04-04-2016, 06:04 AM
It always came as a bit of a shock to me. To my understanding, the development of the F800 series was a joint effort between Rotax (who built the engines), and BMW, who of course supplied the rest of the bike. Both of these companies have tremendous reputations and histories, built upon exceptional performance and reliability.
So, for a Rotax engine to develop, of all things...piston slap...just seemed crazy.
Likewise, an open swingarm from BMW develops bearing issues...from a company who has been building them since the beginning of time (or 1980, to be more exact).
As I mentioned earlier, I think these bikes just needed a little more time in the R&D phase...maybe they were rushed into production too quickly.
By 2008, I believe Rotax solved the problem with new a piston and pin design, and BMW solved the wheel play issue shortly thereafter.
I'd have no qualms about buying an F800GT, as I believe the bugs have been worked out by the time they came around. If you Google something like "F800GT piston slap or bearing failure", hardly anything comes up....it's all ST-related material from the 06-07 model years. Nonetheless, it's enough to make you think twice about buying another bike in its first-year production runout.
So, for a Rotax engine to develop, of all things...piston slap...just seemed crazy.
Likewise, an open swingarm from BMW develops bearing issues...from a company who has been building them since the beginning of time (or 1980, to be more exact).
As I mentioned earlier, I think these bikes just needed a little more time in the R&D phase...maybe they were rushed into production too quickly.
By 2008, I believe Rotax solved the problem with new a piston and pin design, and BMW solved the wheel play issue shortly thereafter.
I'd have no qualms about buying an F800GT, as I believe the bugs have been worked out by the time they came around. If you Google something like "F800GT piston slap or bearing failure", hardly anything comes up....it's all ST-related material from the 06-07 model years. Nonetheless, it's enough to make you think twice about buying another bike in its first-year production runout.