Has anyone ridden 2up on the f800gs?

[Snowy]

Originally Posted by tkent02

The low seat is just the right height

[-W-]

We just came back from 6600km / 4100miles honeymoon trip. No problem with two up at all - not even river crossings (well little complain from the missis was that the boots aren't anymore waterproof if your feet are half a meter submerged..)...



..and no stock parts in suspension - rear & front travel are also 250mm both... .. , but the seat is stock!

[Absolution]

I purchased a '09 800GS just yesterday (and am still VERY MUCH head over heels in love with it), and this morning I took my young bloke (10 year old) out for a spin, as promised.

He is growing into a confident pillion, but still in the learning stages for sure.

As fate would have it, it absolutely pissed down the moment we left the garage.. but we took off anyway.

In a nutshell, the GS was incredible. I don't have much to compare too (Sportsbikes and a Monster), but I barely even noticed he was there. There was power enough for days, it held its line and easily moved across or dipped in harder where required.. and we both had a great (if wet) time.

I am soooo in love with this bike. It's passenger qualities are top shelf

[Snowy]

Originally Posted by -W-

We just came back from 6600km / 4100miles honeymoon trip. No problem with two up at all - not even river crossings (well little complain from the missis was that the boots aren't anymore waterproof if your feet are half a meter submerged..)...



..and no stock parts in suspension - rear & front travel are also 250mm both... .. , but the seat is stock!

Outstanding. That's the stuff. I'm going stir crazy waiting to go for some decent runs. I have to be satisfied with road runs and "short" trips of 1000kms a weekend for a while.

What did you used for the front end to get the extra travel, and the rear end as well?

[-W-]

Originally Posted by Snowy

Outstanding. That's the stuff. I'm going stir crazy waiting to go for some decent runs. I have to be satisfied with road runs and "short" trips of 1000kms a weekend for a while.

What did you used for the front end to get the extra travel, and the rear end as well?

Front end has Aprilia RXV Shiver insides, stronger springs etc. and rear shock is custom made WP Fusion.

Actually both ends have 275mm of travel, but currently I have limiting spacers since I'm only 1.80cm/ 5"11 and with 275mm of travel it is a "bit" challenging to ride offroad two up since my feet won't touch the ground.... ... .. .



...notice the wheel clearance between tire and fender to compared to stock F800GS... (picture from last years trip to Artic Circle -> only soft bags in more off road orientated trips)

[Snowy]

Excellent, thank you.

What was the WP shock off?

Does it have anti bottom out valving?

Is that a Mitas Stone King on the rear?

Thanks again.

[Snowy]

Originally Posted by Absolution

I purchased a '09 800GS just yesterday (and am still VERY MUCH head over heels in love with it), and this morning I took my young bloke (10 year old) out for a spin, as promised.

He is growing into a confident pillion, but still in the learning stages for sure.

As fate would have it, it absolutely pissed down the moment we left the garage.. but we took off anyway.

In a nutshell, the GS was incredible. I don't have much to compare too (Sportsbikes and a Monster), but I barely even noticed he was there. There was power enough for days, it held its line and easily moved across or dipped in harder where required.. and we both had a great (if wet) time.

I am soooo in love with this bike. It's passenger qualities are top shelf

Lightly loaded the F800 is great for pillion work on road. A very nice bike to ride.

A few hundred kms of an ordinary dirt road may change your thinking.

Not trying to rain on your parade, but that is the reality. For a narrow target demographic they are a very good bike as is. For a much broader demographic they are very good all round with some minor set up work. For very specific work, like 2-up loaded touring on dirt, they need serious work and serious money spent to be anything other than a burden.

For me, I enjoy it, but the reality is it's just a bike. I've ridden better, I've ridden worse. If there was something better all around out there at a comparable price I'd buy it. As it is, if I wanted to replace it for this kind of work it'd be another F800. Which is why I probably wont replace it unless it gets stolen, wrecked, or dies big time.

That's the completely unemotional analysis. I was over the moon when I bought it, distraught the first time it broke and bent bits, pissed off I had to spend so much and get so little in aftermarket setup, and now just resigned that it is what it is and they probably wont change it any time soon.

Apparently that's the normal lifetime cycle of BMW ownership emotions all in one year.

[Absolution]

Regardless, I'm a happy chappy for now.

I'm a full time Dad at the moment, so my riding will be limited to Fri/Sat/Sun - obviously without any daily commuting. The roads out here are terrible and my Ducks have had some issues out here. The Strada was out of my price range if I was serious, and this one fell into my lap for less than 13k AU. The difference in ride quality straight off the bat was enormous.

Can't wait to put more km's on it. She's a welcome addition to the family!

[LukasM]

Snowy,

I think you'd really like a 950 SE with a beefed up subframe. Have you considered one?

The WP Fusion that -W- is using is not off another bike but a model built specifically for the F800GS, in his case custom built with longer travel. Señormoto used the same one, you can see some pics in his thread here:
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=777777



Mr. -W-,

Any trouble with the upper shock bolt yet? I wanted to install the Indy kit in Señormoto's WP shock but the upper hole was too small, so we had to go with a custom oilite bushing.

[Snowy]

Originally Posted by LukasM

Snowy,

I think you'd really like a 950 SE with a beefed up subframe. Have you considered one?

No. I've resigned myself to the BumW.

I actually had a nice little ride in the rain today wearing my skull cap helmet and just a leather jacket and jeans. It was very cold. But nice. Refreshing.

The KTM would still require substantial improvement. If I could find a half decent one. My son worked at a KTM dealer for a while. I wouldn't touch any of the ones they had there. I'd ask, the mechanic would just make a face and shake his head.

So for now I'll just continue to improve the BumW.

It's a bike. It's fun. It does stuff. Most of it ok.

[Snowy]

Hey Lucas, I emailed WP and told them I had boucoup cash (at the time I had $5K to play with and didn't care if I spent it all as long as it worked) and wanted exactly what he has there.

The email got forwarded 5 times within WPs headquarters, sent to some no name agent here, who asked again for specifics and I still ended up with nothing.

You can't even give money away in this market? WTF?

I just gave up on it. If they can't be bothered when you've told them price is not a problem they aren't going to be there when you need them.

That's the trouble with living at the end of the world I suppose.

[LukasM]

Yeah unfortunately that is often the problem if you are dealing with an incompetent agent, regardless of the brand. Better forget about anything that is not a stock off-the-shelf item.

I work a lot with WP in Austria and they are great, especially since they moved their HQs from Holland to here a couple of years ago. They even do totally custom stuff like billet triples for fork conversions etc.

I still think you should try an SE if you can. There are a few minor issues but overall it's much simpler, very reliable and a much higher performance package at the same weight as the F8.

[-W-]

No problem with the upper bolt anymore (bend five or six 12.9 bolts before that;) since I made my own fitting stuff for the WP. Shock itself is decent (needed revalving from the new -> valving was done more to road than true off road, even though I asked more off road orientated), but unfortunately the hydraulic preload adjuster & customer service of WP sucks big time -> no more aftermarket WP stuff for me and can't really recommend them either for same reason..

Hydraulic adjuster was leaking from the new (hose connection & adjuster knob shaft), then the "WP Germany" didn't anymore replied emails (ques the company behind it went down or something), then finally got an reply from WP factory from Austria itself which pointed me to new German company -> sent the shock to be repaired the -> got shock back one day before my trip -> hydraulic preload adjuster failed completely after 150km in the highway ( this time collar itself gave up and I had to take it away in the middle of the trip and put proper preload mechanically) and now I have been waiting for answer to my emails concerning this about one and half months from WP factory & this company who did the "repairment" (collar was just fine before they did their "thing") -> no answer from either of them. So unfortunately I have to disagree with LukasM about WP's customer service... (and I also sent almost hundred emails back and forth to different dealers, WP, etc. when I was trying to buy the damn shock. Some of the dealers didn't know what they were selling and some of them were selling something what they couldn't deliver in the end -> won't be doing that anymore).


(upper bolt & fitting was standart in this trip)

..and in that earlier picture the rear tire is Mitas C-02, but normally I use MefoSport Stonemaster since it is much taller tyre compared to Mitas (pattern of them is pretty much identical).

What is wrong with F800GS when riding two up off road, is the shape of the tank -> there is no way that passenger can ride standing -> shape of the tank drops your feet away from the pegs..

[LukasM]

Wow, that sucks man!

I have been dealing with WP Haslacher in Austria for more than 12 years when I bought my first KTM, and they are very fair and do good work, also for most racers in the area. If you buy from them next time I am sure they will help you sort out any problems you might have.

That being said, it also sucks that the preload adjuster did fail on a new shock, that should really not happen.

[-W-]

Originally Posted by LukasM

Wow, that sucks man!

That being said, it also sucks that the preload adjuster did fail on a new shock, that should really not happen.

Tell me about it..!

I have taken the preload adjuster to peaces in Norway, Poland and Albania (it has failed in every longer two up trip)...


Seriously I am quite fed up with the shock.. Or the shock itself is good (it has survived from -32c degreed -> blew two original Sachs in cold conditions), but everything else isn't what it should be for that price..

Actually I was already thinking about building a new 690 for even more off road orientated stuff, but now because of this shock thing I am having second thought about that orange thing (if the customer service is at the same level with them too).. Its a shame, because I like their way of doing things (=doing lot of things & components inside house).