BMW F 650 GS
Verified3 reviews
A Quirky Machine – Although it trades off the Charley McEwan image of the big boxer twins, the F650GS is essentially a road bike. The motor is a modern liquid cooled 800cc twin but it's confusingly named after the previous generation 650 singles to differentiate it from the off-road biased F800GS. The bike is fairly easy to live with, apart from a few foibles for those raised on Japanese bikes. The engine is a 360-degree twin like 1960's-70's Triumphs, but vibration is well balanced out. It suits the bike and just gets on with the job, though engine breaking is noticeably stronger than Japanese 180 twins and you can have the rear wheel skipping with aggressive throttle use. Dislike (hate with a passion) the unusual switchgear layout with separate indicator button on each side. This also puts the starter button up high on the housing. None of the right-hand controls are intuitive if you're used to riding Japanese bikes. You spend too much time with eyes off the road looking for the buttons, which is an unnecessary distraction, sacrificing safety and efficiency for the sake of quirkiness. The fuel tank is under the seat with the filler angled so the tank can be filled full on the side stand, but there seems to be a lot of wasted space (poor packaging) under the "tank" which is where the battery and some of the airbox live. Chain is on the right-hand side, which is no biggie, just another point of difference from Japanese bikes. Brakes do what they're supposed to, and handling is OK if a little sluggish, but it's no sports bike. Comfy, upright riding position in the firm, sculpted seat, pillion pad is small. Other minor dislikes are the snatchy throttle response low down, which can make stop-start/town riding tiring, and the notchy gear change which can throw out a false neutral if you're not firm with the shift. All in all, it's a nice bike to ride, handy at normal road speeds and fairly economical. A couple of minor niggles as noted, the worst being that switchgear which tries too hard to be cool, but adds nothing and in fact detracts from the user experience.
Purchased in for $3,800.
- Mileage: 140,000 km
BMW F650GS/800cc twin – I have to rate this wee bike as excellent- for what I want. I have had many bikes off road and on road. This bike is not a true off road GS, but is quite capable on gravel roads and fire breaks. It is a fantastic road bike, agile, handles very well in the corners, economical has more than enough power (71HP) for real world riding. The BMW 800GS 85hp ,is bigger, higher bike, and weighs 20-30kg more. The F650GS because of its tuning the actually develops nearly as much torque as the F800GS BUT at about 1000rpm less revs, which makes it great on the twisty roads. I have no problems with the suspension, seat, ergonomics are fine, good digital displays, most of the info you need , kms/L, air temp, range left, gear selection, etc. heated grips, I find the seat comfortable I have ridden 650km over 2 days, dirt and sealed roads and I was comfortable, I weigh 80kg. It is also a lightweight at 171kg dry weight , 199kg all fuelled up. At 5 10" I can easily put my feet on the ground, plus it easy to push around in the garage. The bike feels as though it has good torque and accelerates well off the mark, and adequate for overtaking on the highways 100-140km/hr, maybe runs out of puff at higher autobahn speeds but that is to be expected from 71hp. It runs beautifully at 3500rpm in 6th gear doing 100km/hr. If you want to cruise at 200km/hr+ I suggest you buy a 1290 KTM or BMW 1200/1250GS. It has a 16L fuel tank that gets at least 22km/L or about 65+mpg, range about 370km. Fuel tank is under the seat, and the battery is where most bikes have the fuel tank, keeps the weight low. In fact on my 650km recent trip I got 80mpg + but probably not exceeded much over 110km/hr maximium It comes with good luggage options. Mine has the larger aftermarket Givi screen, I believe the low standard screen is a little ineffective. The bike has an 800cc Rotax motor, that is very reliable mine has done 100,000km+ and still runs lovely. Headlight is very bright at night and instruments are well lit up and easy to read. I have read several other reports where riders who own many bikes often choose their F650GS / 800 as their "go to" all round bike, and I concur with that. Things I don't like: The throttle response can make the bike feel a little snappy at lower speeds, but I have learned to negate this by being easier on and off the throttle and selecting the correct gear for the speed you are riding. The gearbox is a wee bit clunky ( like most BMW's) I have never had any false neutrals, but you have to be firm with it. Once on the highway or backroads it is just fine. I also have some trouble finding Neutral when bike is hot but I think that is peculiar to my bike as it is not a common issue. To sum up: for the 90% on road / 10% gravel roads that I generally ride this bike fits the bill just fine.
If you are wanting to cross deserts this bike is maybe not for you, There are many other dirt bikes / trail bikes that are better suited to soft sand and mud, buy will not be as road friendly as the GS. Later BMWs 700s 750/ 800s have slowly got heavier this is a big minus as far as I am concerned, the lighter the better. But for me its the bees knees. Update 2022 107,000kms The Stator has packed up and is not charging the battery anymore. I have purchased a new one online, $140 and will fit it soon, $30 for gasket, quite an easy job to replace if your mechanically minded.
Purchased in at BMW Dealers for $18,000.
- Mileage: 100,000 km
Really a bad bike – This bike is likely the worst I had ever used. Though it is sometime presented as a successor to the Fenduro or the Dakar, it has nothing in common with those legendary bikes. Being two cylinders one could honestly hope to have reduced vibration - in fact I never suffer that much on a bike. A shared problem from our group of bikers. The gas tank is much too limited to consider serious adventure, with a need to refill every 300 ~ 350 km. Believe me, there is no gas station that frequently in Africa. The bike heat a lot and driving on sand you have to stop frequently. If pushing you'll enjoy a geyser out of the radiator. What make this bike terrible is the weight balance that is set very high fro small wheels. So on sandy road (even with a small patch of sand) the bike become unpredictable - like driving on black ice. A bicycle could do seriously better. The saddle is very hard, making sitting unbearable after 100 km. On road it is limited to the low 90 km/h because of vibrations and it is relative heavy for city drive. So this bike has no real place, but below a Tannenbaum. It look nice, but it is not a safe bike if you consider real adventure. Bizarre, but I feel I might saving few lives writing those notes... The claim is that it is a successor of the Fenduro This claim is so wrong - the bike has no real terrain to go
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