1150 to 650gs

[(RIP) night trunker]

Hi
Has owners of 650 can you answer the following i am thinking of buying a new 650gs,having looked at second hand ones in the 1to 2 year old bracket there seems to be a considerable amount of corrosion,is this because of neglect on the owners part or the materials the bike is made from.
My present bike is 6years old and with care and attention is still in excellent condition i would like to continue this trend on to a 650gs but would i be fighting a loosing battle,thank you for your thoughts and experiances.

Night Trunker.

 

[Dansin]

I have a (just) two year old Dakar with 12000 miles and the only noticeable corrosion is 1 engine bolt. The bike lives outside and is used 3/4 times a week and cleaned once a month if it's lucky

HTH

Daniel

 

[Ginger DJ]

Corrosion is a natual process it occurs more often on the 650GS because we ride our bikes like they were designed to be ridden, through shit and all weathers up into areas that your average weekend warrior on his japanese clone of every other japanese bike would never dream of going. One doesn't buy a GS to keep it indoors and polish it for when the sun comes out.
GS stands for Get Soaked. Mud is our second home.

 

[Micky]

Hi there Night Trunker... done 50,000 miles on my '04 twin spark Dakar.

Common faults are of course the steering head bearing, often shot at 5,000/6,000 miles and corrsosion. Usually the corrosion is on the alloy round the hose to the water pump, and adjacent to the clutch lever, both on the nearside. Knowing this you could maybe keep some grease on the alloy but in real terms the corrosion creeps under the paintwork where it's been machined!

The bikes are for riding though... buy and enjoy



www.adventure.gs

By the way... I've had two 1150GS's and a 1200GS-A, did 160,000 miles on 'em.... wouldn't get rid of my 650!

 

[rc mad]

not got any noticable corrosion on mine apart from at the top of the fork legs, I think thats because of the fork protectors actually. The bike is one of the great unwashed tho

Will have to check out the steering head bearings when i get back from scotland , bikes got just over 6100 on it now.

 

[(RIP) pastyman]

My 2001 Dakar has nothing in the way of corrosion but the one thing that lets all 650s down and makes them look crap is the state of the exhaust. I know its stainless but after only a short while it looks rusty and spoils the whole bike. My 13 year old 100gs has better looking pipes. Trouble is its difficult to get round the 650 pipe to clean it. Im not a polisher but I do like a reasonably clean bike. Love the rest of the dak though

 

[billy56]

My 2001 Dakar has nothing in the way of corrosion but the one thing that lets all 650s down and makes them look crap is the state of the exhaust. I know its stainless but after only a short while it looks rusty and spoils the whole bike.

my 2001 dakar is exactly the same

 

[veefour]

I've also not got any noticeable corrosion on my 2000 GS and I don't think it's been well loved (I only got it in May). The exausts are a bit tarnished but if I could be arsed to get the Autosol out and apply some elbow grease I think even they'd come up well.

 

[Summer]

GS stands for Get Soaked. Mud is our second home.

Ah, so thats what GS stands for