The MAM Journals -BMW F 850 GS , A Bike for All Reasons? 

Excellent review, Sir. Just bought one, and other viewpoints are always interesting to me. Gotta, say, too… love the tone and delivery. Welcome departure from the typical fanboy content with the bombastic soundtrack. Well played.

Thanks for the videos this year! Merry Christmas

Great video, thanks Michael.

Great video Michael. Very informative. I’ve never had an adventure bike. Who knows, maybe one day. Stay safe, stay well. 👍🏍️

Excellent review 👏

Another great video review of a fantastic bike. Crap weather too but it didn't dampen your spirits. Well done. 🫡

A very good video again! Thank You!

A review on the F 900 GS would be interesting! Thank you sir! Marc, Quebec, Canada 🇨🇦🎄🏍

something that's not mentioned too much, is sure the 850 feels lighter than the 1250, but the 850 lies flat when dropped as is harder to pick up. Good review, thanks.

Was curious if you did a review on the F 750 GS as well. Do appreciate honesty and you hold nothing back.

Just one more comment Michael, like you I usually keep my bikes clean, couple of them are ceramic coated but that doesn’t make the engine any easier at this time of year. I watched an Australian detailer using a no touch method with a totnador and a jet wash. I’ve been using the tornador on those difficult to reach engine areas and it works really well.

Great video!

Once again, nicely done. I could never understand why someone would want to take a 1250 off road. Dropping a bike off road is after all, very common. An 850 is still rather large, but with its design and tech, is as you said, likely quite capable. Cheers

top reviw thank you

cool vid, Im going to try to pick up the new 900 in spring, if I cannot get one Ill probably see if I can get a leftover 850

Nice video, I’ve had 7 x 1200/1250 GS over the years and I now have this exact 850GS. I’ve given mine quite a thrashing and it’s a good road bike easily keeping up with my mates V4 Multistrada on twisty bitumen. It’s better than the 1250 in traffic and better in the dirt too but it’s not as comfortable as the big GS and the brakes aren’t as good either. Nothing is perfect.

Yes you are right about 1970's Japanese tyres, I ended up on my ar se a few times, they were terrible and I still am nervous on wet roads.I have never noticed theses spoked wheels before they are laced to the rim presumably for tubeless tyres and there is no spoke nuts.

Good review again thank you. Try GT85 spray on the wheels. Ideal for cleaning and protecting those rims I’ve found.

😂😂😂amusing, informative and comprehensive 👍👌👏

I like your style of reviewing (ya pretty much cover everything, which is great!!). IMO the F-850 is a pretty darn good "do-it-all" motorcycle, that soon will be replaced with the new F-900GS, (and based on its different look, will be MORE "off-road" focused). Also, I'm glad BMW is coming out with the new F-800GS (the same looks as the current road-focused F-750GS, but with a bit more power and "supposed" better/ smoother quick-shifter ?!?

what are these things like for owners? are they reliable ? are service costs out of this world?

Indeed, who could forget 1970’s era Yokohama tyres, or Cheng Shin Rubber Industries offerings. Fine in the dry but on cold wet, greasy winter roads, introduced fear, uncertainty and doubt in to every ride.

Steady on Michael. Faffing around with Buttons in pantomime season could be risky. 😂😱

No radar/cruise control, right? Or i just missed it. Thanks for this informative video.

Hello Michael, is the quick shifter better/ smoother on this F-850 GS or the new Suzuki Vstrom 800 you reviewed as well? I'd like your thoughts/ opinion

I have a 750, 2nd one after testing both and preferring the 750 (don’t do off road), I do have 1250, 1200 air cooled and a C400GT scooter. I love the 750 and the new model that’s about a year old now is better than my previous model that didn’t ride well in anything but dynamic. Done tours two up and not really found any real difference between this and any of the others. Although the 750 is down on power it doesn’t feel too different on the road and according to BMW website it’s only 0.6 seconds slower to 60mph than the 1250. With you on 70’s tyres recall that square shape hard plastic tyre that was truly scary in the wet. I did eventually get some Pirelli phantoms and they were a revelation.

I was looking for a “road touring” bike that I can install rear panniers… What concerns with the chain drive versus the shaft drive on the GS1300 trigger?

I've just taken one of these out on a test ride. A used, lovely Sport model, all the options ticked. Im absolutely torn. Im at the end of my pcp with my street triple RS, and there's £1000 in px value for the triumph against the bmw. I do like to have a hoon as well as tour, so my other bike is a gsxs1000gt which is bloody great. The thing is, though, a lot of the roads i like to hoon about are rough as hell. The peak district is an hour away, and the gs would be so much better than the street. Cons, i found the gs too tall as I've only 29" legs, a bit of a handful at junctions, but i could get used to it, i think. It's not as tall as a T7 world raid. The le ers had been set for standing up, which was a pain on the road. Brakes take a lot of stopping when hammering into a corner, but i could get used to that too. Tall screen, top position still noisy unless you lean forward, on low setting even worse. The engine was really entertaining, lively and punchy, and sounded good too as it has an akrapovic can. It's also a bit of a stretch as I'd need to find £7000 to buy it against just over £5000 to buy the street. What should I do?

Love your reviews, Michael: no "hey, what's up guys", just great, no nonsense information. A quick question on your lowered-suspension 1250 (sorry the question's not about the 850): I've owned both a standard and lowered GS - the latter being the 1250 - and I found the handling on the lowered version to be very different, as in much slower and lazy-feeling (I eliminated the tyres as being the culprit.) So much so that I ended up selling it and buying a Tiger 900. What has your experience been?

After test riding a GS1200 and finding it an uninspiring blimp, I had a F800GS for a few years and found it a pretty good bike. Since then BMW have fallen into the bigger is better (not) trap with ridiculous prices. Plenty of better value and capable alternatives out there.

Hello, thank you very much for your reviews, they are very nice. I'm considering a V strom 800 DE or a BMW F 850 GS. I drive 70% back roads and 30% field and forest roads. Which one would you recommend? Thank you Ales

how does it compare with the Zuki 800 RE you tested also recently?

Good evening, how many Kilometers dose your motorbike have ? I have the same bike and after 800/900 km it showed up an annoying ticking noise appeared coming from cylinders. Does yours do it too ? It is normal? Thank you

😊👍🙏

we need you to on UK TV

do you think the low suspension would be ok off road with the proper protection?

Yes I made it! I'm in the 54%. Just barely. lol 64 for a few more months!!!!!

The more I look at this type of bike the more I realise I don't like them. Thankfully there's something out there for all tastes.

The 750 (now 800) is the better road bike. Lower, lighter, cheaper and better handling. I had both bikes at one point and I couldn’t tell any power difference, plus the higher tuned engine felt harsher and the big 21” front wheel just understeers on tight cornering. Yes, the suspension is a little more budget on the 750 but it’s the better choice for the vast majority of riders. Don’t get sucked into the rufty-tufty off road image of the 850. It’s just taller and more of a handful on or off road. Ironically BMW seems to have agreed as the new 900 is much more of an off road bike.

Not so impressive part of technology. Heavy as hell