First Euro Trip
 

Hi all!
Ive been skulking around the forums for a while nów.
I have been travelling around Europe for nearly a year backpacking and surviving solely on the money i get from busking. The time has arrived when my companion and i seperate and i shall do the motorcycle tour this was intended to be.
Ive pretty much set on a bmw f650 for the reliability and cost. Im impartial to whether its a GS or not,but Ive seen many funduros go for <£1000 since Ive been searching so it will likely be an original f650.
I have a few questions though if anybody could shed some light?
1. Can you attach soft panniers to an f650 without a luggage rack? There is a bike for sale atm which comes with soft panniers but There isnt a rack, just the grab rails (which Look sufficient to me?)
2. Would anybody buy a bike with this description:
"the bike can sometimes jump outnof second Gear at 3000rpm included in sale is a gearbox been told its the fork selector" and (when asked about the problems severity):
"its okay if you ride it carefully changing gears correctly, only seems to drop into neutral when you give it some beans other than that great bike"
3.am i a complete idiot to consider flying back to buy a bike i cant inspect until then (big waste of money on flights)?
Thanks!

Hi

Unless you are good at fixing bikes then I would say no, they are already admitting to a problem....so how many more problems are there? Although Touring Ted might have a better idea

Flying back from where to where to have a look at the bike?

If you are going to spend money on a flight, buying the bike and getting a mechanic to change the gear box and service the bike you might as well look closer to home...and it doesn't have to be a BMW. Check the bikes for sale section

Cheers

Wayne

Hi JamboFett22 and welcome,
The F650 is a good choice and there are plenty out there at good prices without a gearbox or any other problem which is very unusual on this bike, I woulf save yourself the hassle of travelling to buy it then fixing it and look elsewhere.
There should be no problem using soft luggage without a rack but you might need something to keep the bags off of the exhaust, plenty of seconhand racks out there as well and well worth getting one.

So I haggled with the guy after he got it an MOT and I spoke a little more to him. My trip has ended now, so I'm back in England and I went to Devon to test ride it and he'd totally downplayed the problem. It wouldn't stay in second at all, bloody cheek. That was a long way to go for me, shall listen better to the HUBB next time! :/
After looking a little for other bikes I found a list of A2 ready ones and the f650 original isn't actually on there. Anybody know if it's A2 legal? Every website has conflicting specifications and BMW don't have anything on their site apart form the new G650GS...