Hi Stu' - no need to change my rear pads just yet, but I can't see how it's going to be a problem. The rear calliper is a single piston sliding design - the pads are held in using a pin and R clip, and they slide in and out from the rear.

Ought to be a 2 minute job.

Jx

But charged as a minimum of 1 hour by any main dealer.

Do half a dozen of them in an hour and charge them all for the same hour.

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Dave

Yup ! For my sins.

That case was on the road version. Having a look at the GS version, it might not be an issue.

The silencer and the headers are a single welded unit. INSANE !!! The silencer stops the pin being removed. However, you could remove the caliper (which requires the wheel to be removed)

And yes, those header bolts are small and made of the lowest grade steel you can imagine. I put it back together with plenty of copper-grease to try and save the poor owners wallet down the line. (Which BMW say you shouldn't use... But I say f**k em)

BMW are selling a lot of 310s. Not because they're good bikes. They're part of their "Rookie to rider" scheme. Which isn't that bad really.

https://www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk/en/Of...ietoRider.html


Make no mistake, these 310s are SERIOUSLY POOR QUALITY. Models less than a year old are coming back with issues such as seized calipers, electrical issues (Cheap sensors used everywhere).

These bikes are built in India. Using Indian produced substandard components. Everything on them is cheap zinc plated steel and plastic.

They may look well designed and well made on a showroom floor, but just go and look at one with 1000 miles that has seen a few damp roads and you will realise that they're like any cheap 'throw-away' third world motorcycles/scooters.

Look past the badge !!!

A 310 is around £5k new I think. That's the 1/3 of the price of a new 1200GS. So of course, they're built to a standard. A very low one.

If I had £5000 to spend on a bike. It certainly wouldn't be one of these. You can buy A LOT of good VERY GOOD bikes just a few years old for £5000.

You can buy a BRAND NEW CRF250 Rally for £5000. The only conceivable reason I can imagine that anyone would buy the BMW over one of those is that they have short legs.

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

Good summary here by JMo after <4k miles. (Rally Raid conversion so suspension obviously gets a pass.)

Besides many good points (like vibes pass after 6700rpm - never got that high myself) she also mentions the too narrow front pegs (for standing) plus prematurely worn out cush-drive rubbers, like the the old XTZ660. Never had any probs (that weren't of my own making) with mine on the short trip I did, but I always thought that the Tenere was another bike which looked great, capitalised on a legendary reputation/brand, but was heavy and cheaply put together underneath. People still managed big trips with the usual minor probs.

Also, far from unique to the 310, but as with all these highly tuned, small-engined bikes (I've had or run a few in recent years), the fuel consumption isn't impressive when you think of what you lose in terms of comfort, easy overtaking, etc. What JMo recorded below (UKmpg added) is worse than my CB500X (av: 74; best: 93.5; worse; 57) and maybe the 500X she ran on the TAT 2015.

3. The fuel economy is good. Initially while keeping the bike under 60mph, I got as high as 67US [80.5UK] mpg, and typically 62 [74.5] mpg was my average according to the dash display. However, it does start to increase once the speed rises - 70mph or thereabouts sees it drop to 57 [68.5] mpg (and as low as 48-50 [59] mpg in a head wind), while pushing 75-80mph means I didn't get over 50 [60] mpg, and as low as 39 [47] mpg into that strong headwind and uphill over Tehachapi [Pass; famous wind farm] …

With the 310GS I see some convincing themselves it's a mini GS1200 so must be suited to travel biking, rather than a small-engined bike with the big GS look.
As Fern said, it's 'made for people that want to dip their toe into the BMW brand'. Nothing wrong with that and a smart move by BMW. Great for nipping about and for Rookie Riders; not convinced it's my kind of travel bike (any more than a 1200GS, tbh) because for me the whole point of putting up with a '250's' limitations on the street is light weight and agility off road.

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Adventure Motorcycling Handbook 8 • Morocco Overland 3 • Overlanders Handbook 2 • Twit

There is plenty of competition out there for this market. Might be of interest to see how the build standard of this weeGS compares with the new RE Himalayan that comes to the market for 1000GBP less.
KTM are in there with a similar size engine in road-going guise and Kawa/Suzi have products with a comparable engine capacity, to name a few.

With the "rookie" scheme, BMW have sort of caught up with Honda here in the UK: their marketing for new riders with restricted licences started some years ago.
Slightly remarkably, there is a second hand CRF250L on offer on UK ebay at present with 59,000 miles on the clock - going strong according to the advert and not using oil.

__________________
Dave

Absolutely. They're dam good bikes. You can buy a nice example for £3000 !!

I'll be buying one soon.

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

Predictable. Perhaps some don't realize that building high quality small bike costs about the same as building a high quality BIG bike. (R1200GS vs. G310GS.

I'm wondering if BMW will, in future, UP the standard build quality of India produced product.

As a comparison, look at the quality of motorcycles coming out of Thailand. Most Triumphs are built there.

And of course both Honda and Kawasaki are seriously committed in Thailand and both produce many many bikes there. The quality is very high, equal to anything built in Japan or UK. Impressive.

Could not BMW do something similar for Indian production? To answer my own question ... they could but they probably won't. All about PROFIT.

As mentioned, the little G310GS looks like "the real thing", is cheap and looks quality on the showroom floor. They are, apparently, selling well.

I sat on the road model, gave it a quick look, it looked OK.
And much of the moto press say the same thing. It's all good! ... But is it really?

Chris's reports from Morocco will be key to knowing the real truth once the rental company has feed back after a season or two of use of 310's as rental bikes.

Exactly. The public asks for a light weight adventure bike, the manufacturers produce small engined bikes that are still too heavy. CCM were sooo close with the GP450 - 125kg, 450cc, cush drive hub, low seat option... Such a shame they blew it with the wrong engine, some over complicated design (the fuel tank) and the usual wiring issues.


I think the CRF L is still too heavy for a 250, (as is the KLX250S, which I think is a better appointed bike and much underrated) but it beats the BMW in virtually every "adventure" criteria except the "looks like a GS" one!

exactly, and as big bikes quality is not impressive go figure...

how do you know? No, quality is not very high as Japan quality is not very high anymore either, get use to it.

Just to update this thread... I’ve currently racked up over 11,000 miles on my G310GS now - from Virginia to California, then back across the country to Toronto, and now I’m heading back west again - currently in Colorado...

I have to say, it continues to impress - both off-road (admittedly with the Rally-Raid suspenson fitted of course) and also on - and while it’s forte may not necessarly be high mileage long highway days, it can easily do that too if required... I was in Des Moines Iowa this morning, and now I’m a stones throw from Denver Colorado.

Like tossed salads and scrambled eggs, the mountains are calling again...

Goodnight everybody!

Jx

Ps. If anyone is interested in my bike and the Rally-Raid upgrades in general, Juan just posted a new video from our week in Moab in May this year:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng7oFzQ9QHU

curious if there is such kit available for nc750x as IMO it has much better engine torque wise then e.g. CB500x and I did on this bike plenty of off-road, e.g. in Morocco. Only limitation is ground clearance and weight, excellent handling bike off-road.

Hi Tremens - if you’ve spent any time on the ADVrider forum threads regarding the CB, I feel I’ve explained why John (at Rally-Raid) and I felt the CB was a much better platform for an all-terrain Adventure bike than the NC range.

In a nutshell, as you say, it has limited ground clearance, a much longer wheelbase and is significantly heavier - an ADV kit for that bike would mean it competes directly with the already established 750/800c class such as the Triumph Tiger and 700/800 GS of course - all of which are competent and cabable larger ADV bikes out of the showroom. In fact I’d suggest the only thing the NC would really have in its favour is the DCT transmission option.

The point of the CB is that it is a phyiscally smaller and lighter bike, but that still has the [twin cylinder] on road performance of those larger bikes, while being more nimble and managable when you go off road - and as you are probably aware, I have taken the CB seriously off-road, including the Rubicon Trail.

Hope that clrifies things...

Jenny x

ps. Rally-Raid do offer upgraded and adjustable suspension components for the NC model, but not longer travel, spoked wheels or engine guards etc.

FYI -

https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/201...ect-2017-2018/

Ride Safe - Michael

that's the quality of today's bikes, lunch the product and next day there is a recall...where did the QA took place? BMW, Honda, Yamaha all are the same now.

To be fair, it is only a handful of bikes that have suffered - but enough now for BMW to do something about it of course.

for info. The issue is where the tube that the side-stand pivot bolt goes through, is welded to the tab on the frame. Some bikes appear to have more weld than others, and some of the ones that apparently have less weld have had the joint crack and in some cases the tube bracket has snapped off.

I agree with Tremens that this sort of thing should really have been addressed as part of the initial quality control - but presumably the issue didn't come to light until the bikes started being used.

As I understand it, the fix [an additional support bracket] for existing models is being rolled out to all affected territories, and all later production batches revised have received a revised specification and better Quality Control.

Jx