BMW G650GS?

[woundedjohn]

I'm looking to buy another thumper and am considering a BMW G650GS.
Does anyone here own one and would you recommend them?
It would be a second hand one probably 3-4 years old.

I would be interested in your views.

Thanks

John

[chris22]

Had one of those about 15 years ago and put about 20,000 miles on it. Comfortable and reliable but you need the taller screen to take the wind off your chest.

[OZ]

Recently bought a 2012 Sertao GS 650 after having an XT600e for 11years or so. I put a lowering kit on it -30mm and a louder exhaust. It's a great bike to ride, the fuel injection is really quite good, it handles, goes and brakes better than the XT. It feels and now sounds like a real thumper. It has an annoying feature of cutting out when it's hot - happened about 5 times in around a thousand miles. Apparently not uncommon. Still not sure about BMW ownership but it's a really fun ride on B and unclassified roads.

[Andy M]

I don't know what they did to turn the F into the G but the F was an Aprillia with Bavarian cost cutting and a total lack of interest in sorting out the waterpump, forks, chain, regulator, engine paint etc. I had two F650's, the first one was fine, the second destroyed itself and ruined a trip to Morocco for me.

If it was cheap enough I might think about one, but if you can afford Japanese and get a choice that's what I'd pick.

Andy

[themoudie]

Aye john,

Have a read of my mates blog: Gino_on_Tour Then click on "The bikes and Gear for The big trip" tab.

Buenos Aires to Anchorage to Florida, October 2012 onwards on the blog, make your own mind up! 

I had a Funduro 1994, looked good but the finish behind the SS fasteners and plastic was c**p and the powder coating was aptly named as it fell off in great lumps from all the alloy, with no sign of an initial primer to aid adhesion, leaving great grey pustules, erupting from the alloy. Footrests were 2" to far forward and bars too low for standing riding on the pegs; I'm 6'2" and long in the back and arm. I made new mounts for the pegs and added risers to the bar mounts.

Sold the bike rather than try to spark erode the mild steel studs out of the cylinder head holding the exhaust in and the seal went on the water pump 2 weeks after selling, so mixing coolant with lubrication! 

Check this site as well for a whole load of info, tricks, wheezes, whinging and devotion: Chain_Gang!

All the best, Bill

[woundedjohn]

Sincere thanks to all of you who took the trouble to reply.

The reason I was look at the G650GS was because I am after an adventure type bike and suffer from being a bit of a short @rse at 5'7". Some of these type have ludicrously high seat heights. I believe KTM do one with seat 940mm, ouch!
I tried a GS at my local BMW dealers and even the standard seat seemed comfortable with the possibility to reduce even further with a lower seat.
My main concern is that it's a BMW. I've had two before, an R1200RT and an R1150R both of which I hated. I found them heavy, lardy and I hated the indicator arrangement. The GS however is light at 175kgs and with conventional left thumb switch.
I'm off to look at one tomorrow so wish me luck........... think I might need it if some of the reviews are to be believed.

Thanks again.

John.

[Richard]

The old vertical thumb switch for the indicators was always one of my favourite things on the old Beemers.

When your thumb gets cold moving it up/down is so much easier than using the mid joint to move it left/right.