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F650GS Weak Spots
I am a recent owner of a 2007 F650GS and I am planning a 10,000 mile trip through South America on March 2009. I wanted some feedback on what to pay attention on my F650 since I am in a trial period, having added 1,500 miles in 4 weeks in order to really put this bike to the test and feel comfortable. Any tips, recommendations, warnings on this bike? Thanks :thumbup1:!!!
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Remove the possum scraper if you haven't done already; look at replacing the battery with a gel version and a suspension upgrade for starters.:scooter:
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Good Advice BlackBeast
Thanks Blackbeast!! I haven´t done anything but buy K&N air filter and Irridium spark plugs.
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If using original luggage mounts etc check them thoroughly.
A pannier rail lost a bolt on a very long, loose 'washboard' track in Russia. I only discovered it when removing the pannier late that night as it had only dropped a little bit and was supported by the exhaust - which had melted the back of the pannier. Back home I discovered a complete split and another crack on the short black tube inside the rear locker, that holds the top box mounts together. If a Dakar, think about fitting a proper front mudguard (as on the GS) otherwise you are continually riding into the spray, road dirt, etc thrown up and forward by the front wheel. |
Have a look at my blog (internet Explorer only at the moment) because I'm prepping the same bike fo the same trip only a few months earlier. I haven't updated it yet with the suspension upgrade (race tech emulators and wilbers shock) and luggage (home made). But other than that and a flexible oil return hose it's all done.
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Smellybiker´s...
Thanks Frank, many interesting subjects on this site..!!:thumbup1:
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You'll find quite a few mods and tools/spares suggestions at my website (below). Click on 'The Bike' and 'The Planning'.
Charles |
Thanks Charles
Great Website Charles!! Besides all the great information, it is truelly motivating for my trip on March 2009. I haven´t read it all, but I will be sure to go through all the information you have in order to catch all the details.
What was your experience with your bike?? Thanks again! |
I'd do the water pump seals. It's a half hour job that will save a wrecked engine later. Get two kits so you have one for the road, doing the first one before you set off will mean it won't be a massive prolem when you start seeing the oil go chocolate brown.
Mine went in Morocco and the resulting warped head from riding out into Spain effectively scrapped the the bike. Andy |
Hmm...good to know! This week I need to go to the agency and will talk about this seals with the mechanic...:scooter:.
Thanks Andy!! |
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In terms of performance, the seat was comfy, I cruised most places at up to 60mph which was all that the roads could handle. In Europe and Oz, sitting on 75mph, it felt as if it was running at too high revs, but bike handles it fine. I could have cruised at 90mph, but no need to thrash the old girl. For my next trip, I would take the same bike. Maybe ponder over the hard panniers as they are heavy (although I'd still prob take them). The only alternative that I'd look at would be a 650 VStrom. Part of my initial criteria was to follow the 'smart money'. Of all bikes used by overlanders, the 650 BMW seems to be the most popular. This must be for a reason! I had the dakar, but I know a couple of people with Dakars and regular 650GS's. On average, the Dakars have had much fewer problems than the regular bike. Don't know why this might be as the only differences are the screen, suspension and wheels. Perhaps they're on a different factory line? Charles |
Assuming you did the wheel bearings on the side of the road, is that difficult to do? Considering the Chain Gang DVD shows using a heat gun and freezer to increase the gap between the hub and the bearing. I'm dreading changing bearings having never changed one.
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I didn't do the bearings until I returned. All were knackered, but the rear wheel one was so knackerd that it had begun to eat away at the wheel hub (expensive). I don't think that it's doable by the side of the road, but you should be able to find a decent workshop somewhere along the road. Personally, I wouldn't have a go at it myself on the basis that I'd never be more than 3000 miles from someone competent and would calculate it so that this coincided with, say 15-20,000 miles.
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Wheel bearings is something I will look out for no doubt!
Great to hea about the Dakar being a reliable bike, specially after so many miles. Since I recently bought my F650 I still have doubts on the reliability but ofcourse haven't put the mileage yet to really see how this bike responds. By the way, congratulations Charles on your very detailed Website. I am impressed with all the stats, really a wonderful and helpful job. I will be contating you later on for some tips. Thanks all. |
I do hope that you have the Dakar rather than the standard GS! My husband had the Dakar, I had the standard one. I broke down quite a lot during our 22,000 miles tour of south america.
You can check my website (below) for a review on our bikes. (see page "Bikes") If you do have the standard GS, replace the rear shock. The standard shock is shit, it will break, so save yoruself a lot of hassle and invest on a a high performance shock. Replace the battery for a sealed gel one, you will be glad you did. My biggest regret is that I did not. It could have saved me a lot of problems. Voltage regulator is a problem on both dakar and GS. soon or later it will go. VR from transalps are easy to find and are half the price. They work on th eF650. Water pump is notorious problem. The rear brake master cylinder: keep an eye on it. It came stuck on both bikes. Need just to be cleaned. You will notice, your rear brake will jam! Bearings (wheel and steering) can be found locally in SA, don't worry about that. Most important: DO NOT let anyone work on your bike unsupervised anywhere in South America, ESPECIALLY BMW dealers. They are clueless and will do more damage than help! Their mechanics are CAR mechanics and have no clue on repairs on these bikes beyond basic servicing, and even that is badly done. Avoid the only bike mechanic in Bariloche, incompetent theives - despite fact they work on lots of F650s they are awful. If you must, make sure you are supervising what they do. They damaged few things on my electrics and sold me a faulty VR! B#st#rds! Good luck for your trip! |
Maria, thanks so much for all of your comments and advice. It is sad to hear you had so many problems. I have the standard 650 and have added since I bought it 5,000 km with out any problems at all, so for the moment I am still a BMW fan...jajja.
Your site is great. That route is incredible. Mine is much shorter, since I am only driving for 4 weeks, starting in Caracas, crossing the Amazons and going down to Porto Allegre, Brazil. I will let you know if I start having problems with my bike (which I hope I don´t). Thanks again for all your help. Kind regards! |
Bad things I had to fix:
battery. Buy a good sealed one. Shock: Get a Wilbers. I screwed up the original Showa twice. Fork seals. Get a couple as spares.Keep them in a rigid box. Swing arm main bearings do not have a real seal .....water gets in and that´s it. Inspect those and try to fit seals to them. If you get in deep water , then inspect them again. Learn how to bypass the electronic issues meant for safety( neutral gear indicator, light-stand -down sensor and clutch lever sensor) if any of those fails ,bike won´t start... I use to put grease and/or thick SAE 90 oil to the chain. I know it´s a mess , but with little oil the transmission will last half: I´ve wasted it in 10,000Ks ,compared to the 20,000 when I keep it messy. Try to relax... If something bad can happen ,it will happen.. Check your bike constantly.Keep in touch Cheers, |
Excelente Andrés!!
I am already working on those issues since they seem to be the ones giving common problems!! Thanks. Estamos en contacto. Jose |
De nada
De nada,
te deseo suerte y averigua bien los detalles de clima: Perú -Bolivia-Norte de Argentina no te conviene ir desde Noviembre a Abril: Los caminos se convierten en rios y los rios ni te cuento..... Saludos |
Leo
My name is Leo, and am currently looking to buy a gs650pd, am staying in Calgary,and any feed back on the bike would be very helpful. Also any information on the legal side of things re registering the bike and ins would be a great help. Would love to hear from you, many thanks, Leo.
:helpsmilie: |
Not sure exactly what the gs650pd is, but I'm assuming it's the Rotax powered singled.
Mate, it's a great choice and in particular for South America. It's almost made for that environment. We just came back from 17000km there. Great on paved twisties and open dirt roads. Keep it light though. We took hard luggage, but in hind-sight soft would be more suitable because you will enjoy the ride more, which is where you spend most of your time anyway. Depending on the place you'll take it off course, but in SA people tend to keep their distance and won't touch a thing. Different in European cities and Asia. It's a bike that you should do all your own work on. If you don't know how to, you may want to look elsewhere or delay until you do. It's not hard to do, but mechanics don't specialise in any particular model, and you have to live with it in the end. Check out F650.com, and just start by doing a full service run including valves. Add lubing steering head bearings to the schedule, and they should last like any other bike. I'm still on the original parts, and I flogged the thing in Patagonia and Bolivia. Also broke the little frame in the rear boot area, but that was due to riding hard on the CA with a massive top box on it. Asking for it. It's only a little bracket not designed for it. Didn't shear the sub-frame bolts. They were changed with longer ones to make removal easy when sheared. Never ride without fork gaiters (neoprene are my preference) and you should have no seals issues. If it's not a new bike, check the chrome and if there is any pitting I would get it re-chromed. The water pump seals will go, but that's the same for other bikes. On other bikes they don't always (if ever) have a bleed hole though, which is a blessing for this motor. We saw an 640 and 990 KTM both with blown water pump along the way, so it's just part of it I suppose. Unfortunately the mechanics manual says to put grease in the voids and cavities, which is just plain stupid. And just another reason to do your own work. Mine went at 18000km. Keep it cleared and you will have a sufficient warning before your oil is contaminated. It usually leaks when you let it cool down due to the parts expanding and shrinking at different rates, so look for a little puddle of coolant underneight the foot peg. It's no drama though, and doesn't require an immediate fix, provided the oil is not contaminated yet. The suspension is basic, but if you carry load, you should always look at changing the spring weights, anyway. Unfortunately I don't think there is a stiffer spring (looked but couldn't find one) for the shock, so upgrade would be best. Forget about the VR problems. It's mostly a problem with the older versions which didn't have them in a well ventilated location. I would get a Datel volt meter though to keep an eye on the system. That way you will have more confidence about it. Depends on how much load you put on the system though. The air filter is a crap paper one, common for a lot of bikes. KN is popular in Northern America, but down under Unifilter do a good one. I look at the KN oil and found it too thin, and because you have to use it with it apparently I went with the Unifilter, and now all I need it turps to clean it and thick sticky oil to oil it. Their oil is the best I've seen so far. Have a look on my blog for mods. I've probably missed something. Taco's Tyring Travels: Bike Modification (part 1) Taco's Tyring Travels: Bike Modification (part 2) |
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