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BMW F850 GS


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Take a moment to read the comments on this Instagram post featuring what most would normally call a pretty compelling new adventure motorcycle:

 

I mentioned earlier that BMW has seemed to taken quite a hit from the way they handled the stanchion issue and it appears I was onto something.

 

But it goes beyond that. And what's with the gold rims? BMW is now emulating the Africa Twin? There has to be BMW engineers and designers pulling their hair out over this one.

 

You are BMW Motorrad! Just be BMW! "Me too" gold rims makes you look small.

 

Most comments are related to it being boring, safe, unoriginal but many expressing doubt of reliability/safety.

 

This brand is truly in crisis mode.

 

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Being here at EICMA and being able to see all of the new bikes in person really made me wonder why no one was talking about this one. I clicked through all of the normal ADV focused instagram pages and saw that touratechusa was the only IG that I follow had posted anything about it after BMW officially pulled the cover on it. I have to admit I took a photo of it on my first round of the show, but I didn't really look at the bike. I had to go back a 2nd time to really check it out. 

BMW made a lot more significant changes to this than Honda did to the AT or Triumph did to the 800 Tiger, but I saw the latter two posted all over the place. It all just made me curious as to the reason why this was/is so. 

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reminds me of the same-but-not-same colour scheme schuberth's plastered on one of their helmets. so so close to the colour scheme of one of icon's variant helmets, which was issued earlier.

do they think people are dumb enough that they aren't going to notice and/or ponder on how lame it is?

the lack of originality. makes you wonder what else they cut corners on.

people want to by a bike that sticks out and that is more and better than that other one. not a bland and approximate copy of another model/brand.

and we all know that the first impression you get after that first look is usually what makes all the difference. and if it's bad, it's going hard to get people to get over it.

seriously?

icon's original variant:

icon-zebra.jpg.fbafebe998218cd59a81db4bf5a63022.jpg

and schuberth's later design:

s-e1-hunterred.jpg.fc74b46a3fcb46d222da9a44e436dfaa.jpg

Edited by beemer bunny
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Good find, Eric. The more I learn about the 850, the more I like it! (And I have never been a fan of the current 800GS') The hype surrounding the KTM and Yamaha really overshadowed this thing, but I think it'll rise from the ashes of a failed launch and surprise some people. In person and up close, the Yamaha is a great bike to look at, but a lot of the design and construction makes it looks about as capable as a V-Strom :o.

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3 minutes ago, motoguru said:

BMW used a similar scheme on the R80GS way back when, but yeah, the gold wheels are definitely from a page in Honda's playbook.  

my bad. i should have been more specific.

the same colours were there on the 80GS, but as far as the design of the decals goes, it's definitely closer to those of today's africa twin.

thinner lines and motifs, as opposed to the rather large coloured blocks that were on the older 80GS :-)

and well, as you correctly point out, the gold rims have honda written all over them. they could have avoided those. it would have distanced the bike from the AT, as far as looks go.

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1 hour ago, beemer bunny said:

my bad. i should have been more specific.

the same colours were there on the 80GS, but as far as the design of the decals goes, it's definitely closer to those of today's africa twin.

thinner lines and motifs, as opposed to the rather large coloured blocks that were on the older 80GS :-)

Totally.

 

I'm also playing a bit of devils advocate. ;-)

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