Errr, no. I had one R1200gs which I bought for £4k and only bought because I knew I wouldn't lose money on it, which i didn't. It had 50000 miles and was fine at first. In fact it was the perfect touring bike capable of anything on the road. It was comfy and had power... then the fuel economy gremlin kicked in and fuelling was all over the place... then the brakes (solenoid) packed in, then the power died and I fitted an Odyssey. Long story short, I lost faith and got rid of it. (lost nothing).
Objective means that. Your opinion is only your opinion and in your case seems entirely biased by your own experience, you appear blinkered to anything outside of your own sphere of consciousness. I read a great many opinions, most I ignored as irrelevant for whatever reason but I sought them out nonetheless. My bike has been built to my own requirements. I paid £3k for mine and spent £3k more. That includes luggage, sat nav, exhaust, shocks and other crap. I chose to keep it simple and cheap. My choice.
Objective means the opposite of subjective. That means you have to speak beyond your own experience and the fact is that very few G650gs (singles) fail globally. As bikes grow older they wear, shocks are a wearing component and prone to failure. Truth is, BMW fit crappy parts sometimes (not all the time, the Challenge has a good shock that is just a typically German conceptual design failure but could just as easily have worked well).
I would never tell the OP, or anyone else that their question is stupid but only encourage them to try within their boundaries. Certainly I wouldn't comment that the forks are just barely acceptable if you're not fussy which is the way you speak of other peoples machines. So you spent £2700 plus £4k kitting it out? You ignored me when i asked on ADV when I was trying to work out my budget but hey, I did it and I'm doing it. I met a dealer who had to come out and go over my bike because it was so different. I like that. People come up and ask questions (police sometimes but hey, life is short).

I say work within your boundaries. Everybody's opinion is just that... an opinion. I think the G650gs is a great little bike capable of RTW action if you go in with your eyes open. It's a brilliant machine for the price, not a hardcore enduro capable of massive abuse but a good bike that will survive some hardship, probably more than most riders can endure. I say most people have an opinion unfettered by logic, based on emotional alpha-brain unthinking bias.
Opinions differ. I think some of my solutions are far better and I disagree with solutions of others but my opinion is just that... an opinion. For instance, i put my spare fuel at the front of the bash plate and can logically explain why that is better than an X-tank. Some people disagree. That's what it's all about. If people agree then there is no discussion and it's a quiet, boring little world.

No ... thats NOT what I said.

It must have slipped thru.

Look, I give up. You win. The G650GS is a fabulous bike all round.

And I advise everyone else reading this to agree! Save your sanity now!

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An afterthought ...

Having conceded that you are absolutely right, and that I am in no position to put down the suspension of either the X-Country or the G650GS, I am concerned for the sake of the original posters question, after all he has asked it, I assume, wanting advice from people with experience of long distance moto travel before he buys a bike to go rtw on.

If I recall, his question concerned adventure travel, and mentioned Africa, South America, Russia and Australia specifically. I have been fortunate enough to have ridden in all of those place, while adventure touring. And in those locations I have ridden on stock suspension, modified suspension, air shocks, spring shocks, old bikes, new bikes, carburettored bikes, fuel injected bikes, light bikes, heavy bikes. So that was my frame of reference for my out of order comments. Thats the basis for my silly opinion that yes the bike can make it rtw but it has a few weak points to be aware of.

I am wondering, for the sake of the original poster, if you could expand on your frame of reference so he knows on what basis you are absolutely right in knowing that my points regarding the wheels, suspension and fuel tank size are not relevant to him (probably not valid at all really)? Dont get me wrong, I am not questioning that you are right. It would just be useful to know more detail about the types of experience with the type of bikes and suspension you have had in your travels across Africa, South America, Australia and Russia, to confirm to the original poster that he is not hearing hot air, backed up only by a starbucks card in lieu of any real first hand experience.

Its just that I cant seem to find any reference to you riding anywhere outside of Western Europe.

I take it I am just not looking hard enough?

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This is great entertainment and keeps me awake during night shift !!!

I agree with Walter, it`s all a matter of which continent your are riding. Toby has a good point about older bikes, but we are talking of the brandnew G 650 GS.

Our experiences are: My girlfriend is tall (183cm) but can`t handle heavy bikes, so we started downsizing from

DR 800 BIG -> F 650 GS Dakar -> KLR 650 -> KTM 690

The DR BIG is a pretty good bike, simple and easy to repair (220kg)

The Dakar(193kg) was a pain in the ass, poor quality and lots of expensive repairs (engine broken twice), last quote in SaltLakeCity was about $4000.- so we bought the KLR brandnew (2008) for $5000.-

The KLR 650 (175kg) had no issuses, uses little oil and did the job in North- and Southamerica (25000 miles)

The KTM 690 (150kg) is much more powerful, the suspension is amazing, the quality looks very good and so far no problems (10000km) and I feel confident for our Transafrica Trip


Andrea says, the lesser the bikes weight the easier it´s for her to handle off tarmac and believe me, it`s easier for you when your girlfriend has no problems

In the past I rode some Japanese bikes (1, 2, 4 Cylinder) and had no real problems, then I bought a BMW R 1150 GS (2000) and it consumed almost 1 liter of oil every 1000km, so about 60-70 liter extra oil the time I owned it and that is german high price engineering

For me, BMW has a poor quality and there are a lot of problems with the new generations, the new G 650 GS has to prove if it`s worth the money to buy it .... but I`m not the Betatester

btw, the new F800GS has the same quality problem .... many breakdowns !

I know, nothing is perfect and everything will last only a certain time

For me, the perfect bike would be:

weight and offroad capability from a KTM 690, the gas consumption and comfortable seat from a BMW 650, the engine from a Honda (TA or AT) and the price from a China bike hahahaha


Happy trails and ride the world
Thomas

All those places have a starbucks.


I'm getting the feeling you're not committed enough.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

Aha - committment, now there's a topic to be discuuseed in the Bar!

I am getting p*ssed off with having to log in every time I want to post, perhaps lacking committment

Ive just read this post through and whilst I don't know much about the BMW 650 singles I have been on the receiving end of crap BMW OEM suspension.

There seems to be some confusion here: Good suspension on an enduro/rallye bike means it works well in terms of the bikes handling but will be made of lightweight materials. Only top class riders will reap the benefits of top notch suspension. For the rest of us reliability is probably more important but the suspensions basic ability to be adjusted to suit varying loads is also a factor. I don't thing anyone apart from KTM produce a bike with good suspension and even KTM are dumming down using the WP name but the spec. is less good on the 690 than on the EXCs it does, however, seem to be quite robust. I had a WP rear shock on my GS in Africa which worked OK but did start to leak after 25000 miles.

My approach is that if you are not an off road ace you should fit a robust rebuildable rear shock from a reputable maker. The front forks on most bikes can be repaired at the roadside unless bent. If you want top notch off road performance then you will have to spend a lot more money to fit good quality forks and rear shock (avoiding the racing specialists) and set it correctly for the load you are carrying.

+1

+100

Wise words

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Certainly what's true is that there's nothing 'out of the box' that is suitable for adventure touring with a reasonable fuel capacity. The Tenere XT660Z is 70% there but the engine is really crude.

On my last trip to Morocco my son-in-law was riding a rented F650GS and we swapped bikes for a while. After the F650GS he loved the comfort of the Tenere with its tall rally screen. What I noticed was the way the F650GS engine was so tractable after the narrow useful rev band of the Tenere which won't pull under 3000 revs.

I recently rode the F800GS and the G650GS back-to-back. In addition to the Tenere I also have an F650GS twin so the F800GS wasn't much different, however the G650GS brought a smile to my face, it's a lovely fun bike. If BMW brought out a 'Tenerised' version of the G650GS it could be a brilliant bike.

What I'd really like is for one of the major manufacturers to bring out a proper overland adventure bike with 500-800cc engine, quality strong long-travel suspension, fuel capacity of at least 15 litres (and preferable 20 litres), tall rally cockpit/screen, comfortable seat, decent footpegs, large side stand foot, sump and engine protection designed with the bike, and so forth.

Lots of other ideas could be incorporated such as a secure document stash, permanent space for first aid kit and proper tool set/inner tubes, permanently wired in electric tyre pump.

OK, it might be a lowish production run, but if it was based on an existing bike (Tenere with a decent engine, or F800GS with better suspension, cockpit/screen and seat) the development costs would be fairly low.

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)