BMW F800S, what to do to obtain a bit more power...

Motorcycling
21

Yet to test ride a CBF 1000, am going to when I get a spare Saturday.

22

Ola amigos,

Thanks again

Suz 1250 - unfortunately it really is over the 225kg weight which for my body shape doesnt really work (6 foot but weighing a weedy 11 stones). I do a lot of town riding as well as motorways, hence a ~200kg or below bike works really well for me

Ducati 1000 - would be great if I had pleanty of money for their services… £££! Plus I need bullet proof reliability for all year round riding. I use my bike adhoc to go to work any day of the year (even snow a couple of times) and it is kept outdoors with a thick cover over it. I reckon the poor pretty Ducati will become a rust bucket after a year or two of this treatment. The 95bhp is nice, but only 6bhp more than I have now hence doesn’t seem worth it for all the extra costs…

CBF1000 - Unlike the FZ1 who used an untouched R1 engine, the Honda boys unfortunately detuned their engine! Why Honda, why!?! You get a mere ~100BHP when really you want an encased animal to beat the FZ1. If I were thinking of a CBF1000, I would definitely just go for a FZ1 every time due to that sweet untouched R1 engine

However, if anyone knows how I can tune my BMW F800S to 110bhp fairly cheaply I’m all ears!!!

23

I’m guessing you can’t get a larger rear sprocket for your rubber band?

24

Ha! I will have you know that we call that “rubber band” a belt drive thank you very much! No oiling required, no noise, no much, no nothing - well, except for the ludicrous £200 replacement every 24,000 miles…

Plus I thought an extra tooth in the rear sprocket gave more acceleration but you lost 1-2mph top end?

25

you are right, more acceleration and less top end if you increase the size at the rear. Might translate to a useful power gain though… Read up on it, I’m sure someone has tried it and then written about it on ‘the Internet’

26

As Conrad says, it could give you more useful power delivery.
Not much point worrying about topspeed with most bikes.

27

^^Seriously, I think the book says the RR will do 165 flat out. I got about 157 but when do you ever do that? I’ve done it once in 3 years on a race track or private road and at the time I was a trained professional.

28

as a K1300R owner I also thought it will be too heavy for me. I jumped from suzuki gsxr600 k3. However after few weeks I learned to use the gas/brake balancing and wouldn’t wanna any other bike since then. And 173bhp REALLY helps

29

Sweet - the K1300R must be an animal when you want to give it some oomph!!!

30

I say it again. seriously! upgrade to a K1300R - BOOM!

I’m 5’9’'3/4 and under 11 stone and I ride a KTM 990 Adv. and it sure doesn’t feel heavy when the wheels are turning!

I’m sure Kev will be here in a sec to tell you that it wheighs pecisely 8kg more than his SMT!

31

Hi KTM,

I have to say that the k1300s would be more for me as it is faired and hence good for my motoway trips. However, I would have to leave it parked on the side of the road overnight (I don’t have a garage) and hence the insurance would be mental!!!

Still, I may have to stick with the BMW F800S for now by the looks of things

32

just buy a sports bike and stop being a big girl :o)

33

34

Oh come on, the BMW F800S has an “S” at the end of its name, as in “Sports”…?

I would describe my bike as a “Jack of all trades, master of f#ck all!!!”

Never mind, but for London heavy traffic in the morning mixed with everything else I do it really does work (panniers and top box are great)

35

Hi Guys,

Should be a quick one;

My local mechanic has advised that by putting on a new exhaust and a power commander, I should get 15% more power from my BMW F800S. This would take it from around 85bhp to “mid 90s bhp” which would keep me happy.

Can anyone advise:

  • Is this really true?

  • what are the advantages and disadvantages, for example:

  • Bike becomes far more vibey?

  • you gain torque but lose top speed?

  • bike becomes unreliable? (parts not made to cope with the extra power)

Any advice appreciated

Thanks

Can anyone confirm

36

Very doubtful that you would see anything like a 15% increase in power. Perhaps he meant his bank balance would see a 15% increase…

37

With bikes it comes down to three modifications before silly money starts changing hands.

  1. Aftermarket, free flowing exhaust;
  2. ECU remap;
  3. Freer flowing air filter.

With all three you could get 5-10% more. As far as I can tell for my bike, it’s the air filter that makes a difference - but needs a remap and an exhaust to make it work properly.

Do as you like, it’s your cash, but for a grand you could probably part ex and upgrade to a bike with more oomph anyway.

38

Hey Guys,

Thanks guys. I agree with Simoni hence the question.

I do 90% peak time town driving with 10% on motorways. I also ride it at night deep winter volunteering. Hence I’ve had it for 5 years and am thinking of upgrading to a newer one (mine has ABS, heated grips etc as standard).

While upgrading, my thinking is to get a bit more oomph to it. The below from Gibson seems to make sense to me:

  • PX mine for a much newer one (gets you a bit more power in itself!)

  • New exhaust, but can you explain the “free flowing” bit? Are there different types? What is a medium priced one? (ie I don’t need akra expensive, but neither do I want the rusty one!)

  • Get an ECU remap just after or while replacing exhaust

  • New Air filter, people always talk about K&N, is that the one to go for? Any others?

Thanks

39

surely if you are changing bikes anyway, you should just get something more powerful rather than modding? OK so perhaps a K1200 would be a bit much, but there are lots in between, like Stuart said why not a CBF1000? different bike will get you the power without the modding expense and probably be cheaper to insure than a bike covered in mods.

40

Hi KTM,

I know where you are coming from - but a CBF1000 weighs an extra 30kgs and is chain driven… I haven’t worried about a chain being loose or lubed in 5 years!

Plus leg protection wise against the wind my BMW F800 does it better. Its a difficult one I know but all in all, it does everything for me (90% town/10% motorway) except for just not having quite the amount of power I would like… hence the thoughts on what I could do.

Surely insurance isn’t that bad when you just put on a new exhaust and mapping? I don’t know as mine is currently pretty standard apart from a bigger screen