2020 BMW F850R Revealed in Design Filings
Brazil’s intellectual property office has published a design registration for what appears to be a BMW F800R replacement equipped with the F850GS’ parallel-Twin engine. The leaked design was originally spotted by Motor1 Brazil, which published a few of the diagrams from the filing, but we’ve dug up the complete set in higher resolution of what we’ll assume will be called the 2020 BMW F850R.
The F800R has been absent in North America for a little while, though it is still offered in Europe and other markets. It’s replacement will likely be coming to the U.S. where it would compete against the likes of the Yamaha MT-09, Ducati Monster 821, and KTM 790 Duke.
The designs reveal a naked standard that shares a lot of similarities with the designs of what looked to be the production version of the 9Cento Concept that emerged in April (also from the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial). As with the sport-tourer (which will presumably be called the F850RS), the F850R design filing was originally filed with Germany’s patent office under an embargo before getting filed in other markets, such as Brazil, at a later date. The F850R’s design was filed in Germany on March 27, 2019, while the earlier F850RS design was filed May 14, 2018. Here they are together to illustrate just how much they share in common:
Both bikes share the same engine, exhaust system and frame (which we can now get a better look at, thanks to the F850R’s lack of bodywork). The wheels also look identical, as does the suspension, though we can’t definitively determine whether they share the same wheelbase or rake and trail.
The F850R’s ergonomics look to be more aggressive, with its handlebars sitting further forward and lower, while its foot pegs a bit higher and further back than on the F850RS.
Up front, the F850R sports a single headlight unit, with what appears to be an LED daytime running light going horizontally across it (for markets where they are available) . Below the light, we spot a steering damper between the fork legs. The instrument panel appears to consist of an analog tachometer and a digital display instead of the TFT screen employed on the F850GS and F750GS (though knowing BMW, the TFT may be offered as an optional add-on).
BMW says it will debut four motorcycles at EICMA next month; the F850R and F850RS are expected to be part of that quartet, along with the BMW’s new 1800cc cruiser. As always, check back here on Motorcycle.com for the latest.
Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.
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@denchung:disqus
Not to be pedantic, but the FZ-09 isn't called that in any market in the world anymore. It's all MT-09.
Man, I don't know how BMW thinks they can succeed in this market unless they really get the performance right for the price. All the bikes in this class are really great usually with a single compromise. Street Triple is amazing, but expensive (not overly so, but still so). MT-09 has a great engine, but the suspension sucks. Z900 has a great chassis and powerful motor, but is too heavy and has tight ergos. GSX-S750 is really cheap and has great suspension, but needs more power and character. Monster has a great engine and handles well, but the ergos are tight and sometimes poorly thought out, it's a little bit of a porker, and they need to fix that damn gearbox.
This guy looks good, but not standout at all. They're gonna need to come out of the gate with either really light weight and competitive power, or a very attractive price. I don't understand why they're trying to jump back into this market, but if they really come out swinging, I won't complain.
I would hit that, call it(and me) lame or w/e . . . I think it makes for a very good bare bones BASIC steed. I hope they don't price it out of market.🙄