650 GS as a first bike?

[twizit]

Modman. Sorry no opinions on the bike you've listed, but just wondered if you've tried F650.co.uk (hope I'm allowed to post that on here - mods, please remove if not!).

Dedicated website for the BMW 650, so you might have more luck finding one on there. Regardless a good source of info on the singles and a friendly bunch too....

 

[modman]

Thanks for that, I'm a lurker on there and havn't yet registered. I'll pop on there as well Thanks - Daniel

 

[siwhite]

Another 650GS-as-a-first-bike advokate here.

I've had my licence for all of about four days and LOVE my Dakar.

The school bike I used was a Kawasaki ER-5 and was really small and light in comparison - the BMW is quite tall and heavy until you are used to it, but once you have settled into it it's marvellous. It can seem stonkingly fast at times, but so forgiving if you just want to potter around like I seem to do at the moment.

Get one!

 

[scrubs]

Hiya, just a quick one to say the 650 was my first bike too,
and I am exactly same size as you 5' 6" with 30" inseam.
You will have no problems and will get balls of both feet
down from memory. F800GS you will get both tip toes down
on (unless you put on low seat) and a 1200 with low seat
you will almost flat foot.

The 650 is a great dependable bike and ideal for a first time buy.

 

[Bikerjim]

Guess what

No i had an Aprillia Pegaso which is a 650gs but with a different badge (and a few other things but esentaily the same bike)

Great bike to start with, easy & cheap to maintain

Enjoy

Jim

 

[Farmer Palmer]

Keep looking on www.f650.co.uk aswell as there's a lot of good information to be had there!

Mrs P. is keen to have a look at the new G650GS single when it's launched and it does look very good value at around £5k according to the feature in this weeks MCN. I think the styling is fresh and sharp and I also like the alloy wheels, the new bike looks much lighter. It's a lot of bike for the £.

Mrs P has had her F650GS/FL for nearly four years now and has toured the 'Western Isles' aswell as 'Arctic Norway/Sweden' as her first tour on her own bike. She bought her 05 F650GS FL(factory lowered) with 12kmiles on it for just over £3k and i'm guessing it's still worth most of that today. I even ride it now and again, being 6 foot 4 I just screw the preload right up and swap her low seat for my Dakar one and watch out fot the sidestand scraping a wee bit on the tight corners......!

The F650GS is often overlooked as people move on to bigger bikes but its one of the most reliable bikes BMW have made good for nipping out to the shops or going around the world.....!

The only problem is the name F/G650GS/FL(single) and F650GS(twin) it gets a bit confusing with all those Fs and Gs!

FP.

 

[Farmer Palmer]

Damn, meant to say my first bike was.............

96 BMW F650 Funduro

FP.

 

[scrubs]

couple of other things I missed in my first reply - having the same dimensions as you - for green laning I use a crm250 excellent
bike for us short arses and perfect for the enduros too.. seat height is about 35" so you can just get both toes down. off road
- with the 650GS I personally would say forget about it, maybe some easy stuff, but she is a pig and a heavy one at that, but ideal
for touring with some rough terrain thrown in.

would be good to see if you could test ride one first somewhere, maybe a used one for sale at a dealer. I really liked mine but in
the end it dident bring a smile to my face and just wanted something a little more visceral.. but it served it's purpose for me and
I couldn't fault it for what i needed it for..

The standard (non S) versions of the KTM 950 would suit your height too..