The future is bright for BMW at the moment.
Not just bright as in the retina-burning orange paint adorning the F800R that I’m currently riding, but bright as in BMW now sell more than 100,000 bikes a year and around 5500 of those are in the UK per annum.
They’ve also added three new dealerships at a time when most others are tightening their belts, they now race in World Superbike and later this year the S1000RR will be launched to the public, proving once and for all that BMW is not a boring motorcycle brand.
So, they’ve got plenty of reasons to be smug, but I think I’m currently sitting on the smuggest.
For the last two weeks I’ve had an F800R in the garage, but – more often than not – it’s been sizzling in the sun-shine and purring contentedly beneath me. A trip to London here, a run to sunny Hunstanton two-up there, commuting aplenty to five-a-side, or the shops, and lots of sneaky pleasure rides when I should have been working: all have been taken in the F800’s stride.
In fact, the R proved to be a real do-it-all bike over the fortnight, proving that small can truly be beautiful and only when two-up did I really wish for its bigger brother, the K1300R, and its extra oomph.
But let’s start at the beginning.
Picking the bike up from the Silverstone launch and the 40-mile ride home showed me just how willing the motor is. The 798cc parallel twin is modified from the 800S/GS/ST and is remarkably flexible. Yes, it can be a little vibey at low revs – what twin isn’t? But it’s civil and punchy enough low-down to get away from the lights – although I felt the first gear was a little ‘tall’. Instead, it’s happiest strumming away merrily at 5000rpm, leaving you a good three thou’ to play with should the devil on your shoulder ask you to up the pace. A GSX-R750 K2 rider acted as a yard-stick on my ride home and our elasticated to-ing and fro-ing showed that the BM lump wasn’t embarrassed in four-cylinder company, leaving me pretty impressed.
The brakes are better still.
BMW has led the way with decent ABS stoppers in the last two decades and those on the F800R are amongst the best in the business. I found that I had excellent power and feel on the lever and it took a real ham-fisted lunge to get the ABS to really complain. Either way, whatever the conditions these brakes are stunning.
The suspension overall was good, but when you up the pace a little it begins to show some limits. Being a big lad, I like a firm set-up, so I didn’t mind too much that the ride was sometimes a little on the choppy side. The front 43mm forks don’t offer any adjustment, but even with my weight working the suspension I couldn’t really complain. At the rear things were pretty good too, although two-up you have to make adjustments, as the bike squats down hard under the extra weight and the steering gets lazier. Good on BM for giving the F800R an easy-to-use furled knob with which to add more pre-load. You can also adjust the rebound, but extra preload was all I needed.
The mix of brakes, willing motor and half-decent suspension means that you really can throw the R around.
The addition of heated grips (should be factory fit on ALL bikes sold in the UK…) and BMW’s Zumo sat-nav (£464 as an extra – pricey…) makes you think the F800R is a bigger, more capable bike. Suddenly you’re up for taking it further than your normal 50-mile blasts. It’s something you might not do with the logical competition such as the Triumph Street Triple, or the Monster 696 and it’s a pretty neat trick that BMW has done with this bike.
In fact, I’m finding it hard to find faults with this machine, but if you look hard enough, you can find the odd one or two.
Personally I’m a big fan of the looks. The bike’s parking slot along the seafront at Hunstanton saw the F800R sharing Tarmac with all manner of machines, including 1198s, new R1s and some seriously saucy Rocket IIIs, but many bikers congregated around the Beemer. It’s the monocle-esque look of the front allied to that brazen colour that attracts the eye. If there’s anything to criticise it would be the boring black paint on the frame and engine. It’s as if the bike should have a fairing to cover it up. It’s just lacking a little ‘depth’ really, and those big hoses on the rad should immediately be swopped for some sexy Samco hoses in bright orange or some braided replacements… Hmmm.
So it’s a bit of a blank canvas too and you can bet yer bottom Euro that extras will be on their way, such as screens, luggage etc. One thing you will not need form the M&P catalogue are dinky indicators as they’re seriously small already.
Clocks aren’t bad either, with analogue speedo and tacho, with two trips, clock and a temp and fuel gauge. Only moans are that the speedo could do with being digital or clearer and the fuel gauge doesn’t seem to move… It’s like an old ZZ-R1100, in so much as it stays rooted to ‘FULL’ for 100 miles or so and then heads down in the last 40 miles before the reserve light comes on, which makes it a little pointless.
While on the subject of fuel, this thing seems to drink very frugally on its 16-litre tank. I never ran the thing dry, but at one point I did get around 140 miles before reserve and there were still some bars on the gauge showing – although with this gauge who knows what that meant. Overall though, that makes it pretty damn good on the economy side of things. The only other gripes I had were a disconcertingly wobbly front brake reservoir (it’s supposed to be like that) and mirrors, which vibe so much at speed you can’t make much out in them. Maybe a few more turns on the spanners or some aftermarket items would help?
Verdict
I’m seriously impressed with this bike. It’s got the potential to really open up the mainstream bike market to BMW even further: the fact that this is chain driven and (like their other new models) has ‘normal’ indicators is another nod to the ‘mainstream’ direction. With this in mind it seems madness that BMW are only bringing 200 of these bikes into the UK in 2009. Surely this will be almost as popular as the Street Triple, or a Honda Hornet? Only time will tell, but do get down to your local BMW dealer and try one. I bet you’ll be very pleasantly surprised.
BMW F800R specifications
Price: £5925
Power: 87bhp
Torque: 63ftlb
Weight: 177kilos
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