Ran out of gas on the highway, 4km from the gas station.

But a pair of friendly bikers quickly stopped and went for a bottle of fuel.

Thank you guys

The local bike shop had the traditional spring event to celebrate the start of the season today.

Part of the event was a Dyno contest to see who had the strongest bike.

Even with my level of self confidence, I knew that I was not going to beat R1's or Hayabusa's with the F800S, but I thought it would be interesting to see how my bike was doing.

Officially, the F800 is 85 hp, but most magazine tests shows a little more power. So if the stock bike is around 90 hp, you will expect around 80 hp on the rear wheel due to transmission loss.

My F800 is equipped with a Remus Hexacone exhaust and (obviously) a BoosterPlug, so I was interested in seeing how my bike was doing with these mods.

As you can see from the chart below the F800 had above 87 rear wheel hp. Calculating backwards, this means that I have between 95 and 100 hp on the crankshaft. 

That's obviously a very good result and exceeding my expectations, but I'm actually more impressed by the very linear power curve. The 4000-5000 rpm dip you see on other F800's are (almost) not there.

On other bikes, you will often see the max power 500-1000 rpm before the red line RPM, but the F800 was gaining power all the way up to the rev limit.

A matte plastic disc with 8 yellow LED's that fits perfectly between the fairing and the BMW Logo.

Very good quality, but took a few hours to install.

Anyway – It was worth it and I'm really happy with the result.

They are only listed for the F800R, but fits perfectly in the F800S, and blends in with the lower edge of the fairing.

Just for looks – no practical reason….

Will reduce low speed cam chain rattle.

This little tool makes it a lot easier to pull the ignition coils / spark plug caps.

Made by Wunderlich (Germany)

I was not sure about if this was a real improvement or just a fancy farkle, but after 10 minutes on my favorite bumpy backroad, there's no doubt that the front wheel ability to stick to the road is much better now.

Installed in less than one hour.

This helmet lock is actually made for a R1200C, but with a custom made bracket, it actually fits the F800S – and of course the lock is coded to fit the ignition key.

A simple one piece spring loaded plastic gizmo that will keep the throttle in position if you push it down towards the brake lever with your index finger.

Throttle is kept steady while you relax your right hand, but you can easily close the throttle if necessary.

Brilliant piece of kit for USD 19.95

I had two issues with my Tomtom Rider2: The connection between the GPS unit and the cradle was failing because the plastic on both parts had wear from the vibrations in the Moto Guzzi where I used the Tomtom for a few years. Also, the RAM ball installation point in the left handlebar pipe (se earlier post) could no longer be tightend and the weight from the GPS and the cradle would rotate the RAM ball.

So I decided to go for the newer Garmin Zumo 660.

I spend a lot of time on the installation, finding a good location for the RAM ball and modifying the cable harness.

Obviously, I wanted to make the installation look as "integrated" as possible, not having the GPS unit sitting way out in some weird angle, but still with the dashboard fullly visible. And even though Garmin made the cradle and wire harness for permanent installation, I wanted the possibility to remove the cradle, so I had to cut up the harness to install a couple of waterproof connectors.

I think the location you can see in the pictures is really good
Installation on the cradle takes less than two minutes, and I can see dashboard and GPS display – even with the large tankbag installed.

I kind of like the BMW sport panniers for the F800. They are the right size for me, well made, and excellent integrated into the bike – and you can code the locks for the ignition key

As everything BMW they are not cheap, but price and quality seems to match well here.

I also like that there's not much of a luggage rack visible on the side of the bike when the boxes are not installed. Well done !

But there was no way I could live with the clumsy cast aluminum topcase rack from the F800ST that is nexessary to lock the panniers on to the bike. So I had to modify the locking pins to fit the SW Motech topcase rack. Now that it's done it look quite easy, but it took a lot of belly-scrtching to get it right.

I'm very satisfied with the result.

/Jens

Ilmberger Carbon tank center cover

Ilmberger Carbon side panels

Combined tool with spark plug wrench, hex adapter for front wheel and Torx wrenches

Quicklock adapter attached to fake tank cover (I bought a used one on eBay so I didn't have to drill holes in the original one.

SW-Motech Tank Bag "Trip"

SW-Motech Tank Bag "Engage Sport"