Which one? BMW F800ST/F800R or Triumph Street Triple R

Sure I can blame them - it just doesn't help ...

Depends on what you do. You can easily put more than that into it. I happened to have just talked to a Race Tech guy about the shocks on my F800R and 12GS. The GS is getting where I need to start thinking about it. He quoted about $1500 to do the front shocks and rebuild/remachine the OEM into an improved shock. He thought the OEM on the rear of the F800R was fine and to replace the front forks/shocks was about $500. FWIW

Why not just replace the oil and springs in the front end? That cant be anywhere near $500.

I haven’t spent much time on a wee but I did own an F800st for a year and I now own a Buell XB12Xt.


I will probably buy another F800st at some point. Here is why, the safety features alone are well worth the price of admission. I turned on the ABS twice and both times I felt it kept me up. The air pressure sensors saved the girl friend and I once and even the bad bulb detector saved me from running around with a failed tail light bulb.


As for the vibration I never noticed it I guess. I rode that bike for 22,000 miles and I loved it. I had about every accessory you could put on the bike and it was well sorted out. I commuted, toured, rode with friends with sport bikes, went to rallies, camped and took several ladies on dates with it.


I sold that bike because I felt married to the dealer because I was afraid to work on it and I was fortunate enough to get a Buell XB12XT.


I miss the ABS and the other safety features of the F800st.


The Buell has a much better suspension and it a ton easier to work on. I can wrench on anything on the Buell without question. I was hoping the Buell would be cheaper to maintain but I was dead wrong on that one. Between the rear tires only lasting 3000 miles, the wheel bearings and belt lasting only ~15,000 miles it is more expensive than the F800st. The only difference is I don’t have to go to the dealer for anything.


I rode the wee a couple of times and I was going from my F800st to the Wee on the BRP. Every time I got on the wee I felt like I was riding a tank, the fairing was way out in front (buffeting), the controls felt cheap compared to the BMW and it just felt rough after riding the F800st. I was always glad to get back on my bike.

Yeah, I asked him about that. He said change the forks and springs if you want to make it right. Springs are about $120. I don't know enough about it to know why.

Because the baby Tiger isn't competing with the Street R, Its competing with KTMs and BMW....both or which are a higher price point.

That is what spring cost...at a minimum, track guys pay $500 or so for springs all the way around...that isn't installed, you are paying $200 just to take the forks apart.

Check out air cooled Multistrada, especially the 07-09 1100 S?
I might be a little biased since I just bought a 04 1000 DS that had never been registered. You have a longer inseam than me (I'm 5'10 with a 28" inseam btw). Handles like a sport bike in the twisties or near enough for my liking, suspension is long enough and plush enough (when set up right) to deal with the pot hole riddled, crack infested washboards that claim to be called roads around here. Only real complaints I have about it are that's taalll, stock mirrors and seat are criminally bad. I'll be fixing that soon enough.
It is a bit thirsty for gas though.. averaging 37mpg in mixed city/freeway/twisties according the trip computer though I think a lot of that is because I let my wheelie happy roommate borrow it for a few afternoons since her Norge is grounded waiting for new rotors. After borrowing it for an afternoon ride through the mountains commented that she realized she could never own a bike like this when she passed a park ranger doing 90 in a 25mph and he was rather irate that she lifted the front wheel coming out of a corner, repeatedly. I told her to be nice to my poor Multistrada and took the poor thing for a scenic ride the next afternoon.

Supposedly the real fix for damper rod forks is to drill out the damping holes and install a cartridge emulator, to make them behave like a proper cartridge fork.

I go back and forth on doing this with my bike - it needs fork springs anyway, and while I'm in there... We'll see.

Very well said.

It's an interesting dilemma. At first glance you'd think there would be tons of mid sized bikes but they are all "adventure" style machines which is where the OP already finds himself. I test rode the BMW 800ST and had the same complaint as the OP. I went with my Bonneville because my criteria were slightly different from the OP's.

Perhaps a Ducati Monster might work if that isn't too sporty? Or a lightly used Suzuki Bandit, the half faired 1250 is nice, if a little on the large side. I'd like a Triumph Sprint as I'm no longer afraid of modern O-ring chains if I were seeking more oomph.

Actually, a lot of people DO buy them for utility. A lot of SUVs are purchased in lieu of getting a minivan or the like. Why? Because those same CAFE standards mean that the days of hooking up the trailer/boat and throwing the kids in the back of the station wagon to head out to the lake for a weekend (or vacation) are gone, gone, gone.

If you want to tow a boat (13 million registered in the US as of 2007), a camper, or a trailer of dirt bikes, ATVs, snowmobiles, etc, you HAVE to use a truck or SUV these days. Throw in a couple of kids and it's either an SUV or a mutant crew cab truck.

So no, SUVs aren't about Americans being gullible. It's about Americans having a certain set of requirements, desires, and aspirations, and for a lot of Americans, SUVs meet those.

Get a Triumph Bonneville Scrambler. Uncork it. Put a turbo on it.

Thread might be dead, but...

I am looking hard at the 2011 Honda CB1000r!!! It feels very comfy for my 5'6" frame. Almost fully adjustable suspension. Good brakes. I actually like it's goofy looks. Givi makes a rear rack and a soft luggage frame. Ride reviews say it is the slowest but most easy to flick of shoot outs agains the Kawasaki z1000 and the Speed triple. That almost clinches it right there. It is the most detuned. I mean... I'm on a Wee 'ya know!

Test road an '05 SV1000. Would have bought it if once again I could live with a riding position where my lateral malleolus is only 15 degrees lower than my lateral femoral epicondyle and the latter only 25 degrees lower than my greater trochanter. Too much knee bend, pain in hip.

I bet you % 90 of the SUV 's sold in the USA is not hooking up to any trailer in their life span. Have you ever seen a Cadillac, Lexus, BMW or a Mercedes SUV(just to name a few) towing something/anything???
Most of the SUV's and trucks sold in this country is being used in lieu of a mini van or people think they are safer.

And because they are big. I get the impression that in the US bigger is still considered better by a lot of people.

My approach is to get the smallest car that gets the job done for me. As I use my car mainly for weekend activities with 3 to 4 people, it's not a super small one (midsize sedan), but I'm rarely alone in it ... not like 80% of the SUVs I see here in the Bay Area that are mostly driven by women either alone or with a single kid.

School Run Mum.

I avoid them at all costs, they are harassed, late, sleep deprived, and think themseves impregnable.

And they don't seem to look out for motorcycles..

Go to any motox/XC/desert race/boat ramp and there are tons of real SUV's lining the pits hooked to trailers. now when i say real SUV's i mean Suburban&#8217;s, Tahoe&#8217;s, Excursions, and other truck framed SUV's. i have also seen lots of people in cute utes as well with small 2 bike trailers. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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Me well i roll around in a 3/4 ton diesel crew cab, all day everyday by myself. Then on the weekend i hook up one of my trailers and load up the guys and go have fun! <o></o>
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Do you use the GS in your sig to its full potential? Or did you just buy it to go to Starbucks? Not picking on you just pointing out that broad generalizations aren&#8217;t always true. <o></o>

That sounds like a broad generalization right there

No I do not use my GS to it's full potential. However I've seen it done at the BMW off-road course by the pro instructors and %99 of the riders on this forum or anywhere else are not capable of doing what I saw. As a side note, I don't want to use it to it's full potential because I'm not that rich to replace parts after every ride with plenty of drops and falls.

Call me when I can haul two bikes, three people, a 120 pound dog and all associated crap in a prius.

Until then, viva la F-150.