My bother in law gave me a call last night and said he was thinking of buying a BMW F800R so i thought i would ask the all knowing oracle that is londonbikers.com 
whats your view? Positives, negatives, insurance costs etc etc. Also an importand point to mention, this will be his first bike.
looking at that BMW bike I just don’t get it, I mean BMW with boxer engines I get, BMW K series bikes with triples engine I get (and had), also understand the appeal of a shaft drive or belt drive.Now, looking at this F800R I see nothing that isn’t done better by a Suzuki SV-650 or Yamaha Fazer 600 or Honda Hornet, just a poor excuse at doing a chain (!) driven cheap looking naked bike with a BMW badge.
Then again my first “proper” motorbike was a Honda CX-500 so you might not want to trust me 
but my reasoning was that since I lived and would commute in London I just went with the despatch rider’s cheap workhorse choice. If I dropped it or drove it in to a car the DR garage said s/h parts and labour to get it back on the road would be around £200…I once dropped it on its side and dented the tarmac lol bike was fine
You sure your friend can insure a BMW like that as a first bike?
Max
I think it looks like its been slapped in the face by a large tin of beans. Maybe thats just me.
Im in agreement i would have thought on of the Jap bikes would be a better choice bit i think he wants something a little different. I reckon he should be ok on insurance his is 32.
It does look a bit like a “lets throw enough sh1t as it and see what sticks” approach was taken when designing the front.
I had the GS version of this when we were in Tuscany last summer.
Although I didn’t gel too well with the high centre of balance on the trailie bike, the engine was a lovely punchy unit and the gearbox was silky smooth which was a first for a beemer.
By the way, most K series were four cylinders, only in the early days (1980’s) did they do a triple and it was soon dropped as it was cack;)
Not really a BMW fan, but I like this. It looks like BMW’S take on a Yamaha MT03.
I remember what the press and the “cool” riders said about the “plastic maggot” when it was released, well Honda had the last laugh with the CX, you can get a cheaper jap bike than the BMW for sure, and that is usually reflected in the depreciation of the jap bike, if you can afford to buy new then you will most likely lose less money in the long term on the Beemer, personally I still think people buy too much bike for their first time these days 
I really like this bike. The engine is the same as that in my GS and, although not the boxer that BMW are known for, it’s a lovely engine - lots of midrange and plenty of torque. It’ll cost a fair bit more new than the equivalent Japanese bike, but you’ll lose a lot less in depreciation…
BMWInsure insure my F800GS as my first bike for <£300 so I suspect it won’t be an issue 
:D:D:D
OK so maybe they did make the K75 for 10 years but the name “Old Smokey” was well deserved along with the name “Brick”, commonly known as being ridden by people who’s name rhymed with it;):P:D
actually old son, it was “flying brick” 
and as to old smokey… after 340,000 miles I would be smoking a bit too :P:P you may be right about the riders tho of course you can’t expect all the “bricks” to ride sports bikes…
THAT BIKE IS FUGLY!!!
Agreed but just look at the latest crop of Jap offerings,(Busa, R1, Blade) it seems to be the new way to go;)
FUGLY IS THE NEW BLACK;)
Fair enough, I didn’t even know BMW did a GS version, I once rode a mate’s Boxer bigger engined version of it like the one used in that round the world TV show and liked it even though previously I also tried another mate’s KTM supermoto and thought it was a bit more light/fun to ride, personal preference I guess.
so I much prefer it like this then than the naked version shown, with the added bonus that this could go off road.
I would have this instead:
now THAT is fugly :P:P
This post of biased to BMW riders… 
I can only imagine that he’s not short of a bob or two.
For a first bike, it’s an awfully expensive looking machine that would cost a bomb to fix if dropped. Don’t get me wrong, looks like a great bike and I’d love one.