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F800gt

32232

100,000+ miler
Well, it started life as an ST but it has evolved into what would be close to a GT if BMW made them that way.

List of farkles: F800 Depot mirror extenders, Z Technik VStream 19" windshield, R1150R handlebars and Spiegler extended front brake line, Eastern Beaver fuse / relay panel, hardwire mount for Garmin GPS, autotrimdesign.com graphics set, Givi V35 bags and E350 top box, moto-LED taillight, with an Akrapovic TI full exhaust system waiting for some warmer weather for installation.

I want a bike that's handy enough for every day commuting but capable of two up trips as well. The stock ST is a great bike but the mods have turned into my perfect bike. Man, I love this thing.
 

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Way Cool!!!

HELLO BMW...ARE YOU LISTENING?


Riding Like the Wind(some day in the near future)...

CHASMAN
 
How do you like the Givi V35s? My wife opted for those for her new ST intead of the tiny and ugly BMW bags. She is getting them with the silver lids. I will be installing them myself. How did yours fit up?

Might look into the bars too later on, she was unsure how well she liked the stock ones when she sat on the bike. We'll see after she has a bit of riding time on it.
 
Love the "look".

How does it "feel" when the bags get loaded? Have they effected the aerodynamics at higher speed, and what was the effect on the gas mileage?

You have created a beautiful bike.:thumb

Tom
 
Luggage

My main reservation in looking at the F800 was the factory luggage. Since 1984 I've had five new BMW's and this is the first one where I thought the aftermarket had better bags than BMW OEM. IMHO the factory bags for the F800's are too small, too complicated and unsightly.

The Givi's work as well as the old school BMW System cases and are roomy enough for touring. The hardware was all a very simple installation, the only hiccup was the wiring harness was too short to reach both relocated rear turn signals. I loosened the rear wiring harness and pulled it to one side to reach the left signal and had to make up short extensions for the right hand wires. Other than that, quite straight forward. (Helpful Hint: black cloth hockey friction tape is a perfect match for the sheath on the OEM wiring harness.)

The top case mount was very simple: the universal mounting plate that comes with the E350 bolts straight on to the top of the stock rack. A Givi lock kit has all three bags keyed alike. It handles no better or worse than any other touring bike with the bags loaded, and waaaay better than any of my other BMW's when empty. ;)

The GPS mount is very straight forward: a Ram ball handlebar mount, 3" arm without tank bag, 5" arm to get the GPS above the front edge when the tank bag is mounted. I'm using a Garmin 60CX.
 
My main reservation in looking at the F800 was the factory luggage. Since 1984 I've had five new BMW's and this is the first one where I thought the aftermarket had better bags than BMW OEM. IMHO the factory bags for the F800's are too small, too complicated and unsightly.

The Givi's work as well as the old school BMW System cases and are roomy enough for touring. The hardware was all a very simple installation, the only hiccup was the wiring harness was too short to reach both relocated rear turn signals. I loosened the rear wiring harness and pulled it to one side to reach the left signal and had to make up short extensions for the right hand wires. Other than that, quite straight forward. (Helpful Hint: black cloth hockey friction tape is a perfect match for the sheath on the OEM wiring harness.)

The top case mount was very simple: the universal mounting plate that comes with the E350 bolts straight on to the top of the stock rack. A Givi lock kit has all three bags keyed alike. It handles no better or worse than any other touring bike with the bags loaded, and waaaay better than any of my other BMW's when empty. ;)

The GPS mount is very straight forward: a Ram ball handlebar mount, 3" arm without tank bag, 5" arm to get the GPS above the front edge when the tank bag is mounted. I'm using a Garmin 60CX.

Thanks for the feedback.
Tom
 
Hi Dave,
Great looking bike. The checker board treatment on the fairing looks very nice. You have done a great job of setting your bike up

Stop being so shy and get back out there and take some more pictures. From the 1 picture ( at least 5 or 6 more are required :cry ) it looks like Givi has finally fixed the problem I always had with them. Their racks always had the bags stuck way out to the sides of the bikes. From the angle of your picture it looks like your bags are tucked in nice and tight to the bike.
 
Givi's

The V35's were produced by Givi specifically to fit close to newer bikes. I'd say that there is a 1 - 1 1/2" gap at the most. The new Honda VFR OEM bags are actually V35's. Here's an older rear view of the bags also showing the cropped rear fender. It's a compromise between no fender like the F800S and the original ST "billboard".
 

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Bars

And here's an older picture of the R1150R bars.

I tried risers, but thought the R bars had a tidier appearance. This is the one modification of the bunch that has made the bike way more comfortable for me. I have nerve damage in my right hand that was being aggravated by riding, and this has solved the problem. The F800's hardly vibrate at all, but somehow due to the harmonics of the R bars in this application, now there is zero perceived vibration in the grips. That is an added bonus to the more upright seating position.
 

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The V35's were produced by Givi specifically to fit close to newer bikes. I'd say that there is a 1 - 1 1/2" gap at the most. The new Honda VFR OEM bags are actually V35's. Here's an older rear view of the bags also showing the cropped rear fender. It's a compromise between no fender like the F800S and the original ST "billboard".

:thumb
Excellent ! Those bags look great. Its weird how now the Givi's look good and the stock bags are the ones that make the bikes look like a pregnant Hippo.

The handlebars do look much better without having the risers on there. About how much difference in hand placement does the R1150R bars make? I thought the stock bars needed to be about 2" farther back and maybe a little higher.

Now that your getting over your shyness, got anymore pic's :stick
 
This is an old picture that shows the stock ST bars and the GPS mounted. I'd say the R1150R bars have about 1 1/2" more rise, 1" more pullback and are 3" wider than the ST bars. The angle of both bars at the grips is identical. The new seating position leaves me just a slight forward lean with no weight on my hands.

By the way, for anybody contemplating risers or taller bars, the mirror extenders are a must: with the R1150 bars and stock mirrors I got a great view of my knuckles. ;)
 

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Electrics

This picture shows the Eastern Beaver Fuse / relay setup, under the faux gas tank. The three connections on the positive battery post are OEM wiring harness, fuse panel relay, and the one connected to the fused wire running diagonally to the lower left goes to a plug for the battery tender.

The fuse box has three switched terminals and one unswitched. I used the latter for the GPS so it stays on at gas stops etc. The relay takes its power from the BMW GPS power plug which is switched; it's on the right side of the air box.

To have a simpler place to attach ground wires I hammered a short length of 1/2" copper water pipe flat, drilled a hole in it and bent it into an 'L' bracket attached to the negative battery terminal. Now I can attach more ground wires without possibly disconnecting the battery and resetting the bike's computer systems.
 

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My main reservation in looking at the F800 was the factory luggage. Since 1984 I've had five new BMW's and this is the first one where I thought the aftermarket had better bags than BMW OEM. IMHO the factory bags for the F800's are too small, too complicated and unsightly.

.
IMHO you were right with "too small, too complicated" on the factory bags. I just changed from two k bikes after 19 years and 300,000 miles. I had intragal cases for trips and city cases for around town.
I think the new bags look great and attach very nicely but I think of them as two first aid kits. They come with liners but after you put the liners in you would have to split your supply of Band-Aids into half. One half in each side and maybe you could carry one pair of running socks.
On top of that I gave Ma' Lady the high side because not only is the left side smaller but every thing falls out when opened.
In spite of all that I love the new F800ST and will continue the ride two up on long trips.
 
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