attack the ruta 40 with more "enthusiasm".

Anyways, I love my bike, I love my wife, and they are altogether in my trips. Wife is a truly partner:

Recently, as a birthday gift, she bought a off road course that will happen two weeks from now. Maybe she is thinking I should learn more so she can feel safer with me on heavy stuff or maybe I will be able to take different trips from what I've done until now by myself. Either way should be fun. I really want to take some mountains and dirt roads of my country on a solo trip at some point.:

So, this is my 0,2: put a good seat, plan your trip so she can be part of it as a "co-pilot" (choosing routes, planning stops, etc.) and aim your bike where ever you two wanna to.

Be safe and enjoy.

[duffs]

Did a London -> Friesland run last weekend 2-up, 230kg of weight all in, including crash bars, alu panniers/top box, camping gear and two of us on the stock F800GS seat.



Way there was perfect, sunny weather, no crosswinds to speak of through Belgium. I generally stuck to the speed limits (a little over now and then). No stability issues at all even fully loaded in the 70-95mph range.

Toured around Friesland for two days, about 300 miles total, but only two up as I left the panniers at my cousin's house. It's amazing how the F800GS is up for touring duty, the different between having a pillion, and having a pillion + full load of luggage is negligible in the performance and handling on paved roads.

Way back was rubbish, pissing rain from Sneek to Brugge (about 350km). "Waterproof" TomTom packed up somewhere in Belgium and then proceeded to pee out about 50ml of rainwater from its SD card slot. My gloves definitely weren't up to the the task but it was tolerable with the grips on full heat despite the soggy leather. Neither were my boots, which collected enough water that I ended up pouring half a litre of water out of each. My boilersuit-style waterproofs held up reasonably, although some water made it through to my arms and legs.

I had a slight incident near Lelystad when the right pannier flew open at 75mph. Seems I stupidly forgot to fully close the latch and amazingly the spaghetti-strand cable held even with the weight of a sleeping bag/ground mat/towel strapped to the top in the yellow bag. Carnage: slightly bent hinge.

Ironically, the only things that lived up to their promise of "water resistance" were the BMW alu panniers/top box and the BMW tank bag. Not even a drop leaked through, even on the one that blew open.

Some of the crosswind gusts in Belgium were enough to nearly force me into the next lane, not fun when combined with the Monday lorries (which is double traffic as they are not allowed to run on Sundays). The first few times had me somewhat nervous but after a couple hours of it, I picked up the knack—steer slightly away approaching the rear of a lorry (where the air currents try to suck you in) and steer hard towards the lorry as you come past in front (where the air currents try to blow you away). Not particularly enjoyable.

From Brugge back home the weather cleared up and the rest of the trip was reasonably sunny and uneventful, until I hit London with less than 4 miles to go and had a near miss with a stupid woman who decided to blindly steer across 4 lanes of traffic without warning. This, after logging more than 1,000 miles, several of which were in treacherous conditions. They say 90% of accidents happen within 5 miles of home and I tend to believe it.

As for comfort, yeah we both had a bit of numb-bum but stopping every hour or so for 5 minutes was enough to mitigate this to tolerable levels. I think next time I do a longer trip I will be strapping a sheepskin to the seat, I figure that would be enough to keep it comfortable.

It was all worth it to see my mum (left) and slightly mad aunties though - I can't believe two of them are in their 90s...



George

[RexBuck]

Originally Posted by Snowy

Wifey and I go 2 up into the State Forests and National Parks along the coast and in the "Alpine" region here in Australia.

.

Holy shit man, where did you find that woman? I know Aussies are tough or crazy or both (one of my daughters married one and lives down there) but, damn . . . that woman of yours puts up with your shit and just keeps on trucking. Good on ya mate.

[Snowy]

She has tolerance in spades.

Finding the space to pack everything is the issue. I see a couple of posts up that the Alloy panniers are quite a bit larger. A top box would be helpful, but my wife has back trouble and issues getting on the bike thanks to an idiot that ran a give way sign.

The soft luggage makes a better choice in the scrub, as being full of sleeping bags and clothes they tend to act like crash bags if things go wrong.

I've found that most off road crashes occur at walking pace in 1st gear. Among the rocks on climbs it's a stall and fall scenario.The soft front end doesn't help here. Sometimes it simply hits a rock or a step, completely compresses, stalls the engine, then as the front end unloads and you start going backwards you can only get your toes to the ground. Add 230ish kg to the mix and you will find the ground.

I've told wifey time and time again, hug your arms to your body and roll off the seat as the bike goes down. It's almost comical at times, with the wireless intercomm...I start yelling "Falling, falling, falling...lock your arms and brace".

Then it's "Are you ok...good. Lift this bloody bike off me will you?"

A lot of the stiffness and soreness that my wife experiences is due to me having a dirt bike background and her not having a bike background at all. She gets extremely tense on dirt roads because the bike is moving around so much.

Getting the rear suspension sorted has helped. Actually slowing down when she asks me has done a lot too. You have to be understanding and tolerant of your pillions wants and needs otherwise the relationship gets sour quickly. I've stopped at more B&B, cafes, and small country pubs in the time I've had the BMW than at any time in my life. Sometimes it's nice to stop and smell the roses.

I have my other bikes to ride solo in the bush.

[tkent02]

Always let your wife off before you dump the bike.
It makes life ever so much simpler.
I'll have a better two up 800GS opinion when we get back from BC.
So far on shorter rides she likes it.

[Snowy]

Originally Posted by tkent02

Always let your wife off before you dump the bike.
It makes life ever so much simpler.
I'll have a better two up 800GS opinion when we get back from BC.
So far on shorter rides she likes it.

Hahaha...yeah...if only I'd listen. On my powerline track short cut, as I slowed to change ruts she said she was getting off. I told her not to be stupid...she tried, I had the front wheel let go in the clay, the crash bar dug into the side of the rut and both of us went free falling. The bike was stuck upright in the rut. I tried to hang on with my throttle hand and nearly ripped my arm out of the shoulder socket.

She walked all the way to the bottom.

I think from now on she can walk the nasty sections. It's the diplomatic thing to do.

About 1500m back up this trail from where she took the picture. It looks dry, but we'd had 2 days of sunshine after about 3 weeks of rain. So the top 2mm of clay looked dry and the stuff under it was wet.



Solo you'd just point and twist the throttle. 2 up it's all about balance and picking the right line through the ruts. Crossing from rut to rut at exactly the right point, and not grounding the bashplate in the holes.

The soft stuff leads to lots of this:
http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=IMG_0325.mp4

I had already hurt my back prepping the bike for extraction. I dragged it backwards almost a full bike length. I wasn't exactly happy.

[Snowy]

Not 2-up, but one of the access trails I regularly use to get in and out of the riding area. I take the wife up and down this regularly. It gets pretty hairy with just a little rain. It's no where near as steep as some of the tracks further in.

This is on my DR650, and I've just done 4 hours of fairly intense riding so I'm winding down prior to heading home.

http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/a...lsmallfile.mp4

It's an easy run on the BMW, albeit at a slightly slower pace.

[Mollygrubber]

I haven't done a lot of 2-up riding, but the bit I've done was no problem

My wife doubled my daughter on her F698 (a "girls" weekend trip last year, 1800km or so), they had no issues either.

[Loutre]

Originally Posted by Fireman

Funny you should ask. I've been wondering that for the past 3 weeks since I got my GS, but I kinda wanted to get used to the bike before I put another person's life in my hands. Last weekend I went for a spirited ride with my parents, who ride 2-up on a R1150R. About halfway through the day my mom jumped on the passenger seat of mine, allowing dad to really take off on some curvy old highways in the area. Granted, mom's an excellent passenger and knows how to sport-ride as pillion, but we kept up just fine with plenty of power to spare. Surprisingly, the bike didn't even feel loaded and didn't even squat much (I never touched the preload, which is set somewhere in the middle.) She remarked at how smooth and easy the bike rode, and I had to agree. I got one good test of the brakes when dad signaled a turn too late, and we used every bit of brakes the GS had. Luckily it was enough! Originally I was thinking I wouldn't want to ride a passenger on the GS, but I've changed my mind.

I only had my 800 for a few days now and did my first 2up yesterday. It was surprisingly confortable for the passenger and I didn't feel a difference at all. I love it

[Motorfiets]

[Snowy]

Originally Posted by Loutre

I only had my 800 for a few days now and did my first 2up yesterday. It was surprisingly confortable for the passenger and I didn't feel a difference at all. I love it

The standard suspension set up copes fairly well with on road work. Provided you don't get into the twisties and do anything funky. I've had my wife ask why her foot was dragging on the road mid corner. The centre stand has bits ground off it, as does the side stand and the pegs. It will wallow like a fat pig when you G-out in a tight turn, and you'll have enough sparks following you to pass for a 4th of July fireworks display. Other than that it's not too bad.

It's the second you decide to try it on dirt 2-up that it all gets rather disappointing. While you can add enough rear preload to make it acceptable on road, off road the shock is way off it's optimum rider sag. It doesn't like trail chop - rocks, ruts, roots, etc. It bottoms very easily. You can simply slow down and take things slow and easy, and it will cope.

Ohlins will help. But the normal Ohlins shock for the F-series needs to be revalved for constant 2-up work on dirt. I have the 21kg/mm spring. It's about perfect for 2-up and a basic pannier load. It looks like a car spring, because it pretty much is. There's almost 450kg of bike, rider, pillion, camping gear.

Yes, it's probably well outside it's design brief once you start this.

Add panniers etc and it gets uncomfortable for the pillion. It seems very cramped compared to road/touring bikes of similar capacity with all the gear strapped on. I have the "Lord Farquar" saddle so I can touch the ground with a full load and the shock preload on the Ohlins wound right up.

My wife has trouble just getting on when it's fully loaded. I've watched pillions on other F8s struggle the same way. I can't figure exactly what it is. Old women, or an odd height/width thing...for the bike...not the women...although....