F800GS Test Ride

Went for a test ride of the 2010 F800GS today, could only manage freeway and street testing but what a difference, as expected the Beamer sat very comfortable on the highway at 120km+ and I could easily see myself cruising for many hours on this machine, a far cry from the KTM 690.

The sub-frame looks quite strong and able to carry a fair load, this again puts is above the KTM 690 with a non existent sub-frame.

The weight of this animal at +200kg will be a challenge considering we are only used to throwing round enduro bikes like my WR400 that weighs about 120kg.

Test Ride KTM 690R

Test rode the 2010 KTM 690R today, could only manage a highway ride but got a good feel for its handling. at +120km I was getting blown all over the place and the vibrations from that large piston made me feel that I may need to take a closer look at those larger bikes like the BMW GS, Tenere, transalp and vstrom. What a bummer I was hoping this would be the bike.

Even if I did add an expensive rally kit to this bike to alleviate the wind turbulence etc. there is no way to beef up the sub-frame for carrying capacity or widen the relatively skinny rims.

I also took a look at the KTM 990R but this bike is way too heavy to consider...