F650 GS owners, help to answer a few questions, please.
- Thread starter Timpo
- Start date
Timpo,
We got a crash damaged 2001 650gs with the standard (low) seat for Jill. She is 5' 4" with a 29" inside leg.
The bike once rebuilt was set up with the forks slid up through the yokes by 20mm 'this is the maximum, because of the bars'. I set the suspension to soft and adjusted the damping to compensate.
Jill wanted me to fit a Kuboa link when she first started using the bike, which in all honesty would have boosted her confidence a bit. But because we were doing the BW off road course a couple of months later I felt it would be detrimental to her enjoyment of this if she was used to a very low bike and then to be presented with a standard hight one for her first experience off road.
So she prevailed and now a year later the 650 is still as it was with the exception of a little extra preload on the rear spring.
Jill gets on well with the 650, has ridden it off road and through some fords and is keen to do more. We've now fitter TKCs to help up on Salisbury plain.
Reliability wise it's excellent, with the exception of the painstaking removal of something like 14 screws to remove the tank cover (I need to find a way round this). Servicing is easy enough.
Protection on Jills is simply the belly pan and the BM crash bar, though I'm thinking of fitting upper bars to help protect the radiator.
Have the PM'd Duchess and Jaq? Jaq is only about 5' and is just parting with the factory lowered 650 for the new 658 and Duchess has a standard 650gs.
Val.
We got a crash damaged 2001 650gs with the standard (low) seat for Jill. She is 5' 4" with a 29" inside leg.
The bike once rebuilt was set up with the forks slid up through the yokes by 20mm 'this is the maximum, because of the bars'. I set the suspension to soft and adjusted the damping to compensate.
Jill wanted me to fit a Kuboa link when she first started using the bike, which in all honesty would have boosted her confidence a bit. But because we were doing the BW off road course a couple of months later I felt it would be detrimental to her enjoyment of this if she was used to a very low bike and then to be presented with a standard hight one for her first experience off road.
So she prevailed and now a year later the 650 is still as it was with the exception of a little extra preload on the rear spring.
Jill gets on well with the 650, has ridden it off road and through some fords and is keen to do more. We've now fitter TKCs to help up on Salisbury plain.
Reliability wise it's excellent, with the exception of the painstaking removal of something like 14 screws to remove the tank cover (I need to find a way round this). Servicing is easy enough.
Protection on Jills is simply the belly pan and the BM crash bar, though I'm thinking of fitting upper bars to help protect the radiator.
Have the PM'd Duchess and Jaq? Jaq is only about 5' and is just parting with the factory lowered 650 for the new 658 and Duchess has a standard 650gs.
Val.
Timpo,
for 5'1" with 30" inside leg I think the factory lowerd version will fit fine, my wife is 5'0" 28- 29" leg and can comftably ride a F650GS and paddle it around.
Touratech do most protection bars and acessories for the bike - I think fairing bars are £75 +P&P and engne bars are either £75 or £92 depending on style.
must have acessories - depends on what you want to do but popular ones are touring screens, hand guard spoilers and additional lighting
oh and of course luggage!
running not sure yet as we have not got one yet but I belive 17L ? tank and about 50-60Mpg? (180-200 miles per tank?) I am sure some one could confirm those numbers. pair of tyres are around the £120 for the popular tourances
may help you, a lowered F650GS is for sale at the moment on this site with all the accessories you would want
regards
si
for 5'1" with 30" inside leg I think the factory lowerd version will fit fine, my wife is 5'0" 28- 29" leg and can comftably ride a F650GS and paddle it around.
Touratech do most protection bars and acessories for the bike - I think fairing bars are £75 +P&P and engne bars are either £75 or £92 depending on style.
must have acessories - depends on what you want to do but popular ones are touring screens, hand guard spoilers and additional lighting
oh and of course luggage!
running not sure yet as we have not got one yet but I belive 17L ? tank and about 50-60Mpg? (180-200 miles per tank?) I am sure some one could confirm those numbers. pair of tyres are around the £120 for the popular tourances
may help you, a lowered F650GS is for sale at the moment on this site with all the accessories you would want
regards
si
I am 5'4" with inside leg 29.5" a standard 650GS with lowered seat fits me fine - no need to lower the suspension.
PhysioJo
Registered user
Forgot to mention insurance last time. Worth checking out BMW select. Don't know what riding experience your lady has but BMW underwrite the additional cost of the insurance so the maximum you pay is £220. For me, as a brand new rider with no experience, this was a real bargain and less than I'd been paying for the 125cc whilst I was learning.
Jo
Jo
Thanks, that great feedback, and I think the standard height bike will be the right choice.
I will fit a decent set of protection bars, just in case.
Timpo.
Melanie Cheeks
Registered user
5'2 and I haven't a clue what my inside leg is! Short, anyway.
Passed test last year and was very concerned about being able to get my feet on the ground. Lowered the 650 with Kouba links, which was great height wise, but impossible to get on centre stand, and not a great angle even on the side stand. Have since removed the links and am just using a low Wunderlich seat, which is really comfy and allows me to get enough of my feet on the ground to feel confident.
Crash bars - definitely. I've dropped mine a few times and I'm afraid the old paniers are acting a bit like crumple zones
. Still can't manage to pick it up unaided either...
BMW top box perfect for holding helmet and handbag. Well, for swapping those contents when parked.
Heated grips fitted last week and they are the biz!
Next bling will be a taller screen.
Passed test last year and was very concerned about being able to get my feet on the ground. Lowered the 650 with Kouba links, which was great height wise, but impossible to get on centre stand, and not a great angle even on the side stand. Have since removed the links and am just using a low Wunderlich seat, which is really comfy and allows me to get enough of my feet on the ground to feel confident.
Crash bars - definitely. I've dropped mine a few times and I'm afraid the old paniers are acting a bit like crumple zones
. Still can't manage to pick it up unaided either...BMW top box perfect for holding helmet and handbag. Well, for swapping those contents when parked.
Heated grips fitted last week and they are the biz!
Next bling will be a taller screen.
That's funny.........
PhysioJo, I'll check the insurance out, but she will probably continue the KTM policy and add an extra bike.
Cheers.
Timpo.
Gizmo*
Registered user
Good point, Linzi did the same and has stuck with them at renewal
Dave Atherton
Guest
Low Seat.
Hi,
My partner has a 24" inside leg ( crutch to ankle bone) and she rides a factory lowered F650 OK, we lowered the seat a bit ( remove the rubber cushon plugs this gives another 1/2") . She managed OK like this and I have just fitted a set of lowered links and she can get both feet flat on floor. With the bike this low clearence between center stand and ground is limited so i removed it.
Due to her low weight there is no chance of suspension bottoming and per load is wound fully hard.
Seat hight is now around 735mm.
Hi,
My partner has a 24" inside leg ( crutch to ankle bone) and she rides a factory lowered F650 OK, we lowered the seat a bit ( remove the rubber cushon plugs this gives another 1/2") . She managed OK like this and I have just fitted a set of lowered links and she can get both feet flat on floor. With the bike this low clearence between center stand and ground is limited so i removed it.
Due to her low weight there is no chance of suspension bottoming and per load is wound fully hard.
Seat hight is now around 735mm.
Thanks Dave, but we won't need to go that extreme. It's nice to hear that it can be done though to give the shorter memebrs of our race a chance of riding such a bike.
ST uses her KTM125 with ease and I have that set at about 790mm, but it is a narrow machine. The balls of her feet are both in contact with the ground and that's enough for her.
She is hell-bent on getting the 780mm bike now so I'll let you all know our findings and any little tweeks we decide to make.
Regards.
Timpo.
I think she is right to get the 780mm bike - The salesman convinced me to get the lowered one but it kept bottoming out over speed bumps etc. I was itching to take it off road but knew the ground clearance was not enough. I tried the standard height bike and realised that would have been ok.
I have just ordered the new 650GS - standard height but with a lowered seat. The salesman ( a different one) tried to get me to have a lowered bike again
I have just ordered the new 650GS - standard height but with a lowered seat. The salesman ( a different one) tried to get me to have a lowered bike again
AxeGrinder
Registered user
Did you get the screen...if so, how do you find it?
Thunder
Registered user
Just on the insurance front, Ms Cheek's renewal arrived on Friday from BMW Insurance, being a new rider she now has her first years no claims and with a value of £4000, £250 access they quoted £230 premium.
I'd switched to Ebike last year and been more than happy with premiums, ability to add riders or bikes on line without being charged administration fees and their claims service which unfortunately I had to use in January so decided to get a quote.
Used a £10 e-voucher I sent her and for the same cover BMW used but with zero access instead of £250 it came through at £125 including breakdown cover!
Well pleased
I'd switched to Ebike last year and been more than happy with premiums, ability to add riders or bikes on line without being charged administration fees and their claims service which unfortunately I had to use in January so decided to get a quote.
Used a £10 e-voucher I sent her and for the same cover BMW used but with zero access instead of £250 it came through at £125 including breakdown cover!
Well pleased
snoopy
Guest
Me and John both have one now and he's got to the same conclusion as me;
Guards hit screen close to full lock
Not too much difference to standard
Supplied washers are different heights (6mm and 9mm) causing screen to be lopsided at top. We can't figure out if this is on purpose or not!
Thunder
Registered user
Just had one delivered last week and fitted it to Ms Cheek's bike.
Noticed the different sized spacers you mentioned but thought there was a mistake and made up a second 9mm one to fit to the bike.
Neither of the guards hit the screen with this set up so might be worth looking into it.
My experience is that the instructions were wrong (stated same sized spacers), but they supplied different sized spacers that when fitted correctly the screen looked "normal".
I didn't try moving the bars after the trial fit so maybe if the screen's not fitted correctly ie lopsided it then fouls the hand guards. As I said I didn't try moving the bars after I fitted mine so it's a pure guess.
Agreed that against the BM Dakar screen there's not that much difference, but if you've only got the small GS screen it's probably a big improvement at less than BM's price.
I didn't try moving the bars after the trial fit so maybe if the screen's not fitted correctly ie lopsided it then fouls the hand guards. As I said I didn't try moving the bars after I fitted mine so it's a pure guess.
Agreed that against the BM Dakar screen there's not that much difference, but if you've only got the small GS screen it's probably a big improvement at less than BM's price.
snoopy
Guest
Just had one delivered last week and fitted it to Ms Cheek's bike.
Noticed the different sized spacers you mentioned but thought there was a mistake and made up a second 9mm one to fit to the bike.
Neither of the guards hit the screen with this set up so might be worth looking into it.
Hits on both sides for me. I'll go make a second spacer and see how it fars. I've got 40mm spacers on at the moment and the noise is much worse but doesn't foul the guards much.
A.
Hi Timpo, I've been out of the country and not reading all posts, so missed this one.
You have a lot of feedback on the height of the 650. I got the 2" kouba links for the dakar to lower it for myself. The 1" ones are recomended for the standard 650. I think they have a deal that if you're not happy, even after fitting them, you can return them. They are dead easy to fit too!
As someone who has dropped my dakar loads, I wouldnt bother with engine bars, but maybe consider radiator bars. I got them from winderlich after having to fork out for a new rad and fan from a rather nasty drop somewhere in the welsh hills! Havent dropped it since, but I reckon they are strong enough to prevent similar damage.
I would definately recommend an after market screen. I have a wunderlich ergo one, that I really like, but there are other good ones too.
I also have a scottoiler fitted for the chain.
You have a lot of feedback on the height of the 650. I got the 2" kouba links for the dakar to lower it for myself. The 1" ones are recomended for the standard 650. I think they have a deal that if you're not happy, even after fitting them, you can return them. They are dead easy to fit too!
As someone who has dropped my dakar loads, I wouldnt bother with engine bars, but maybe consider radiator bars. I got them from winderlich after having to fork out for a new rad and fan from a rather nasty drop somewhere in the welsh hills! Havent dropped it since, but I reckon they are strong enough to prevent similar damage.
I would definately recommend an after market screen. I have a wunderlich ergo one, that I really like, but there are other good ones too.
I also have a scottoiler fitted for the chain.
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