Ihave always had a soft spot for BMW motorbikes. In my biking career I probably owned six or seven of them, most of them in the R series, the twin cylinder boxer engine, air cooled, from 450 cc to 1000 cc, 2 valves. They were those bikes built to travel and never stop, reliable and slow like a tractor which you could load with hundreds of kilograms of equipment to survive a 10k km travel through Europe. Those models had horrible brakes, limp suspensions, difficult gear boxes and jelly chassis but once they were moving you could quite magically feel home and enjoy your trip to places no other bikes would reach. It was the 80s, the glorious years when the Japanese invaded the market with their super technology. BMW introduced the K series, the four cylinder water cooled unit which still lasts today and it’s dedicated to the road, sport models.



In the history of off road, BMW has engraved its name on the surfaces of all the continents and it started with the true legend, the R 80/GS with which Gaston Rahier won the Paris Dakar in 1984. The standard version (I had one and I regret I sold it) was the perfect everyday commuter, the ideal holiday companion, the perfect bike for life and the best adventure bike you could buy at that time but technology runs and today BMW has reached the apex of its production with the granddaughter of that icon: the new F 800 GS.



BMW saw a hole in the rapidly expanding adventure motorcycle market (a market essentially created by the company) and knew they had just the bike to fill the gap or at least had the basic platform of a bike already in place.



The typical competitors would be the Honda’s Transalp, BMW’s G650 XCountry, R1200GS, HP2 Enduro and KTM’s formidable 990 Adventure.



BMW is masterful at hatching a number of different bike models from one basic engine platform. Based on the F800S and ST engine introduced in 2007, the company has done it again, this year crafting the two newest GS models from that same basic 798cc (82 x 75mm bore/stroke) liquid-cooled parallel Twin.



Power is transmitted to the sixspeed box via a wet multi-plate clutch. Having the clutch in an oil bath keeps the plates cool, a must in off-road riding where there’s often a lot of intentional clutch-slipping in low gears. Another GS-specific alteration is placement of airbox intakes. A pair of inconspicuously styled snorkels ride high, starting just above the front indicators and blend seamlessly into the bodywork as they feed the pseudo fuel tank/airbox.



Something not changed from the F800S and ST is the under-the-seat location of the 4.2-gallon fuel tank. Keeping weight low is the goal and BMW anticipates 54 mpg. Keeping with the adventure theme, the 800GS rolls on spoke wheels. The bike will come standard with pavement-friendly Bridgestone Battle Wings which I found very forgiving and capable of the UAE rough tarmac.



Whatever tire you ride, keeping them in contact with Earth is the work of a non-adjustable 45mm Marzocchi fork with 9 inches of travel; a Sachs shock with 8.5 inches of travel and adjustable rebound damping connects directly to the aluminium double-sided swingarm. The shock also offers remote preload adjustment via a dial behind the rider’s right leg. Spring rates might have been slightly firm for my 70 kg weight but in reality I didn’t happen to think on such issues until after the ride. Suspension operated optimally on-road.



Some additional notes include decent wind protection from the diminutive windscreen, the tapered aluminum handlebars can be positioned more forward for you aggressive offroaders who like to stand on the pegs, a nylon (read: plastic) belly pan protector that isn’t big enough to protect crucial items like the oil filter is included, brake and clutch levers are adjustable and a power plug for jacking in your heated vest and whatnot is located near the ignition – making stringing a long wire a thing of the past.



Also, the ignition key, like many modern autos, is coded to the ignition switch, so they must pair-up to start the bike. Another thoughtful feature is the photosensitive instrument panel. Pass through a tunnel in the middle of the day and panel lights will brighten. More so, I wouldn’t be surprised if this new middleweight adventure machine cuts into the sales success of the very bike that inspired its creation.