G650GS gearbox

[Wrinkly]

A mate of mine has just got himself a g650gs for bimbling around on,unfortunately ownership of his first bmw is not going well.

It sticks in first gear and is very difficult to get out,it also hits a false neutral going from 5th-4th then about 2 seconds later jumps very harshly into gear.

He also complains that it is very vi-bey at 70mph,but seeing as his other bike is a new Honda 1000cc in line four I thought it would be this that made his gs feel vi bey.

Having ridden the bike myself I've got to say it's not a patch on my X/Country the gearbox is awful and it does vibrate excessively.

He's had it back to the dealers who have stripped the clutch,taken it out for a test ride,and deemed there to be nothing wrong.

The bike has now done 900mls.

Anyone else experienced or heard of any of the above problems.

Steve

 

[Axel F]

Broke my girlfriends G650GS in for her and experienced a few of the problems you described. Gears were quite stiff but all is good now, no falso neutrals and all quite smooth. Covered about 1500 miles now

 

[rce]

Broke wife's G650GS in for her, and to be honest gearbox seemed smoother to me than my F650GS twin, and way smoother than my Yamaha ever was.

Wife had issues with false neutrals only when we adjusted gear lever to sit higher for her boots to fit under easier (thick sole). Once changed back to standard position no further issues. Does he still have rubber inserts in pegs ? If he does get him to remove them to see if he cuts down on the false neutrals.

Vibration has always felt acceptable... I actually like feeling what the engine is up to. Wife initially complained that her eye balls vibrated when it was time to change gear, but that has passed so either her eyes have learnt to a adjust or the bike has got smoother over the 4k miles.

 

[indylead]

My G650GS just had her 6,000 mile service.

I've found the false neutral between 4th and 5th a few times - and put it down to being too gentle with the gear shift.

I have more trouble with finding neutral when changing up from 1st to 2nd, although it's been better since the first service at 600 miles (mentioned it to the BMW dealer, and I guess they did something). Again, I'm finding that a good firm gear change seems to prevent it.

At anything above 70mph it's hard to hear anything over the wind noise

There is a buzz from something up front at 4k rpm, but apart from that everything seems fairly solid. I've only been riding for a year, so haven't exactly got a wide range of experience to base that on - although I've just had an R1200GS for a week whilst mine was being serviced and rattle-wise no real difference!

No other problems with the bike, and loving it.

 

[dieselpower]

Ours vibrated like a dumper truck for the first 200 miles and the gearbox was a bit of a pig but with 2000 miles on the clock now it's now very smooth.

Haven't had a false neutral but it occasionally takes its time to work out it is in neutral before putting the green light on.

Don't tickle it and you should be ok.

 

[Wrinkly]

My mate just got a reply from the dealer after they had it for 4 weeks.

New engine and gearbox The bike had done 600mls.

He's now pondering wether or not to push for a completley new bike.

I have no idea were he would stand on this legally although it would appear that they had told him a few porkies initally.

Steve

 

[jonnie comet]

There is a guy in MCN who is running one on a long term test, and he is having gearbox problems.....

 

[Black Sheep]

...not yet!

I've had mine a few months now and so far, fingers crossed, nice and smooth. Bit lumpy finding neutral between 1st and 2nd at first, but any glitches stopped when I changed boots! Loving it so far..!

 

[Wrinkly]

Just as an update,
He swapped the bike for an 800gs, the dealer gave him full refund on his g650 plus discount.

Steve.

 

[Terryl]

Hi. I just test rode a brand new 2012 G650GS and experienced the same issues with finding neutral regardless of whether bike was still rolling or at complete stop. Also found it difficult shifting up into 2nd but this down to operator error. I also experienced the "buzzy eyeball" syndrome at motorway speed but put this down at the time to buffeting/resonance from air coming of the fly screen as had experienced same unpleasant phenomenon on the generally much smoother DL650...On reflection maybe the buzzy vision was engine related. Not sure whether to classify this as being a querk of big singles or a damn right medically unpleasant unwanted experience. I also had trouble starting the bike when hot but again had initially put this down to operator error due being totally unschooled in any of this models "features". I'm currently waiting on the dealers response to my query about the gearbox issues as this is a bike that in all other respects was very appealing. I've never owned a BMW before and would hate my first experienced to be marred by something like this as I like the dollars that I'm borrowing to pay for the thing to be well spent!

 

[fatbaldbob]

I have a sertao with 1000 miles on the clock, i was told by the mechanic at the time of collection to expect the gearbox to be a bit stiff for the first few hunderd miles particularly when trying to find neutral, it was a bit notchy at first but is fine now, it seems to get better as the miles go on it.

I had the hot start issue from day one, this is a known fault and there is a fix, its a new cam and different valve tolerences. This is only done as required as it seems not all bikes have the problem so its not a recall issue, they just wait for customer complaints before they address it, I had mine done and no problems since.

There is also a recall on the Sertao to have the front mudguard replaced as the original ones sheared off at the mounting due to vibes.

 

[Halfa1200]

I have had my G650GS for 1 year now, the hot start problem was solved by the dealer fitting a new decompressor leaver and new valve clearances. I find that changing up between 1 and 2 you have to give a good boot with the foot if you are gentle it will slip into neutral. As regards vibes and noise I have a Givi screen with an angled extender, to reduce wind noise and engine vibes appear to smooth out at 72mph.