Ok in the right thread now:
Well anyway, the motorcycle part of my New Zealand trip is over, and here are a few pictures of a top box for you:
Bluff is the bottom of NZ, and some people did some painting on some walls.
3,450 miles in 18 days. It isn't my longest trip in distance, but distance per days I think it is. I did about 4k through Europe and the Balkans but that was over almost a month.
The F800GS (with the 900cc engine now apparently) is decent enough here. If I had to use one word to describe it, it'd be "friendly". The seat is low, as are the pegs. I touched a foot down in the first 20 minutes, and again on an over-eager upshift exiting a corner. And more recently I think the centre stand. It's on road tyres but obviously being a GS its ergos are set up for standing too, and I did quite a few km over gravel trails to get places, where it was pretty confidence inspiring. I think Enduro mode on this is much softer on the throttle map than the 1250 and 1300GS models though, which whilst "friendly" to beginners, got a bit boring and made it difficult to play around with the rear. So to speak.
With it not being my KTM it also was a bit soft on the brakes, and didn't like trail braking very much. Getting unsettled on aggressive corner entry especially. So I had to stop that. As ever with the GSs it seems Dynamic suspension mode isn't quite taught enough for proper progress making, and Road is too soft for normal road riding. Especially with the variable states of roads here. But then it isn't marketed or built for that and I was just pushing to see.
I was thinking whether I'd get one if I lived here, given 140kph in a 100kph zone here means you're getting the bus/horse home. But if I was trapped in the BMW house I'd still get the 1300GS over this. The only bit where this wins - for me - is occasionally it sounds nice. I never found the 1250 or 1300 excited me with the noises they made. This one sometimes sounded decent. Oh and the quick-shifter was generally much smoother, but we all know that's a boxer weak point.
Now i'm on 4 wheels in some Rav4 hybrid thing that... has 4 wheels. That about covers the important details of my review after 50km in it.
