BMW F800 R - the Rotax Roadster Thread

Great looking bike!

Yeah, I've been a member here for a while, but I visit the F800Riders forum more regularly, since it's focused on my baby. I'm traveling this week, but when I get back I'll try to post on or two photos!

Cheers

Those are the handlebars that belong on the R12R (imho). Look so much better to me.

Enjoy the new ride!

great. just when i was thinking i didn't need a new bike this year.

beautiful bike! nice work.

Great Topic thanks for starting it. Here is mine new one, sorry it is a bad quick Iphone pic.

Another view:

Chi, nice job on the mods thus far. As a suggestion, and maybe you've tried it already along the way, have you thought of using a ram ball, handlebar stem bolt instead of the u-bolt on the bars that you're currently using? i personally love how clean that kind of setup looks.

Nice MJZ!

PLease tell us about that seat bag you have.






And oalvarez, Nancy and I are sitting here having coffee, checking up on the thread...... she says " yeah, that is cleaner, why didn't you get that instead?.....

Gee Thanks!









And to keep it real on this honeymoon.....

Nancy's bike is in the shop after continuing to occasionally stall unexpectedly while riding down the road. It seemed to do it more often when the gas level was lower in the tank, not too often, but once is too much if it's an error with the bike.
The weird thing is the bike would not start unless you cycled the ignition, just keep cranking over.
Same symptom it had 15 minutes into Nancy's first ride.
I took the bike to our local dealer, Ventura County BMW, explained all the symptoms and brief history.
As soon as I said how it wouldn't start until you reset the ignition, the service manager bluntly said "It's a bad fuel pump".

He explained how there was a bad batch of pumps on earlier f800s/st bikes, the pump would pull too much current, tripping the CANBUS. Once you cycle the ignition, you reset the CANBUS "breaker"... and off you go. Hopefully this one is a fluke.

Of course this is covered under warranty, and fortunately Nancy's working and it's been/supposed to rain in SoCal for now anyways, so no real major inconvenience. The one day fix turned into 3-4 because there's no new fuel pump available in the USA, so it's being shipping from the Motherland VOR.

But I can't help but wonder why didn't A&S Powersports techs catch this problem when I told them repeatedly how it wouldn't start until you reset the ignition?............
Instead they blamed it on Nancy for dropping the bike and "flooding the charcoal canister"....


I just know Nancy's looking forward to not being worried about her bike stalling, as it usually did it at a very inconvenient place like in heavy city traffic.
Next week we'll be taking a short camping trip, so more new photos to follow!

I'll buy that R65 back, now that you've fixed everything.

it's gonna cost you.

turns out they have an f800r in grand rapids.

or i could be practical and get the f800st.

(but there's no way in hell i'm selling the r65).

I have one of those early STs, an 07, and it had a fuel pump trouble. When it was hot and the fuel level was low, it would stall. If you filled the tank, the trouble cleared. The consensus is that at low fuel levels, the pump would overheat. I was able to capture a live data log file of the failure with a GS911 and you could see the fuel pressure dropping off. I'm not so sure about the guy's statement that it tripped the CANbus, because there was no indication of that. I know several people who had the trouble, all cleared by replacing the pump. I thought that around the time mine was replaced last year they started using a new pump. So it's kind of disconcerting to hear that the problem still exists.

As an aside, related to your GS cam chain trouble, when my startup rattle began to get my attention, I cleaned the damper and replaced the tensioner spring and discovered that the original spring had been superceded by a new one that is a fair bit stiffer. The new spring significantly reduced the startup rattle.

These engines seem to normally be pretty noisy. When you hear something new, it's time to investigate.

They sure are sweet bikes to ride, though. Mine's been to the 49 states you can reach without Jesus tires.

Yep, that sounds about right.
I also believe it's disconcerting to hear that this has been a well known problem for some time, though somewhat in the past, and therefore something that should have been corrected, suppliers changed or whatever.
Equally perplexing is the absence of replacement fuel pumps in the United States, seeing as how it's the same fuel pump as your ST, a well established bike.

Like I said, due to great timing for a something like this to happen, it's no big deal to Nancy, and I expect we wont have this problem recur in the future.
Now, if more new 8R owner start checking in with the same issue, we'll have us a real deal BMW conspiracy on our hands!

In the mean time we'll have a blast riding this awesome bike.

Your insightful comments about the GS cam chain I'm sure would be appreciated in the Gspot forum, as it's a hot topic right now for GS owners who are racking up the miles.

F800R ready for a 16 hour trip from Stavanger to Trondheim, Norway
This was in august 2009, 8 hours of rain during the ride.
The bike preformed beautifully.

Bet it didn't look that pretty after 8 hours of rain.

Cleans the chain though

Looks like a Honda

Maybe a CB-1 or Hornet. Otherwise..... ?

Awesome!
any other pics?


Welcome to ADVrider, nice first post... we like photos!




Tomorrow I'll be installing Ohlins' BM 909 shock and fork springs in the 8R, install photos and DIY to follow.
Well, honestly I'll be helping/supervising since I'm one handed with a hurt wrist from a bad crash in Death Valley a few days ago.

This afternoon took a hopeful new F800R owner to the BMW shop. They had one with ABS/computer/heated grips. Friend is about 6'1" so he's opting for the lower peg option. Sounds great. Feels good. Has the looks/style he's after. Maintenance is minimal in terms of scheduled service.

And speaking of front fenders the ones on the non GS F8s are very flexible. There's no support on the back half. The original Fenda Extenda for those bikes was about 6 inches long, but the fender was too flexible to support it, so they quit selling that version and came out with one about 3 inches long, which is about useless. The sardine can is very vulnerable and should be protected with an undercowl or something.

Joe, I was shocked to see that video. Best wishes with your wrist and the bike.

I'll be looking forward to that post!!