Thread: Thinking of buying a BMW 650GS Dakar motorbike - any advice on these?

The engine is a Rotax and can be tweaked. Aprilia and Bombardier use the same engine.

I suggest a proper stainless hi-flow exhaust, and a retune to compensate for the extra gas flow.

Secondly, dump the silly front forks and invest in a good set of 43mm conventional adjustable forks off a Jap bike. There are several Yank forums that deal with conventional and USD fork conversions.

Apart from those two issues, it's a brilliant bike and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one.

I bought a F650 Dakar new a few years back and put 40K km on it in two years before I sold it to finance a Disco. It required nothing but regular servicing, got fantastic fuel economy and was easy on consumables like tyres and chains. The Rotax 650 single seems pretty much indestructible, with plenty going strong past 100K km. If I had the money, I'd buy another tomorrow. I did 1000km days on it, toured the outback while camping two-up, commuted (excellent bike for this), chased sports bike through the High Country. As others have said, it wasn't the best possible bike at any one of these things but very few bikes are as versatile.

The only complaint most owners seem to have is that they could do with a bit more power on the highway, and a bit less weight off road. However, I think they strike a pretty good compromise altogether. If you were interested in more off road capability at the expense of some on road comfort, you could also look at BMW's X-Challenge which is powered by the same engine but is lighter with higher quality suspension.

There is a dedicated F650 forum called "the chain gang" as well as the advrider.com site, both well worth checking out.

Oh, and the factory panniers are well worth having - well made, very convenient and a neat fit to the bike.

I too wanted that bike but then I found its bigger brother the R1150GS for sale second hand, similar money. I got that instead. Fantastic bike. Only sold it to put deposit on my Defender. After Three years I got $500 less than I paid for it.

Originally Posted by 86mud

Hi All

Hitting a midlife crisis. I am totally over riding my mountain bike to and from work each day.

I have always liked the look of the BMW 650GS Dakar version, but have never riden one or had any experience with them.

Anyone on here have one and would like to share their experiences?

Thanks
Andrew

Funnily enough, I'm thinking of getting the same bike!

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You can't tow caravans with them Ranga the Legend.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

You can't tow caravans with them Ranga the Legend.

Good point

The caravan has now served it's purpose, and I'll be glad to see the back of it

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Thanks for all the comments.

I am thinking of getting one from around 2002. Been looking at Bikesales and there are a quite a few on there. I wouldn't even mind doing a few off road trips in it once I get use to it.

Ones with around 40,000kms...

So do these models have a BMW engine or something else?

Cheers
Andrew

If it's a single it will be the Rotax, BM made the Boxer engine. Both powerplants are robust and reliable.