Following the theft of my R1200RT LC, I needed a training bike and quick. So I bought a late, low mileage F800GT. I took the view that this would tide me over until the insurance came through and I could replace the RT. Surprisingly, the insurance paid out in a little over a week of the bike going missing, so I ordered a new one. I can’t have that until September, so I went ahead and got the F800 – using some of the insurance money to buy it.
Now here’s the thing. Ordinarily, the F800 wouldn’t be on my radar for a bike. It’s a fairly mundane 800cc parallel twin. It’s aimed at the recently qualified rider looking for a decent all-rounder. Just not something I would have set out to look for or buy. But, having bought it due to a sudden need, I find myself reflecting on an impulse purchase that surprised me. This bike is magnificent. As a training bike it is comfortable trundling behind a couple of small bikes on a CBT and equally at home chasing 600s on a DAS course. It’s nippy, agile, easy to ride and demands to be ridden. Once on this bike, I don’t want to get off it. Every time I ride it, I love it even more. This machine has captivated me in a way that no other bike has done before. On paper, it’s nothing special, yet the sum of the parts is very special indeed.
Yeah, sure, it’s BMW’s budget bike – built down to a budget – yet it has BMW quality control. Sure, on a long haul it is no RT and I still want my RT. But for sheer, unadulterated fun of the type I enjoyed in my youth, this bike has it all. And to think that ordinarily I wouldn’t have considered it. If my RT hadn’t been stolen, this bike and the riding pleasure it brings would have passed me by.
Life is funny like that.
An R800 isn’t bad. A little narrow in the handlebars for my brawny shoulders, but R800’s and before them the R80 have always been solid workaday machines that just keep going.
Sorry to hear about your 1200 getting lifted but I’m on the road and don’t keep up as much as I should.
It got stolen just over a month ago. Came as a shock. That and Mrs L’s cancer diagnosis in the same week made for an awful few days.
I sold my R80R to partially fund this one. The R80 was a nice classic, but for training was unsuitable. I need a bike I can ride without thinking about it. The R80R gearbox and clutch required too much input from me at a time when I need to be concentrating on students. It had to go unfortunately.