The BM won the test by a nose from the SV. The bike seemed to impress them greatly, although as usual a great deal of BMW prejudice crept in. Reading behind the lines I got the impression that had the bike not been a BMW some of the testers would have been whooping it up rather than 'it's a BMW so I wasn't going to like it, but actually it's not too bad...for a BMW'. They did complain about the price, stating it as too expensive by a fair way, but failed to say that about the TDM which is 100 quid more?
To counter this, they did state the CBF600 was highly yawn-worthy so fits the Honda stereotype to a tee
They managed to get knocking on the door of 140mph out of the 800 which in anyone's book is bloody good going (only 3-4mph down on the 11S) and perhaps a tenth or 3 behind the 1100 on a standing quarter. Not-to-be-sniffed-at figures in my opinion.
They complained about the BM's plastic 'tank' which meant no magnetic tankbags (I bloody hate the things anyway) so it got dropped to bottom score on the practicality/luggage front. This is despite there being bespoke (not cheap I grant you) luggage for it and no doubt Baglux will do the honourable thing in the very near future, if they haven't already.
I think it's a fabulous little* bike, and one which I came to within a gnat's of getting instead of my BCR.
*And there lies the problem for us less compact types.
