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BMW F900XR


stevesweetz

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So here's BMW's Tracer 900 competitor.

Looks pretty good.  One notable detail missing from the linked site is weight.  219kg = 482lb.  Little disappointed on that.

Tank seems a little small at 4.1 gallons, but a F850GS gets 57mpg (claimed).  Assuming this gets at least 50mpg in the real world, that would give it similar range to the Tracer.

As a BMW, of course everything, even a center stand, is an option. No pricing announced, but based on F850GS prices,  I'm guessing that spec'd out similarly to the Tracer 900 GT, it will be pushing $16,000 USD.

Dimensionally, looks like it's almost exactly the same size as the Tracer 900.  I was hoping it would be a tad smaller and lighter, closer to the 9cento concept.  Basically Tracer 700 sized, but with higher end parts and tech.

Still very interested in this and will have a tough time deciding between it and Tracer 900 GT if the price ends up being more competitive than I expect.  Would not be a question if Yamaha could put out the 900 in colors that I didn't hate 😕

 

 

110519-2020-BMW-F900XR-f.jpg

We've seen design filings for both the 2020 BMW F900XR and...

 

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I like the looks of that, very much along the lines of its bigger brother.   Don't care at all for the Suzuki Hyabusa-style Japanese/ Chinese-squiggle on the fairing, which it took me a while to figure out reads 'XR'.

Three things can be guaranteed:

1.   Fit and finish will be top-notch.

2.   The twin-cylinder engine will be much less engaging than our Tracer's triple.

3.    Even lower-spec models will require you to sell your first-born in order to afford them: top-spec bikes will be priced out of the reach of mere mortals.                 

Nevertheless, I say again - oi loike! 

 

LATER EDIT after viewing more info on the BMW - NO CRUISE CONTROL!   But worse still, on this model the original BMW F800 GT's belt-drive has been ditched for chain...

Edited by wordsmith
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Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia.   

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This is always an exciting time of year with all the new bikes being revealed. the BMW F900XR looks real nice, but I don't want an inline twin as a sport touring bike. Also don't forget Harley Davidson released pictures of their two new boat anchors😈

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He who dies with the most toys wins.

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I test rode an F800GT before getting an FJ-09 and that bike had the least charm of any bike I've ever ridden.  However, at that point the BMW "F" engine had a fairly unusual  360° firing order (where the pistons both went up and down together, but fired alternately).  The new engine has a 270° firing order. 

I have test ridden MT-07s and XSR700s on several occasions and I quite like the bike.  I also rented an Africa Twin (also a 270° p-twin) and did like 150 miles on it; I wasn't a huge fan of the bike overall for various reasons, but it probably had the most charm of any Honda I've ever ridden.  Engine actually sounded pretty good when you spun it up.  I think I could live with a 270° p-twin, but yeah probably still no match for the CP3 on charm.

Edited by stevesweetz
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I owned a BMW F800 GT long before the Tracers came along.   In many ways it was an excellent bike, but the killer was the pathetic asthmatic engine.   Once going it was OK - just - but getting it going was an exercise in patience. 

Much more recently, and just for the heck of it, I took a test-ride on a used F800 GT from the local BMW dealership, where I am pretty well-known.   For the above reasons I couldn't get off it quickly enough.   That particular bike sat unsold in the dealership for ages, despite being an immaculate example and well-priced.   Treasure that CP3 engine, chaps!   😎

 

P1000802.JPG

Edited by wordsmith
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Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia.   

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16 hours ago, wordsmith said:

I owned a BMW F800 GT long before the Tracers came along.   In many ways it was an excellent bike, but the killer was the pathetic asthmatic engine.   Once going it was OK - just - but getting it going was an exercise in patience. 

As someone who test rode the FJ-09 and F800GT...and went with the F800GT...I just chuckle when I read about the "pathetic" engine.  :D  Especially after last summer when I had no problem keeping up with bikes putting out about 160 hp at the rear wheel over hundreds of twisty miles.  But it isn't the engine the FJ-09 or Tracer GT has.  That would be sweet.  ;)

I'm looking forward to the comparative reviews.  I think Yamaha did a great job with the FJ-09 and made it even better with the Tracer GT.  BMW will have a high standard to try to beat.  And the Tracer engine is superb.  The fun part will be to see how the entire bike fares.

As for the engine comparisons, that will be interesting to see how they compare.  Hp is higher on the Tracer's engine, but torque is slightly higher on the BMW's.  In real world riding, which works best?  

And the cost difference will be interesting to see.  From what I've seen, dealers don't stock anything but fully optioned ($$$) models.  

As my parents used to do, this is "window shopping" for me.  I'm short; my F800GT fits me like a glove.  And it is paid for.  :D

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So while, as far as I can tell, pricing hasn't been announced for the rest of the world, it seems someone in BMW Canada perhaps made a mistake and listed the price on their press site.

F900R - $10,350

F900XR - $12,800

Those would presumably be in CAD, so that makes it around $9,600 USD.  Actual US price will probably be a bit higher, but that's quite a lot cheaper than I was expecting, considering the F850GS starts at $13,125 USD.

Now of course, being a BMW, no dealer will ever sell the base model, but it doesn't seem probable that it will be the $16,000 I was expecting when decently optioned up.  I think $14,000 when equipped similar to T9GT (centerstand, cruise, heated grips, and panniers) is not out of the realm of possibility and makes it a closer competitor to the Tracer 900 GT than I was expecting.

 

@daboo - My personal beef with the F800GT engine was not a matter of power.  Anything above 80hp is plenty for me.  Rather it was the engine's complete lack character or personality.  I know that's a wholly subjective judgement, but it seemed so muted and appliance-like to me.  As a result the bike felt slow even if wasn't actually slow.  I feel the same about pretty much all 180° or 360° parallel twins I've ridden.  270° twins I quite like however.  Something about the uneven firing order just makes a bike sound and feel better. As mentioned above, I've ridden MT-07s on several occasions and quite like them.  I test rode a Z650 this year (just for fun at a Kawasaki demo), which has a 180°, and while in all other respects it might as well be the same bike as the MT-07, I didn't care for it at all.

I think this is why pretty much all manufacturers making big parallel twins now use 270° crank.  I don't think there's really much mechanical benefit to it in a street bike, it's just to make them sound and feel better.

 

 

 

Edited by stevesweetz
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With nothing to go on except long experience of the pricing of BMWs, I guesstimate that a fully-specced F800XR will retail here for not much less than AUD$21,000 otd, and that is without the panniers that Yamaha's GT has.   AND no cruise-control.  But visually, I still like it, even though it's clearly made of Unaffordium (and no, I won't be getting one).... 

Edited by wordsmith
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Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia.   

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11 hours ago, stevesweetz said:

So while, as far as I can tell, pricing hasn't been announced for the rest of the world, it seems someone in BMW Canada perhaps made a mistake and listed the price on their press site.

F900R - $10,350

F900XR - $12,800

Those would presumably be in CAD, so that makes it around $9,600 USD.  Actual US price will probably be a bit higher, but that's quite a lot cheaper than I was expecting, considering the F850GS starts at $13,125 USD.

UK had also listed prices as starting £9,500 for the XR. The TracerGT sits around £10.500.

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It seems like nowadays people want a versatile motorcycle( commute, track, weekend canyon runs- all in one) that offers best bang for the buck... Yamaha hit a few grand slams with the CP2/CP3 platforms... also to me sadly the likes of premium brands ( Ducati, BMW, Aprilia etc) seem to price out bikes like a "al a carte" food menu... 

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13 hours ago, bugie said:

UK had also listed prices as starting £9,500 for the XR. The TracerGT sits around £10.500.

£9,500 -20% VAT would be £7916 ~= $10,040USD.

So between that and Canadian price maybe we'll see $9,995 starting price in the US.  The question is how much will they ask for centerstand, heated grips, cruise, and panniers.

Here's the full press release for the bike with more details.

https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/global/article/attachment/T0301997EN/441149

If this is available in the US in spring, it's going to be a tough call for me between this and a reduced price leftover 2019 Tracer 900 GT.

Edited by stevesweetz
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On 11/7/2019 at 5:08 AM, daboo said:

Thanks for posting the press release, stevesweetz - makes for very interesting reading.   Among all the clutter of acronyms for everything, I was quite tickled to read that "the XR upright riding position has GS-like ergonomics", a point of comparison I have made here more than once when saying the same things about my GT!   It is a very comfy bike to ride, with its GS-like sit-up-and-beg ergos.

The list of options - all no doubt costly and maybe fragile over the long run - is mind-boggling, but I note BMW have omitted the CAN-BUS powered gimball-mounted sat-nav stabilised cup-holders, but why quibble - everything else is there!   And I bet the cost of the all-in upspecced XR will be equally mind-boggling! 

I look forward to seeing it and reading road-tests and comparos.

Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia.   

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When I first read this, I thought you were saying they got rid of the CAN-BUS.  That alone would be worth it and a major selling point.  :D

Some people like all the gadgets.  Like Ride Modes, Dynamic ESA (Electronic Supension Adjustment) and the like.  Me...I like my motorcycles much simpler.  I toggle through the display options on my F800GT and (don't laugh!) I get the average speed, average MPG, instantaneous MPG and temperature.  That's it.  But that's all I really care about.  I've done some extensive test rides on both the R1200RS and RT.  I didn't find the Dynamic ESA on them to be any better for handling than my rudimentary three-position electronic suspension adjustment.  Sometimes the fancier electronic gadgets are just that...fancier.  Not necessarily better.

I do find it humorous that a selling point of the F800GT was that the gas tank is below the seat for lower CG.  And on the F900XR, they put the gas tank up high again.  Why is it a selling point in both cases?  :D:D:D  If you believe the marketing folks, they'll sell you anything.  :D 

I personally like the belt drive on the F800GT.  It's definitely a plus.  At 49,000 miles, it still looks like new.  I can come in from a rain soaked commute, or touring a 10 hour day, and not have to clean or lube a chain in a motel parking lot.  I can understand the new XR not having a belt...it's the cheapest driveline solution and can take any amount of rear-wheel power you put to it.  But a lot of members on the F800Riders forum are not enthralled with the F900XR because of the belt being dropped.

I'm not a "BMW" man.  I've owned three Suzuki's, two Hondas and now this BMW.  I almost had a Yamaha.  ;)

The cool thing I would think for you guys, is you have the standard by which all the other bikes are measured by.  When anyone thinks of a bike in this category, yours is the one that everyone thinks of first.

Chris

Edited by daboo
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25 minutes ago, daboo said:

When I first read this, I thought you were saying they got rid of the CAN-BUS.  That alone would be worth it and a major selling point.  :D

Some people like all the gadgets.  Like Ride Modes, Dynamic ESA (Electronic Supension Adjustment) and the like.  Me...I like my motorcycles much simpler.  I toggle through the display options on my F800GT and (don't laugh!) I get the average speed, average MPG, instantaneous MPG and temperature.  That's it.  But that's all I really care about.  I've done some extensive test rides on both the R1200RS and RT.  I didn't find the Dynamic ESA on them to be any better for handling than my rudimentary three-position electronic suspension adjustment.  Sometimes the fancier electronic gadgets are just that...fancier.  Not necessarily better.

 

I agree in spades!   I could do without these three featurers for a start: The new F 900 XR also benefits from the technology transfer from the upper class: Adaptive Cornering Light, Keyless Ride or Intelligent Emergency Call are all unique features in the mid-range. 

My GT has enough - but no more than that - electronic features.   And keyless ride (I have had personal experience on my last two BMWs, an R and a GS) often means rideless key, when it malfunctions.

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Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia.   

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