In 4 1/2 years i have only replaced 1 water pump seal on a f650 single. The owner of our dealership and has owned a 650 dakar since new and the only reason he has had any bother with the waterpump is because he dropped it on a rock whilst off roading.

Well, now I am back to civilisation I will stick to Japanese. Very happy with versys for Europe . Awesome on Tarmac and can do easy dirt roads.

As for Mongolia, I will give a wide berth ( if this is correct expression?) to bmw and will get a YBR125. Boring to cross Europe but great when hitting the soft stuff!
I had enough trouble with my former 650gs to last me a lifetime. On top of that, when I hired a f650 in the US last summer, I had similar electric and electronic issues. Piece of crap..... Never again....

So just starting to plan mongolia ride... That is if I can convince Alistair... Working hard on that
Hope to set off next may (2014).

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Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Maria....

I'm planning a Mongolia/Siberia trip for spring 2014 too.

Don't say we'll be back in competition for bad luck haha

www.touringted.com

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

I hope not! I had enough in South America! When is your estimate departure time next spring? We should catch up....
Talk to you via fb...

Cheers

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Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

It seems far more common when people take them travelling. Mileage irrelevant. Maybe its those long days, temperature, etc. I think it's the impella and bush too.

www.touringted.com

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

And 100 of miles of corrugation can't help either....

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Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Not our experience at all. 17000km including Ruta 40, Camino Austral, Altiplano and general Bolivia and only 1 started leaking in Cusco. The other was fine. It's the luck of the draw with the pump.

With good prep it's a great bike that I'd happily take to Mongolia. Maybe stick with the normal routes and take the horse trails on my WRR, or even better the 57kg FX bike.

FX Bikes Mountain Moto World’s Lightest Motorcycles 125lb 125cc 125mpg

Adventure trim is in development. Chuck it on the train to Ulaan-Ude, change to UB and get lost in Mongolia. It's perfect for that country. Can't wait.

On the fan I recall a bodge fix I did in Norway or Finland way. The temp switch is a gravity return disk type thing. With typical design care its mounted on its side. The disk cockles over and stick. Jump the pins and the fan might run. You can actually pull the wires off the horn, bodge them to the fan switch loom and when you push the button the fan runs.

Andy

They've all had one and I think all bikes should have them. I'm situated this is still new to some familiar with this bike.

This bike is great in the right hands. Reason is that It's got certain quirks.

BMW tells you to fill the hole with grease, which is stupid and I'm convinced the engineers didn't come up with that one. So if the owner hasn't studied the bike or don't do their own maintenance you'll end up finding lots of complaints about this bike. Bearings, battery, pump, cooling. I'm not flipping here, but this is probably the most documented bike in history. It's got a comprehensive faq on a dedicated webpage including maintenance videos which cover everything down to full engine rebuilt. This bike should never end up in Ted's hands really. ;-)

It mainly leaks during cooling down due to the material contraction rates which are different between the seal and casing. Changing the seal takes 29 mins if you have prepped the bike for it with removing the solid oil line. The new ones came with flexible ones when BM finally pulled thru finger out.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

Thanks again! I didn't own the bike that occupied our garage so I had very little to do with it, apart from put a few miles on the clock

In 12000 miles there were no issues with it - not a lot of mileage sure, but that engine was impressive IMO. I've written about that elsewhere in here.

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Dave

I bought a 2014 with 2550 km in Neiva Huila Colombia in july 1017 i am very happy with this machine because it is my first licensed bike i now have 6800 on it
on days off i go riding to some pretty awesome places and this bike tears up the roads, dirt and pavement like nothing i have ever seen on the Colombian grid
it is very stable being low sg and high performance in the mountain roads
you can pass anything but not a super bike or high end autos
millage is incredible Neiva Colombia to Bucaramanga Colombia 700 kms 2 tanks moderate driving 11 hrs 7 gallons total! How can you beat that

Hi Rolly,

I read your post about deciding between the Sertao and the G650GS and I'm glad to hear the 2014 G650GS hasn't left you disappointed.

I started riding when I was 16, growing up in India on a Yamaha 125cc 2 Stroke machine and I used to have a hell a lot of fun on Indian roads manouvering through traffic. I live in Germany now and haven't had a motorcycle for the past 7 years apart from the occassional day or two in Thailand, Cambodia and India. After my last holiday and a day trip on a Honda Rebel I decided I had to get back on a motorcycle asap.

I took the leap and got a 2015 G650GS with 3100 km on it. The previous owner had never taked it off the tarmac and it looks like its in great shape. I had to pounce on what seemed like a good offer. All the inspections were done by BMW service technicians and now all that is missing is my German driving license (Fingers crossed). The Germans are pretty hard to satisfy when it comes to road rules.

Now that you have a few km on your G650, what is your take on the stock suspension that I hear people constantly complaining about. I intend on doing long tours around Europe for starters once I get the hang of riding the machine. If I had to say do 20% of NOT SO hardcore offroad. The usual gravel and mud, what would you suggest are the upgrades I should look into?

Thank you.

Cheers,

Naveen

I'm actually surprised to read so many negative comments about technical issues with the g650

I bought a used, but relatively new g650gs in 2016 (build '14, first owner BMW, 2000km) and put 70000km on it so far - literally without losing one single bolt. And it really had to take some beating, lot's of rough ground, offroad, water crossings, the whole bit.

The "chinese Rotax" is just working, no oil consumption, no leakage, nothing. It had a strange phase with quite heavy vibrations around 50k, but it just came and went.

The only electrical problem I ever had was a broken clutch switch (the one at the lever).
The cover of the front brake fluid container tends to leak, I recently changed to the third one.
So much for the problems I had...

Just to mention, the hot-start-issue was fixed around '13, afair BMW offered free replacement of the worn out choke or just changed it when servicing. Mine doesn't have this problem.
Regarding possible battery issues: I had a Gel battery from day one, a gift from the shop where I bought it. It's still in there & I never cared about it.

There are a few downsides though; as already mentioned the rear shock "isn't really good", same as the fork. I changed to Touratech suspension last year & really wish I had done this earlier. Not saying it has to be TT, I guess any rear shock will be better
Maintenance is indeed a pain - or expensive. I sometimes think the engineers where told to hide anything as good as possible to prevent self-service... Anyway, it has a 10k interval, so I can cope with it. And, to be fair, I heard about similar maintenance nightmares on others bikes as well.

I'm definitely NOT a BMW fanboy, not at all. If my legs weren't that short, I possibly be riding a 660 Tenere. But I'm really happy with the g650, and I'd always! buy it again. Mine is definitely a always-works-never-lets-me down bike.