I'm sure of my mind; if I had enough � for the F800GS then I would buy on over the Ten no question. It's simply better for what I do with the bike, and I think therein lies the answer. Motorcycling is such a fickle pursuit. :)

Alway ask yourself this....
 

When you look at two bikes (or cars), one nearly always stands out as superior, but the big question is; is it ����� superior ?

Take this,

I had a BMW330, fast as you like, very nice car, but it drove like a pig with anything les than 3-4mm of tread (that and taking out a fox at stupid speeds).

I got rid of it in favour of a 2.2 SRI Vectra.

Now the BM was a much better car than the Vectra, but the BMUU was �30k and the vectra �10k. was the BMUU �20k better than the Vectra - nope, so I stuck with the Vectra.

Same is true with bikes, sure the BMUU's have some advantages, but are they �2-3k advantages ? no, I don't think so (but this is very subjective). And if you were stuck in outer-nowhere next to a village bike mechanic and a coke machine, which bike would you rather have........ ?

It's the fickle differences that make real bikers what they are, otherwise we'd all be dressed like Power Rangers and take our shiney 600 or 1000 cc sportsbikes out 3 sunny sundays a year...

Thank the god of biking for :weathermanf4[1]:

It was the 40bhp advantage that would persuade me to take the F800 over the Ten. If I'd had the � then paying (at the time) �2.5-3k for an extra 40bhp would be worth it.
Swings and roundabouts. There are days when I miss the 160bhp the busa had, and it's ability to demolish distance. I don't miss the constant checking of the mirrors and the 24mpg though...

I have a friend who just completed 21K from Alaska to Argentina on an F800GS.

http://beerbarontravels.blogspot.com...1_archive.html

He seems to really rate it for for putting in the miles on mixed terrain, but he can't do a comparison with the ten as he's never ridden one. I know he looked at one for the trip but wondered if the smaller bike would cope with the weight of what he was carrying over the miles. Plus everyone else was going on BMW's and the organizer had arranged service stops at BMW dealers along the route.

Shame I didn't know about this place when he was making up his mind about the bike at the beginning of this year. I think he may have been convinced.

I know we're comparing the F800 with the Tenere but this is the same reasoning I chose the Ten over the F650! By the time you add in any extra's you reasonably want on the BMU It was looking at �1500 or so more than the Ten was at the time. Sure it would have been happier on the road but not �1500 happier to me.

Certainly there is very little that compares with the Tenere in it's own price bracket. Suzuki Bandit excepted of course but then strangely enough a lot of people like them as you get a lot for your money.

Difference is we're comparing a bike on a functional/utilitarian basis with this comparison. If I had the money and it was just riding it for fun my choice may well be different (more stripped down basic off-roader or bigger/faster tourer).

For now though the Tenere does everything I wanted it to and i'm probably one of the few people in Kent who genuinely enjoy a 100 mile daily commute and look forward to it as the best part of the day - well worth selling my car for :)

The question is rather would you swap 2 Tenere's for one F800?

I used to drive a 2004 F650GS with ABS, after a year and 15000km's i wanted something else.
The BMW drove very nice, but had to little wind protection.
It had a very nice fuel consumption between 26-30km's per liter.
A very nice bike to begin with.

I always liked the looks of offroad bikes.
So i compared 2 bikes: F800 / XTZ660

At first, i had to wait another year to buy the 800 due to the fact it cant be converted to 25kw. So that was a big point.

Second was the enormous difference in price, (€8500,- vs. €12.700,-)
The €12.700,- is an 800 without any extra's (computer/abs)
The Ten isn't available with ABS :( but had a very nice computer and big tank.
I think the ABS would still be very usefull in some occasions.

Then there was another big problem, getting it behind the house.
As i need to go through a small path with a 90 degree corner.
I also had this problem with the F650, but i could go through in one turn.
I measured the handlebars and found out that the ten wasn't much wider.

The 800 has passengerpegs that make it very wide on the back end.
So it would be impossible to get behind the house.

This made my choice a lot easier, so i sold the beemer and immediately went to the Yamaha dealer.
There was a blue ten with some extra's for a nice price.
It already got:
SW-motech trax cases (black)
SW-motech crash bars
SW-motech center stand
SW-motech luggage rack
Yamaha handguards.

It only had to be converted to 25kw, so it had to go on the dyno.
Eventually it was €9200,- (8295.68,- GBP) all included.

Then i started looking for a good insurance.
I got one that covers everything, this would cost me €800,- each year.
But with alarm it would only cost €600,- so thats what i did.
The alarm cost me about €450,-.
The BMW would have costed an extra €300,- euros at least.

So i was (and still am) very happy with my decision.
Although i already spend all the leftover money on extra's like:
TT Fog lights
TT Handguards + frameguard + headlight protector
TT rear end bag
Oxford grips
+ probably forgot something



PS) Too bad i never got to drive the 800 in order to compare the handling (as i may only drive a max of 25kw).
But the ten isn't very different from the f650, so im very happy with it.

I have to try twice before i can get behind the house, but thats not a problem.
When im in a hurry i can always put it in front of our house.

I drove the first 1000km's within 5 days, even the dealer was impressed :D

I also considered the F800GS and currently also have a 57 plate K12S with all the trimmings.

BMW's cost a bloody fortune to run - fact!

You must consider the depreciation, service costs and extended warranty into the bargain as a no warranty BMW is a scary thought. Can you fix it on the side of the trail on that adventure ride? Probably not if it's really bust and who wants ABS on a trailie??

I test rode the 1200GSA/GS & 800GS and quite honestly would not want to be off piste on them over the Tenere. I've ridden off road a fair bit in competition and wanted a simpler bike that could be ridden off road 'fairly' hard and the same on the road - I think the Tenere fits the bill, time will tell.. As for the GS stigma....

The KTM 690 Adventure would have been my first choice if it existed - but it doesn't unless you build your own and have >�10k to throw at it.

The GSA does go to unusual places. This is Christmas day on a Scotish hilltop walking (!) the dogs. No roads up here.
http://i310.photobucket.com/albums/k...d_DSCN0068.jpg

And here later that night with SWAMBO on the Quad at the same place, again walking the dogs.
I dropped it twice that night when it ran out of traction halfway up a hill.
http://i310.photobucket.com/albums/k...d_DSCF3200.jpg

The GSA will do the piste stuff, the programmable traction control and ABS are a bonus in the snow but the Tenere is still a better bike. The BMW just does not inspire the confidence that the Ten does.

The reason I have both is that after buying the Ten we soon realised it was not big enough to carry 2 on an RTW trip (my opinion of course). We still have it because I cannot bear to part with it.
Like Tim, mine will be transported to southern Spain soon for short solo trips to Marocco and the Spanish Hills.
When the new Super Tenere becomes available, the GSAs days may well be numbered.
BMW wanted �52 for an auxillary light switch which they would not replace as I had installed a second "indicator off" switch behind it. (This is actuated by the side of my left idex finger and has made the BMW bearable to ride.)

On the plus side, on the 23rd December, I rode the fully loaded GSA from Hertford to Dumfries (350 miles) in sub zero temperatures - minus 6 at one point - with only one stop for coffee and only 1 tank of fuel. I filled up Hoddesdon then just outside Dumfries 6 hours and 340 miles later riding most of the time at 60-80 mph. (An Accelerator fuel mod had been fitted).

The BMW is a great but expensive bike that has no real comparison the Tenere. The thing that scares me is the complexity of it. I made the mistake of ordering it with all the toys on it :BangHead:

Ray.........note the graphics on the helmet !

I've just traded a 93,000 mile, 2005 GS1150 ADV in for a Tenere, collect it at weekend with 2010 reg. It will be sharing my garage with a GS1200 ADV, (and a WR250 which I use for the real dirty stuff cos it's nice n light and can be hauled out of ditches, peat bogs and hedges relatively easily lol...).

The 1200GS is ideal as a distance tourer and will get plenty of miles as it is the primary means of delivering the tours that I run as a part time job (gotta pay for all the bikes somehow...). It's far too heavy as a serious off roader though unless you are built like "Man Mountain". It is however superb at lugging big loads long distances with very little effort and with lots of comfort.

The Ten will fit in perfectly as commuter/weekender/green laner etc. and keep some of the mileage off the GS on shorter tours to the west of Ireland trailbike country) etc. I'm hoping to stop the dealer smirking too much when it comes to trade in time for the BM, the feckers, (good old Irish word that is just about acceptable) know there is little chance of shifting a high mileage, young, BMW privately and offer peanuts accordingly.

Looking forward to working the Tenere quite hard for the first few months, may as well see what will break while it's still under warranty ha ha! Early plans are for a couple of weekend jaunts to Scotland and Wales, and a week long recce trip to the south of France in May as well as the usual running around. Modified seat is already in the pipeline...

I'm hoping I'll have the best of both worlds :)

I'll be able to give a far better comparison once I have a few thousand miles on it - that won't be too long...

Catchya's