Another F800GS delay?

[MERKINMUFFLEY]

Being discussed on the Chain Gang

I just heard a rumor today, that I can not confirm, that the US introduction of the F800GS has been further delayed until December. It will be interesting to see if this turns out to be true. The way BMW is going lately it sounds beliveable to me.

http://f650.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=218011

 

[Herleman]

One of the folks at my local dealer told me that they had heard that it would be added to the lineup next November and that it is usually available to the dealers two or three months after that.

I'm afraid that BMW will have hurt themselves with their marketing strategy on the bike if that turns out to be true.

Did they give their marketing plan to Chris Bangle???

 

[RIDERR1150GSADV]

No not Chris, but VW.......They are the worst, remember that overpriced Passat??? The $80K flop

 

[PAULBACH]

One of the folks at my local dealer told me that they had heard that it would be added to the lineup next November and that it is usually available to the dealers two or three months after that.

I'm afraid that BMW will have hurt themselves with their marketing strategy on the bike if that turns out to be true.

Did they give their marketing plan to Chris Bangle???

That is a lot of time for buyers to spend time in other showrooms like Honda and Harley. Buyers like to see new models and fresh offerings.

 

[beemerdons]

merkinmuffley: Same report from the dealers in Arizona, expect December F800GS arrive

It seems that all of the North American Dealers are now being given the same information, at the same time, from BMW MotorradAG. Not all confused like before!

The three dealers here in Arizona are stating exactly what Herleman's local dealer is saying: "added to the lineup in November and expect it 2 to 3 months later".

PAULBACH is right on the money! As fast as Honda can mobilize production, if they could rapidly deploy a modern "Trans Alp," that was so wildly popular world wide, they could undercut the F800GS sales big time. You know Honda Inc. would bring a "F800GS" to us at a price point that would make it hard to stay with BMW!

If Harley-Davidson/Buell could rapidly introduce the new Rotax engine into the Ulysses, they would have me seriously looking at one. Since I last posted my disappointment over having to get my $500 deposit from BMW of Scottsdale, due to failure of BMW to deliver my F800GS before my Summer Mexico trip, I borrowed a Ulysses for a day and rode over Four Peaks wilderness dirt road east of Phoenix.

The Ulysses performed great, the only underwhelming item is the basically same V-Twin that is in my 2002 H-D FXD. Add a Rotax engine and I will buy a Ulysses.

Chain Gang link had some interesting observations. It is correct that the KTM 690 Adventure that I am interested in probably will not arrive in North America before the F800GS. But the KTM 690 Enduro is here now and Phoenix dealers have them.

The post at CG that really caught my eye is the mention of the Triumph Scrambler!

The Triumph Scrambler is now a cool looking bike with a solid/dependable engine.

But even hero Steve McQueen would lighten it up and provide better suspension for this Triumph Scrambler to make it a real offroad machine. Imagine if Triumph was to take the Rickman Brothers approach and use the core engine and tranny, which are bullet proof components, and bring back a Rickman 800 twin! Wowser!

 

[braddog]

How long?

The 800GS looks to be a little more dirt-worthy than the Uly, for sure. But, on the other hand, if you're in the market, are you going to wait? And for how long?

Honda seems satisified selling cruisers and sportbikes in the U.S., along with Goldwing's and the occasional ST. Is it time to re-introduce a bike like the Transalp, or even the Varadero, to the U.S. market?

By seeing an 800GS up close at the local IMS, and reading the preliminary reviews, this looks to be a great motorcycle. I'm not sure exactly how much the U.S. figures in BMW's market window, but they may just miss it here.

 

[BOXERR]

I have ridden the Scrambler, and not fussed with it.
15 minute ride, and numb hands. seat a shocker, good power, but not a dual purpose bike in my mind.
If the X Country, and X Challenge had bigger fuel tanks, they would be a good alternative to the F650GS that some of us use.
Maybe R1200GS/A sales will get bigger before the F800GS arrives?
Looks like we are in the same "late" boat as you people with the 800.

 

[Visian]

As fast as Honda can mobilize production, if they could rapidly deploy a modern "Trans Alp," that was so wildly popular world wide, they could undercut the F800GS sales big time. You know Honda Inc. would bring a "F800GS" to us at a price point that would make it hard to stay with BMW!

yeah, butt... the honda would have no power.

i looked very close at transalp back when they first appeared. the thing could barely get out of its own way.

my R80G/S could smoke it easily... especially now, since it's got R100 cylinders

even the varadero that honda sells in europe is down on power, although i heard you could put the top end from their superhawk 996 sport bike that shares the same engine and really do some damage.

the F800 will be one of BMWs most successful models ever, if it ever gets here.

ian

ps => according to this flyer, the varadero is coming to canada.

 

[beemerdons]

Visian: You are right about F800GS success! boxerr: spot on regarding G650 fuel tanks

Visian: I feel that you are 100% correct in stating that the F800GS may be the most successful model ever. In my particular case, it was my ox that was gored when I placed my deposit down on the first available day to do so, and was promised by BMW that my F800GS would be delivered in either April or May, 2008.

I then sold my perfectly good Kawasaki KLR 650 based upon false info from AG und BMWNA. So in June I do not have a dual sport for my planned/paid MEX trip!

Actually, friends in AZ Beemers are urging me to find a R100GS Airhead for myself.


boxerr: Australia and Arizona have a common bond in having a huge desert wilderness to have great fun in by riding a dual sport machine thru the territory!

Sadly, and who knows what BMW was thinking when they put a stupid 2.5 gallon tank on a machine named Cross Country, you would be eaten by dingos and I would be eaten by coyotes when we both run out of petrol in the AZ/OZ outback!

 

[braddog]

Hope so.

I hope you're right about the 800GS, Ian. I'm constantly on the hunt for what will be my "modern" motorcycle. I want something that's a little newer tech in addition to my airheads, and a dualsport like the 800GS fits the bill, for sure.

 

[BOXERR]

Beemerdons, dont worry about running out in the desert, you wouldnt get out of town!!

 

[beemerdons]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maricopa_County,_Arizona Check out the link on my county

Beemerdons, dont worry about running out in the desert, you wouldnt get out of town!!

You are right on that boxerr! Check out the map of my home County - Maricopa.

9,500 square miles just for my county. 165 miles between fuel on native Indian Reservation Land. Couldn't take a G650X across the Tohono O'ohdam Tribal Land.

 

[mika]

Come on guys keep up. Its been in the news and on the BMW Motorrad USA website for two weeks.

 

[beemerdons]

I switched websites when I got stiffed/screwed on my BMW F800GS to the KTM M/C site!!

Very Sorry, M1ka: When I was handed back my $500 deposit on my F800GS that was promised for April-May delivery and now will not get here until December with a higher price, I just went ahead and deleted BMW Motorrad USA from "Favorites".

I replaced it with http://www.ktm.co.at/ and I've been periodically going to the garage to talk to Ingrid, my R1150RT, and Mi Mexico Mule, my R1100GS, to prepare them for the arrival of their Austrian little brother. They appear on the whole to be taking it well, but Lucy Liu, my Yamaha FJR1300, is having a problem!!

 

[PAULBACH]

Give bikes access to this website

(Free Translation)

Sounds like a mini United Nations you have there.

 

[beemerdons]

PAULBACH: I'll put a laptop in the garage with that link for "The Girls!" Ha, Ha, Ha!

PAULBACH: That was a good one! Especially since the fourth "Girl" in my garage is Pamela Anderson, my Harley-Davidson Dyna Glide 88, the one with the big jugs!

PAULBACH: You seem very knowledgeable on the Buell products and on Rotax engines! Have you had an opportunity to delve into and study the latest Rotax motor that has now been placed into the Buell street roadsters and is slated for introduction into the Ulysses lineup? I turn sixty this year, so this will probably be my last dual sport purchase. I am hoping that I can last until eighty years of age still riding like Herb LeGendre, a Twenty-Five year member of my club AZ Beemers!

BMW really pulled the football away from me like Miss Lucy always does to Charlie Brown in the Peanuts comics. I HAVE to have another dual sport before this June!

Even though it seems counter productive, I'm now leaning towards going out and buying another Kawasaki KLR 650 for this Summer's Mexico offroad expedition.

This'd give me breathing room to make a really good decision on my last dirt bike!

 

[mika]

I totally appreciate being upset that your anticipated bike will not be there when you expected and wanted it. The KTM may well be a better choice for many than the BMW will turn out to be. A Ulysses with the Rotax engine would be interesting. Buell agrees with you base on what I have read in the past. The problem they had was getting Rotax production to match their ideas. In the end they wanted to road bike and the Ulysses will have to wait. Hmmm, sound familiar?

 

[PAULBACH]

I think HD/Buell came out with a Rotax engine in one of their bikes this spring but not a parallel engine. But the engine went into a sport bike which has quite a lean forward position for the rider. Seems like they got the right engine but then put it in the wrong bike.

It would have been sweet in the Buell XT. So HD has the right engine, but they put it in the wrong bike.

Will be going out today to pick up one of those free neck gaiters that Buell is giving away. Don't want Buell to think that BMW riders are so snobbish as to turn down free motorcycle apparel.b

 

[beemerdons]

Expectation: A looking for as due, proper or necessary. From new Webster's Dictionary

M1ka: I know that you are trying to be helpful to me in my predicament, and I do appreciate that; and this is stated sincerely, not in some flippant offhand manner.

The major difference in my particular dealing's with BMW (versus anything that KTM, Buell, or other manufacturers have stated regarding their new and upcoming products) is that I'd entered into a Contract to Purchase reflecting delivery dates.

Wanting is one thing, "expecting" a contract to be fulfilled due to a fiduciary and legally binding document is another. As Senior Pipefitting Project Manager for one of the largest contractors in Arizona, Metro Mechanical, Inc., I am in the State of Arizona Department of Administration quite a bit securing permits and filing plans.

We Arizonans have the toughest Consumer Fraud "Lemon Laws" in the nation.

While on business on my company matters, I popped into the AZ Consumer Affairs Department and presented all of my paperwork on this matter: All the BMW Press Releases, BMW Advertisements, and most importantly, my $500 deposit contract.

Long story short, the State of Arizona told me I possibly could recover five times my deposit in punitive damages. But you probably are just like me, in realizing that sometimes pushing an economic injustice is just not worth the heartache!

What's saddest about my affair is I'm now turning my back on BMW after 40 years!

 

[srb]

Since we're drifting into talking about the motor co. from Milwaukee...Last July they hyped the new Rocker, then 6 months of waiting for launch. That bike is now sitting on showroom floors. Marketing and production need to meet to have a home run. Whatever the reasons, financial or otherwise, this isn't helping the roundel.