Beaky's Bitz - Part 1 - The Bike

Good grief, a blog entry!  Yes, I thought it was high-time I dusted out the cobwebs in here and made another post.

I've been thinking for sometime about writing up some reviews on the after-market bits and pieces I've added to Beaky the F800GS over the last two years, and perhaps also for the gear I wear.  I figured it might be useful to someone.

And so I am pleased to announce the first in an irregular series of... (drumroll...) Beaky's Bitz!

Magnum MSX horn

The stock horn on the GS is, shall we say, a little wimpy. The MSX is 130-odd decibels to wake up those car drivers. Guaranteed to scare the crap out of any dopey driver drifting your way. Fitting it was a doddle once I'd ordered the connection kit to go with the Canbus that the GS uses - simply plug in the wires and re-attach the mounting screws. I added a liberal coating of sealant around the exposed terminals, as the horn location is up behind the beak, so a little exposed to the elements. Some reviews I have seen claim the loudness is not the 130dB quoted, however it is certainly louder than the stock, and I've woken up a few people with it.

£22 from Nippy Norman and £16 for the wiring kit.

It appears this is no longer supplied by Norman, however, but I'm sure it can be sourced elsewhere.

Adventure Spec Crash Bars

I had the Touratech crash bars on the G800GS, and was close to going for the equivalent for the 800 until I saw the reviews for these. Looking at them, the offering from Adventure Spec gave better protection to the body panels and seeing some After shots from a slide down a road I decided to go for these.


Fitting these was, technically-speaking, straight forward even for one person. The issue I had was undoing the left-side bolt that was in a deep recess on the frame, and I had to order a suitable torx head socket piece.


Useage...well I haven't fallen off since fitting the bars, so can't comment first hand. It certainly looks like they would at least reduce damage to me and Beaky if we were to go over; and my leg would be given some protection against getting trapped between the ground and the bike.

One thing I have noticed is that my knees can touch the bars at times. I usually wear bike jeans with knee inserts, or waterproof overals with the same knee pads. It's not enough to be a problem, but anyone with longer legs than me might have more of an issue. My inside leg is 33", and I', 6'2".

Other than that...it's given me a cool location to mount the video camera...once I can remove the vibration.

Top Sellerie seat

Top Sellerie is a French company who offer a huge range of after market seats.  The stock seat on the GS is not the most comfortable (mind you, neither was the stock seat on the G650GS...but the CBF125 was fine...).  I found after an hour or so things would start to get uncomfortable.

After some research, I took a gamble and ordered the "type 1" standard seat, with the gel padding option. The company offer a reduced price if you send them your old seat to use as a base, but I didn't want the down time, and went for the brand new option.

The seat took a month to make, ship and deliver.  Fitting was exactly the same as the stock seat.

Style - definitely looks good, and even came with the F800GS logo embroidered on in white, to match Beaky.
Comfort - a huge improvement!  After 20k miles on this seat, I can say it's a huge improvement over the stock seat.  I've had several 8-9 hour days in the saddle, with one day reaching 13 hours.  Essentially the fuel stops are now the deciding factor on when to stop, not a numb backside.

Touratech windscreen

The stock screen is pretty small, and I'd read a lot about the improvements a larger screen makes.  I went for the offering from Touratech. Fitting was easy, with all the parts provided as usual.  

Has it made any difference?  Well...yes and no.  The amount of wind (and rain) hitting me is reduced, for sure but at the expense of increased noise and head buffet.   Neither issue is a show stopper - the buffet is not too bad, and I always wear ear plugs for longer trips.  As I mentioned before, I'm a little taller than average, so a shorter ride might have fewer problems.  I need to switch the screens back and do a better comparison at some point.

Touratech Luggage rack

Also from Touratech, this gives me a larger flat area on the back to strap things on. Does what it says on the tin...easy to fit, lots of holes to strap, hook or tie things to. It reduces the wear on the rear seat, as I can move things back a little.

Garmin 660 Satnav

There are lots of threads on various forums that discuss the pros and cons of satnavs (and not just for motorbikes).  My view is that the satnav is another useful tool to be used with a healthy dose of common sense...just like any tool.  I still carry a map on long trips, but having a turn-by-turn warning to navigate a new town is too useful. I had tried a version for my smart phone (the name escapes me) that was crap, plus the data charges for UK phones on the mainland are insane.

Anyway...I went for the Garmin 660.  this comes with all the goodies you could possibly need (and a few I don't) to get the system up and running on the bike.  It's waterproof, so doesn't get stuck in a misted-up tank bag.  It's handlebar mounted, so I can see it alongside my dashboard.  It's hardwired into the bike, so I don;t have to worry about flat batteries.

Since buying the set, I've upgrade to the lifetime map updates, and get a couple of updates each year from it for the whole of Europe.  The basecamp sofware is pretty good (once you get used to it - it's not google maps!) but works well.

I've had the occasional derp moment when I am clearly being directed down a side road, only to rejoin the main road in a few hundred meters (review earlier comment about common sense) and a couple of interesting side roads when using the "shortest route" option - not always suitable for cars (but okay for Beaky) and in a few cases down roads that aren't passable (legally or physically) by Beaky.

Oh...whilst the 660 has the ability to sync via bluetooth to a headset and phone so that you can hear directions, I don't use this, and rely at glances to the 660 for the upcoming turn.

Okay, that's enough for tonight.  Coming soon...the factory-fitted options, my gear and maybe even my camping kit.  We'll see.

Ride safe!