F800S Demo ride

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riceburner
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F800S Demo ride

Post by riceburner »

Yesterday I had a rideout/demo with my dealership - and will probably get my face in their monthly newsletter. :) Not a hugely long ride - but enough to get a good impression, I test-rode an F800S, and here's what I thought:

F800S is a VERY nice bike to ride - I enjoyed it a lot, with certain reservations.

It handles very well indeed and is far pokier than it sounds - open the throttle in any gear at any revs and it leaps forwards very nicely.

The bad points though were the ABS, which AGAIN cut in on me while I was braking hard on a bumpy section of road (when I did NOT want it to - scared me silly when it did. ), the fork dive (which I am just not used to anymore), and other very small points which weren't enough to take the shine off, but would definitely be fixed if I were to buy one (eg the nodule on the side-stand which you used to flick it out is not accessible enough - it needs to be just 1/2 an inch longer so you can get a boot to it easily).

The clocks were reasonably clear - but the tiny numbers didn't help, and the engine sounds like a hairdryer on it's last legs.

The belt drive was good - didn't make any difference to the way the bike felt and seemed to work well. Gears seem well chosen, and I was at home on the bike instantly.

It has inherited the indicator switches from the big bikes, and the switchgear/levers/light cluster appears to all have been carried over from the new, big K's. Both the F800S and R1200S use the light cluster from the K1200R/R1200GS which I suppose makes sense from a manufacturing point of view.

There was an R1200S out with us too - which apparantly is very good - the rider demoing it was impressed enough to ask for a quote.
Non quod, sed quomodo.

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MikeCam
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Good Info

Post by MikeCam »

RB,

Thanks for that. Once I finally hear from the gang whether to repair or replace the K-R; I have considered waiting for the F800 to arrive stateside. 'Course, a repair decision suits me better-I want the Black Beast Back!
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DJ Downunder
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Post by DJ Downunder »

Thanks RB...I got to have a good look and sit on one seven months ago (last november) ...but I couldn't start it up...what's the sound like.

The fact that both pistons move up and down together should make it sound like a big single.

DJ
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