BMW F900XR

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience of the F900XR?

Mark

Sort of. I took one out on a test ride yesterday for about an hour and a half.

I thought it was a really nice bike. It has all the electronic gizmos you'd want from BMW: cruise control, electronic suspension, riding modes, very pretty TFT dash and so on. And it's all tech that's been tried and proved on other bikes, so it all works well.

I rode the thing in Dynamic mode, but I found the suspension was too harsh (cos I'm only 9st, need to eat more pies). You can set the suspension independently of the riding mode, but even when I'd changed it to Road, it was still harsh enough to upset the ride and make the front feel vague. The issue is that you only have two settings for damping, and so you need to be sure that at least one of them is going to work for you.

The engine reminded me of the the F800ST; it's very smooth, it revs nicely, the fuelling is spot-on. It delivers loads of power, more than you can reasonably use on the road. For all that, I found it a bit lacking in character (but I feel that way about many parallel twins).

The riding position is relaxed and upright. Wide bars.

It's truly a very competent bike. You could honestly tour on it (as long as you were happy with the smallish screen) or use it as a commuter, or for days out or pretty much anything. I would think it's got a fair bit of competition, as more bikes are coming out in this just-under-a-litre size, but I'd guess the comprehensive electronics package is a big draw.

Thanks, I am also on the light side so that useful info.

I had a day-long test ride on the demonstrator from my local BMW dealer. I was looking to replace my 2016 R1200RT and, although the demo bike was the base model, it was good enough for me to order one spec'd up to suit me.

It's much lighter than my RT and much easier to handle when pushing it around, or riding at very low speed. That's very important for me as my age means I'm not as fit as I once was. Performance is not much different to the RT, with plenty in reserve for swift overtakes. The basic suspension (without ESA) was fine for me, but I weigh around 90kg these days. I'm getting full luggage and the comfort seat because I'm hoping to do some long days when Europe opens up again.

I should be getting my new bike today !