Funny thing, I rode 2-up yesterday with my wife on the back and it handled almost exactly like riding my old 1150R solo. That luxury car ride, the stable, smooth cornering or just the steadiness going straight. It was an eerie, familiar re-acquaintance, without actually doing it.
This is just the impression I get, but an F800ST is a really good street bike, as long as 95% of your cruising speeds are 70 MPH or less. Above those speeds the higher engine speeds sound really busy and the increasingly louder, approaching offensive intake noise intrudes on the riding experience. You'll notice these traits particularly if you come from an R1150R. Top gear 4,000 RPM gives you 66 GPS MPH, 69 indicated MPH. That 1150R sure could shine as the highway cruising speeds approached 90 MPH. Giddy-up! 75 or 80 was constantly teasing you to go faster. But where can you do that on a regular basis? How long is it before you get caught, punished and fined? How long is it before your FD bearing(s) or clutch shaft splines give up with that treatment?
The sound, feel, smoothness sweet spot on my F800ST,
in 6th gear, is between 40 and 65 MPH. Really. The lightly muffled
big engine exhaust note and smoothness of the power pulses with the minutely changing throttle transitions is
pure delight. Electric motor smooth. The 6th gear fuel economy readings at a steady 45 MPH show 78 MPG with changes of +/- 10 MPG, depending on the small elevation changes.
No, the engine is not being lugged or turning too slow for the very light load it is under at those road speeds. It runs beautifully with the throttle barely off the idle stop. It is also so smooth, loafing along behind the everyday traffic in front of you, that you can't help but notice it is a very finely tuned machine. EFI has met it's master and it was Rotax engineers that likely made the program. Not so with my now gone 50R. It had to be in 5th gear. Think about how often those 40--65 MPH conditions apply to the intended use of your bike and what an asset it's phenomenal fuel economy is. My last 4 tank fulls have been between 62 and 64 MPG, one of those going way too fast in 6th gear (some 5th gear) on the very twisty, hilly route 60 in the North Georgia mountains. Every time I gas up it takes between 3.2 and 3.5 US gallons of Regular grade Chevron/Texaco/Shell. The under seat fuel tank holds 4.2 gallons so the 58 MPG it gets at a steady 70 MPH will take you (4 x 58 =) 232 miles with .2 gallon to spare. High efficiency is really nice, but coupled with excellent driveability, great performance and Hi-Tech looks . . . it's a winner!
Oh yeah . . . . . on those fabulous twisty mountain roads, I was riding with
OU812 on his R1200RT (bags left at my house where he stayed) and
missdemeanor on her CBR600F4i. We had a blast and each rider erased well over 2/3rds of their rear tire's remaining chicken stripes noted at our meeting place. The mediocre BT-020 Bridgestones on my bike limited me to 6.5mm wide stripes remaining at my 95% pace. It was a pace I followed so my new $12k bike doesn't need a truck ride home with me painfully sitting in the passenger seat. Steve almost erased all of his, with better tires and something over a 95% effort. I will not miss those BT-020 tires when a set of Z-6 Metzlers replaces them.
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The popularity of the F800ST, the discontinued USA F800S model and soon the new F800R model has prompted some members to ask for an F800 section. Doug & I are in the process of laying the groundwork for the possibility of getting it's own F800 URL. The same great focus on learning about your bike, on real value for your time and money invested will be repeated again. As before, the pooling of our experiences, knowledge and resources makes the whole "group-o-guys-riding-my-bike" thing something really worth belonging to. Group rides, Great Rides, Bashes and even Tech Sessions will enhance everything about owning the F800 bikes and meeting the people we type to on-line.
I still owe you for your past generosity. I see you have GA ties, so any deep work needed can be put on my next day's schedule. You DO have a truck or trailer, don't you? 
To my surprise, they long ago asked me when I ordered it if I wanted to go in the back and see it put together from the sealed crate to it's out-the-door completion. I said "hell yes!" How many dealers would do that? Small perk. Huge contribution! Lasting memory. Pics will follow.
Rob, is it really that good? dont you miss the Limo?