Which bike??

I am thinking of buying a slightly newer bike at present got a BMW r80rt yr86 I have been very happy with it for years but getting a bit heavy for me now I my must haves are it must be reliable a tourer able to cruise at 70 alday long comfortable to ride.apart from my present bike I have had no other bikes so would be thankful for non biased advice cheers jem

How much do you want to spend? thats usually the best place to start when looking at a different bike. follow that up with any "Musts" or "Must nots".

For instance coming from an older Beemer.. would you be happy with a chain driven bike.. or is that out of the question? If the answer is NO. then that means either another Shaft drive. or a Belt. which narrows down the choices somewhat.

If you like big twins ,how about the TDM900

Yeh, what Gerontious said.......unfortunately, I don't think that many of the current crop of middleweights will offer a significant advantage over the RT in terms of weight and manoeuvrability. .....there's the MT09 Tracer with bags but it's not fully faired. Hmmm.

Just looked up the Mt 900 tracer it looks like a racer to me. I am no mechanic but the shaft drive on mine seems good. Upto 3500 to 4000 I think. As I only do touring and infrequently at that the two most important considerations are comfortable riding for long periods and reliability as I like riding them not repairing them

The F800ST... a bike I recommend a lot, having owned its stablemate the F800S weighs more than the RT, However.. you will find that it 'feels' much lighter.. as the petrol tank is under the seat and all the bikes weight is also below the seat, excluding the battery which is under the 'fake' petrol tank. It is also a maintenance free Belt drive. And has now been superseded by the F800GT.

Weight isn't all about 'feel' its also about the effort involved in 'Lifting' the bike upright off its side stand.. and Im someone who knows all about that as i also own a R1100GS.

You can very easily organise a test ride on the new GT which will give you a very good idea of how the ST will perform. The two bikes are practically identical. Mint STs with very low miles are easily found.. they appear for sale all the time. A nice and very torquey smooth parallel twin engine that doesn't have any nasty surprises. ABS is virtually standard and they can easily do 60+mpg. And sit at 80mph all day long. Second handers often come with full luggage... and if not, because the bike existed as a model for 7 years, there are a great number of after market parts and model specific accessories available.. Personally I think its as near to ideal given your requirements as possible and well worth investigating. I would strongly suggest you try out its replacement the F800GT at a local BMW dealership which will allow you to at least rule it out if you don't like it.

And if you do.... Keep your eyes peeled for a 2010 - 2013 model. as these were fully 'sorted'.

From my perspective its biggest.. or one of its biggest plus points aside from the 'light feel' is the Belt drive. which once fitted is completely maintenance free.. needing only a regular visual check for damage. and when the belt wears out and needs replacing, 24000-34000 miles a replacement costs under £130 and can be fitted in about 15 minutes.

here is a source for a replacement belt. Identical in every respect to the BMW original. from the same Manufacturer (Continental) but without the BMW logo and £200 price hike.

https://www.onlinecarparts.co.uk/contitech-7004352.html

Plus 1 to the above

Thanks I will be taking your advice about the test drive it looks interesting

Hi thanks for advice have now bought 1 and very happy with it cheers jem

Hi thanks for advice have now bought 1 and very happy with it cheers jem

Nice to see advice being acted on.

How do you find new bike compares to old?

Which bike did you go for jem, The F800ST or the newer F800GT?

Photos of new bikes are generally required.

Great of course without the full fairing it's a bit less protected from the weather and there isn't any little storage places to keep tools and such but for manoverability power etc so far I have no complaints . One question though I don't seem to be able to drop into neutral when coming to a stop without turning the engine off is this normal?

The clutch might need some attention Jem. If you got it from a BMW dealer then just have a word with them.

The f800st 09yr 16700ml same colour as your pic needs panniers but still now need to get them at reasonable price keeping a lookout on ebay etc.