| | | | Road test: BMW F800S & ST |  Written: 04/04/2006 : 14:35. Read 18866 times (25/day). | | The integrality of this filed article is for Premium Members. | The parallel twin is back with BMW’s extension of the F series. BMW launched two new motorcycles with parallel twin engines in South Africa. On sun drenched mountain roads we got to sample BMW’s attack on the midrange motorcycle market. F800S & ST is an instant bull’s eye and we predict a riot, to the BMW dealer.
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Since we first had a look at BMW F800S in Milan last autumn it has been an exciting prospect. No one has ever doubted BMW’s technical abilities or know-how, but a new engine in a new market is a huge task for a motorcycle manufacturer. BMW has got such belief in this new F-series model that they have launched two versions straight away. One S, half-faired sports bike and one ST, sports tourer with extensive fairing and high windscreen. BMW wants to place these models in the midrange market as a step up from its current F650C Scarver model. But this is also a direct attack on a market where the Japanese manufacturers are very dominant. F800S did not disappoint.
After hitting the starter button, (you can actually hit it as it is a BMW-starter button on top of right hand handlebar), the 798cc parallel twin with 360 degree firing order wakes to life. Even though a mega-sized silencer strangle most of the sound there is still no doubt about what sort of engine this is. It’s a vertical twin, think old and new Triumph’s, Kawasaki ER6n, Yamaha TDM (and the old TRX 850) and MZ 1000S. BMW has now joined the club with the help of Rotax in Austria. BMW elaborated that the F800S and ST is only the start and there is a big future for the F-series. At least this is what BMW hopes for in between the word dynamic and high tech that keeps popping up in each BMW press conference that I have attended. But here is yet another model series that is just those things. BMW experimented with several different engine configurations such as V-twin but decided on the parallel twin as it fits the bill perfectly. Criteria’s are plenty of usable torque, balance, fun and low weight.
I am at the world launch in South Africa and today’s route is mostly mountainous with some fast coastal roads added for fun. I am not sure whether BMW added the baboons in the road for fun too, but I stopped to play anyway. After taking some pictures of my fury friends with shit-ugly butts I headed further North along South Africa’s never ending west coast. I found myself in the middle of a group of leather clad baboons from Germany that were roughly on my level (ye ...
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