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HYPERR wrote:Uncool. I don't see the purpose of this bike when there's the real F650 thumper and the "real" parallel twin the F800GS.

From my wife's perspective:

She is seriously considering this as her next bike. Why? The "real" 650 thumper is a gutless wonder but the "fake" 650/800 has decent power. The "real" F800GS is for tall people. She is short. BMW built this bike for people like her. Try buying a comfortable touring bike with enough performance built in when you are short. The list of bikes is not very long.

However if there was a practical button to push for the vote I would have pushed it. The only reason that we probably don't own this bike already is that it just doesn't look sexy. After coming off of a couple of Ducati's she just can't bear to do it......yet

High_Side wrote:After coming off of a couple of Ducati's she just can't bear to do it......yet

OT, but why doesn't she get a 696 Monster? Lower seat height than the "650", around the same hp IIRC, and a truly sexy bike.

Grey Thumper wrote:

High_Side wrote:After coming off of a couple of Ducati's she just can't bear to do it......yet

OT, but why doesn't she get a 696 Monster? Lower seat height than the "650", around the same hp IIRC, and a truly sexy bike.

Well......
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y154/H ... /063-4.jpg
She has one! She replaced her old S2R800 (that we had lowered) with the 696 because it is lower in stock trim and we were tired damaging the exhaust system on the lowered bike. But a touring bike it is not.... In over 35 bikes I have never owned a bike with such a terrible seat (we have a Sergeant seat being shipped to us at he moment), and it really doesnt lend itself well to the long riding days like the Beemer would. Now she is starting to talk about a second bike........

High_Side wrote:
However if there was a practical button to push for the vote I would have pushed it. The only reason that we probably don't own this bike already is that it just doesn't look sexy. After coming off of a couple of Ducati's she just can't bear to do it......yet

Not all Ducs are eye candy. Some are downright painful to the eyes.

Consider Exhibit A => Click at your own risk

Video of 2011 BMW F650GS off-roading in New Zealand:

totalmotorcycle wrote:Video of 2011 BMW F650GS off-roading in New Zealand:

That's not off-roading, that is a dirt and gravel road that can be ridden on anything.

I've ridden on much harsher surfaces and also in mud on things like a CBR900RR (not even my own bike), FZR600, R6, GPz750, RZ350, SRX 600 -- including riding in the gravel, mud and snow on some of these...

sooooo... again... the "adventure touring" thing is sold as a fashion statement, but the reality is that the rider is the one who can make it happen. Putting real off-road capable tires on this bike and doing some reasonable off-roading would make it a fun ride... but it aint cool in and of itself like a KTM. It's pussified for street duty.

The real trick is tires. If they built it as a real off-road thing then they should do something with it, rather than just copy the styling of better a/t bikes.

As an example of a bike another level removed, even my DT200 was useless on a lot of muddy and snowy surfaces with the oem dual sport tires. It needed knobbies big-time. It was even more useless for jumping, and a motocross track would cripple it (or you) quick because of the suspension "compromises"... wayyyy undersprung... so even that thing wasnt much of a "dual" sport without serious upgrade work. So the "fashion" was still lacking the real function back then too. It's another side of the marketing morons, just like playing 650 with an 800 engine because they cater to customers who really are too stupid to evaluate a bike on it's true merits.

(oh, excuse me, was i thinking out loud again? )

BMW 650 w/800cc twin gets an uncool... so just buy one and do something cool with it yourself

That's not OFF-roading....it's crappy roading!

HYPERR wrote:

High_Side wrote: Not all Ducs are eye candy. Some are downright painful to the eyes.

Consider Exhibit A => Click at your own risk

But the Robb Report says it's beautiful ---- farking barf bull of a bike. Maybe next year they will figure out how to fix it. The 999 dulled the Ducati fans for a few years, so maybe the shock of this thing is another way to help sell other prettier Ducati's.

Ducati's understanding of cruisers is kindof like H-Ds understanding of sport bikes... and then again BMWs cruisers are pretty homely beasts too. The Euro crowd dont get it, or dont want it.

QuietMonkey wrote: The 999 dulled the Ducati fans for a few years, so maybe the shock of this thing is another way to help sell other prettier Ducati's.

Now THAT I don't understand....well actually I do. The Ducati 999 was a pretty motorcycle and I believe that 15 years down the road it will be respected as such. The biggest issue that it had was following one of the most iconic and sexy motorcycles ever made, the 916/996/998. Even though that bike was getting long in the tooth the Ducati crowd can be somewhat conservative in the way that the Harley crowd is. How are you ever going to make it better if you do not accept change? I loved the 851/888, which as an icon in itself but time marches on. The new 1098/1198 is a nice looking motorcycle but attempts nothing new and tends to look like a lot of Japanese motorcycles that themselves have adapted the 916 styling cues. Why this motorcycle can be considered an ugly duckling I will never understand:

High_Side wrote:

QuietMonkey wrote: Now THAT I don't understand....well actually I do. The Ducati 999 was a pretty motorcycle and I believe that 15 years down the road it will be respected as such. The biggest issue that it had was following one of the most iconic and sexy motorcycles ever made, the 916/996/998

Yeah. It will age very well and has a nice pretty look, (just too flat of side panels on the fairing, which is corrected with a set of carbon wings). It's nice but it wasnt an *evolution* of that earlier (and very iconic) design which was so distinctively then known as "Ducati".

The 999 just had too much Bimota styling and not enough of what many Ducati fans EXPECTED. It was however very well designed at the chassis and racers loved it. I remember Polen praising it's handling over the later 1098. But then 1098 brought back the faithful and became more affordable... as an evolution of the 998 styling and also reduced production costs. Another tough project that succeeded.