It’s a great bike that
will, and deserves,
to appeal to a lot of
riders. It’s capable,
comfortable, quick and
quite accomplished in
most areas
I find it a little strange that the front
suspension has zero adjustment. I say this
because the rear seems to have a setting
for everything including pillion and luggage
options, and the default positions linked to the
power modes. Fortunately, the forks work very
well for the vast majority of riding and only get
out of their depth when used in a true offroad
sense…, however this is when adjustability
would have been great. Another change is
the clutch is now a cable clutch rather than a
hydraulic clutch on the outgoing model.
The brakes are decent, better than adequate,
and have excellent feel up front, however, I’d
like a little more power when really pushing on
or with a heavily loaded machine. The BMW is a
230kg bike wet, and I’m a 100kg in gear without
luggage, so the GS probably deserves larger
than the 305mm front discs. The rear has quite
a spongy feel, but works well enough, however
the pedal position is very low and virtually
impossible to use when standing. The ABS is
great up front but intervenes a little too soon
at the rear for my liking… thank god you can
switch it off on the fly!
All in all, despite my criticisms, BMW has nailed
it with this new F850GS. It’s a great bike that
will, and deserves to appeal to a lot of riders.
It’s capable, comfortable, quick and quite
accomplished in most areas. Yes, I’ve had the
odd rant about a few things, but they’re minor
items that are easily fixed, and I’ve only really
grizzled about them because the rest of the
bike is so damn good. Honda’s Africa Twin
needs to watch its back.
KIWI RIDER 39