Custom: Wunderlich F800GS Light

Lurking somewhere deep inside the BMW F800GS adventure tourer is a genuine dirt bike yearning to escape. It just needs to shed some weight, gain a more aggressive power delivery and some tougher engine and frame protection. German accessories maker Wunderlich has set the 800 free by doing just that. This bike weighs 66 less pounds than the stocker, meaning it’s just under 400lbs (wet).

To achieve that weight loss, Wunderlich ditched the stock bodywork, replacing it with lightweight and tough plastic/kevlar items and knocked the whole stock tail section off. Our Gerglish is sadly lacking, but reading the press release, they’ve also done something about the underseat fuel tank, althought it’s not clear what. Judging by the pictures, it’s been repositioned lower and further forwards and possibly decreased in size. There’s also aggressive front bodywork that could have come off any enduro bike, including a set of extremely powerful Hella spotlights.

we’re actually kind of disappointed with the minimal engine protection, but the new bodywork does appear to shield the radiator, protecting it if the bike gets dropped. That’s a notorious week point on the standard bike. Basically, this is the bike BMW should have in its showrooms and the model, at least in our opinion, for what an serious adventure tourer should be: good off-road, but still capable of covering some reasonable highway distance in comfort.

Wunderlich has also done two takes on the BMW S1000RR, a fairly typical streetfighter, an a Ford GT40 replica. What’s with Germans always putting flat bars on sportsbikes?

Wunderlich