Don't rule out a battery issue. AGM batteries can behave very oddly as they begin to decline. Additionally, I have seen two cases in which they battery had enough juice to spin the motor but not enough to power the ignition circuit. Best to check your battery, or have it checked, with a meter while under load and see how it does. You may very well have another problem, but the battery is easy to check and relatively cheap to correct.

 

Are you sure that your "kill" switch is in the on position? Also, check the side stand safety switch. Sometimes these switches fail, but they can be bypassed to verify their function.

 

Looks like you missed an opportunity with such an intermittent problem.
If it happens again I would pull a plug and see if it is fuel fouled. Since you have the plug out that would be the time to check for spark. Did you notice the fuel pump prime when you turned the key on?
If it was fuel fouled it would have belched smoke when it did start so I'll say it's not that. Same thing with no spark, it should have been loaded with fuel and again belched smoke when started.
Seems more of a lack of fuel problem. I doubt it's any type of vapor lock, not with EFI.

Once a year fail, this could be a tough one to say the least.

 

Thanks to all for your suggestions. Don't think it's a kill switch issue as I never use it, only on/off with the key. It also didn't belch smoke upon start, so this one will likely be tough to figure. Talking to the service department manager at my dealer today. Thanks again to all....

 

Please report back if they find anything?

Nice thread here ... pay particular attention to what Joel says:

http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/f800gs-wont-start-help.701425/

 

Read the thread, interesting but a lot of miss information.
One, the fuel management would never purge the canister when cranking to start.
Two, once the charcoal canister is filled with raw fuel, super saturated, it is junk and will never function properly again.
Three, the chances of both injectors sticking at the same time would be extremely rare.

OP, every time you turn the key on to start listen for the fuel pump prime.

 

Side stand switch?
See if it will jump start. Doing it off a car won't hurt as long as it is not running. I don't see how you can rule out a bad battery just by the fact the engine turns over. They can get internal shorts under load. Below a certain level the ECU starts shutting down things. A cheap voltage meter will tell a lot.

 

If you have a pigtail (SAE connector found on most battery tenders), then one of these is a simple way to watch the voltage of a battery. Not the best tool for checking the battery under load, but at $10 it is an easy way to keep track of your battery's status.

 

Thanks again to all for your interest and helpful information. After all was said and done, it would appear that Kevin nailed it. I clearly had some sort of battery issue. My bike had the original stock battery in a 2011 model which, over the past few days, wouldn't hold a full charge overnight, but still had enough juice to turn the engine over upon start. The bike started just fine, however, if the bike was plugged into my Optimax CAN-bus charger overnight - the next morning, fired up no problem. However, it still doesn't explain the random once-per-year starting issues I had with the bike in 2013 and 2014 when the battery would have been in top shape.

Here's how I ultimately addressed the issue - rode my bike to my dealer yesterday afternoon to trade it in on a new 2016 F800GS Adventure! Not the most cost effective way to address an issue, but I was thinking of doing it anyway with a decent BMW incentive for the month of April. Nice to have an extra two gallons of fuel under my butt! A question for anyone who's interested - given my previous battery issue, does anyone recommend replacing the BMW stock battery with a higher-end lithium ion battery, specifically the SHORAI brand? Interested to know folks' opinion on whether or not this is worthwhile. A lot of money to spend to reduce the bike's weight by a few pounds. Cheers!

 

Here's how I ultimately addressed the issue - rode my bike to my dealer yesterday afternoon to trade it in on a new 2016 F800GS Adventure!

Soweet! I'm glad my nearest dealer is 2 1/2 hours away. Keeps me out of trouble.

 

Don't, will be of no value, just empty your wallet. Only consider this when the stock battery needs to be replaced. If well maintained, this should take at least a couple of years... Better invest in a good battery tender!

 

Replacing an entire motorcycle because of a failing battery is a well accepted and common practice. A reason to buy a new motorcycle is a good excuse.