Background
I tested My F800GS project bike on many trips, one or 2 up, on and off road around. I bought the F800GS second hand from the dealership with about 7’000k. It is sold as a dual-sport bike, road and off-road, but the weight and power delivery are suited for the more mundane type of trails. I know, I’ve tried! It is a really good bike, and the ’17 version with enduro riding modes should solve the main issue I found, which I call the “twitchy throttle”. I’m not good enough not to stall in those narrow rock trails we find in Morrocco and that typically ends with the bike on its side…
Modifications
I made a number of changes to turn the F800GS project bike from a roadster to an actual adventure bike. Range has never been an issue for what I do, it is a frugal engine, so no need for a bigger tank really.
- Seat: Ok, I may have a soft bum, but I couldn’t sit on the original one more than 60-90m. It seems the new ones are softer, but the original ones where meant for you to stand on the pegs… I happily do 6-8hrs a day on the saddle, so a better solution had to be found. I added the Wunderlich Ergo seat in regular height. Much better. But for really long trips it wasn’t quite enough and after 3-4 days I’d need to stop more often. The Airhawk is now on top of the Wunderlich for longer trips. It doesn’t look as fancy as sheepskin I suppose but it does work REALLY well. And the pillion lov’em too!
Post trail day workout. Jesse Pannier frame, rock straps, and Wunderlich carrier plate. F800GS Project Bike.
- Cockpit: I needed a higher screen, since the stock one is really there for decoration. I tried a Wunderlich one but found I couldn’t add GPS and other toys behind it. I saw the Desierto 3 from Touratech which has a movable screen and a large opaque protection. I fitted some metal screen in it to attach Ram balls. It is a neat installation but when I went for the first real long Morrocco trip the bolts came off and I had to tape the screen. I now use longer bolts with wing nuts that I can see getting loose and tighten in easily. Locking nuts don’t work because I need to be able to move the screen up (highway) and down (trail).
- Panniers: Having done a bit of research on Horizon Unlimited and others back in 2011 it became obvious that the best compromise for me was the Jesse Luggage Odyssey II pannier set. They are the tightest around the bike (in fact so tight the fuel cap touches the right pannier when opened) and can be moved back and worth depending on whether you have a pillion, so optimise weight balance. The shape means getting legs trapped underneath is minimised, and the aluminium forge is really strong, whilst being somewhat light. They are very easy to fill, especially as I have the liner bags. I can even fit my tent in the deep door. Lovely outfit. The newer version is the Traveller, that includes spare fuel tanks between the panniers and the bike. Didn’t expect they’d be much room there! I use the Panniers for the longer, multi week, onroad trips with a pillion.
- Top Box/Luggage: The top box is a BMW Vario, but I use mostly drybags and duffles. I’ve had the Wunderlich Vario Carrier which I found to be cumbersome to use as the botls come off on trails. the idea is nice but only worth it on road. I have since bought a Jesse carrier plate, and bolted the BMW Vario box on it to I can use it for both bags and the hard top box. The latter is better when travelling around and sightseeing as you can leave stuff there without tempting stealers. Also allows the pillon to rest.
- Crash Bars: I use the these from Wunderlich. They certainly were put to great use as I’m prone on bike dropping in low speed rock trails. They got destroyed in a freak roundabout incident, where the right bar got caught in front fender of a car and ripped the bolts from the bottom of the engine. Required an insured full exchange of the engine! The bike was close to being a write-off because of it. This is not due to that particular crash bar since they all attach there. Freaky nonetheless… They’ve been replace by stock BMW bars.
- Fog Lights:
- Others:
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