BMW has been in the adventure game for donkeys years and it shows. All the little details and you come to realize why they’ve done what they’ve done.
BHPian nitro.1000bhp recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Been living with my BMW F850 GS for a couple a of months now, I am actually in the middle of a longish ride and have covered about 4k kms now. My thoughts, this thing does it all!!. BMW has been in the adventure game for donkeys years and it shows. All the little details and you come to realize why they’ve done what they’ve done. Like the gear and brake levers are made of steel instead of aluminum (looking at u Tiger 900) . Why? Because if it gets bent or breaks, you could unbend it with a pipe or weld it back on if it’s broken. The switch gear is quite intimidating to begin with but soon you realise all that one needs is at one’s fingertips like, TCS off, ride modes, suspension settings etc. No need to get into some menu and scroll, it becomes intuitive as you ride along.
Oh and I don’t know what the Africa twin crowd have been harping on about how it’s better than the 23′ GS 850 off-road.. I have been through some really gnarly single-track stuff on my bike where some of my buddies were even struggling on their 250-350 dirt bikes where this thing simply breezed through. River crossings, in between trees and vertical uphill climbs , it takes them like a walk in the park. The fuelling is glitch free, the motor is very tractable from low rpms at a higher gear than required.
Not so likeable things are the gearbox..it takes time to get used to, but just like my Duke 390 it doesn’t like to putter and shift through gears like a commuter. You can’t shift gears as you wish but have to get it to a certain rpm before you upshift, same with downshifts, you have to wait till the rpms drop sufficiently to be able to do it. Other not so great things, it’s super top heavy while you’re stood still but it’s very manageable even at 5kph, it masks it’s weight really well at low speeds. Front forks are non adjustable and can be harsh on ruts and broken roads, it’s still ‘OK’ if you come from a bike like the Duke but then it can be better when one pays this much to begin with. That’s all that’s bad as I’ve figured out till now and I’ll sure post more as I go along.
And about the 1250 being way better, I will find out soon, but I won’t do a silly 2km test ride around the dealership and come to a conclusion. I will do a comprehensive test ride of atleast a 100kms and figure it out myself. But then, the 1250 is also ‘just’ 10 big ones more than my bike so..even if it is better I may not be able to afford one any time soon.
PS: anyone who is overweight and find the front forks inadequate can try the touratech closed cartridge kit. It won’t break the bank but I hear it does wonders.
Cheers.
Keyword: 2 months with my BMW F850 GS: What I like & what could be better