BMW G650 Engine - Reliable ???
 

So... It's been out a few years now.

Is it any good ???

It's no secret. I'm no fan of the old F650 in any of it's guises. Unreliable and built to kinder Egg toy standards.

The Sertao is tempting me to the dark side. It seems to tick all of my boxes. On paper that is.

I had so many experiences with terrible F650's that I fear the new one..

Any real world experiences out there ???

Good or bad !

I had a good look around the message board and also managed to contact a few people when I was looking fro a sertao. All reports back were really positive - the engine's built by Kymco and from what people are saying is reliable and well built. There's quite a few done some distance - London to Magadan was one with out a hitch with a group of G650's and some morroco stuff. Ended up buying one, so time will tell now !

Yeah.. There is an EPIC thread on ABV rider and no one is having problems but no ones really taken one further than 25,000 miles.

Kymco... WOW !! I used to sell Kymco bikes/scooters. They are probably the worst made pieces of unreliable shit ever to grace our roads.

But, they were built to a VERY low budget.......

Chinese engines. Good or bad !! hmmmmmmmmm

I'm torn between a Sertao and a XT660Z for my next trip.

Wow, TT, no-brainer? Why would you choose the Sertao? I know I'm biased, but I rode one in the summer and thought it was a POS next to the XT660Z, a nice example of which can be had for around 3k GBP....

I like the way you talk haha !

I liked the Sertao as it's lighter than the XT660, which is a lardy bitch isn't it !

Nice economy too. Only 14L tank though. I heard the Sertao is quite nice offroad which would be great for the road of bones ;)

It's true - the XT is a heavy bike, but once you get all your gear on it, will it make much difference? I get 65-70 mpg unless hammering it on the motorway; and you can pretty much take 'em stock.

Also, screw and locknut tappets, no dodgy waterpumps yada yada yada. I'm modding mine for further trips as we write and the deeper I get into the bike, the more I like it.

Yeah.... A Tenere has been on my wish list for years.

Have you found ways to lose weight on it ? Exhausts perhaps ??

I think it would be hard to lose more than about 10 kg from the bike; 2 into 1 exhaust would save some, no centrestand, Li battery; but it's only about 10 kg heavier than the sertao in any case. Would you really notice that weight difference with all your gear on it?

An XT660R is a thought, too, and a good one of those can be had for about a grand less than the Tenere.....

The engine has been around a long time . . .
 

FWIW. It is built in China.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...na-tr650-67424

The Husky TR650 seems superior to the Sertao in every way - less weight, much better suspension components, cheaper.

from the perspective of someone who works on them, they have a bit of trouble with the engine, the decompression lever is to heavy so when hot the bike will not start once turned off, although this has been fixed with a lighter decompression lever were still getting new bikes from the factory with the old lever fitted but obviously we dont know which ones are affected until we have a customer call us saying their bike wont start after they have stopped at petrol stations etc. This is obviously fixed under warrenty.
The engine on very very early production models where made by rotax (literaly just the first batch) and now all of them are made by kymco as previously said.
the bike in a whole is pretty much a direct copy of the previous f650 (not the f650 twin, gotta love using the same name for 2 different bikes) just with updated fairing and slightly newer electrics
It is put together in china as a cheap product in the bmw range and tuned to be new license learner firendly (slighty down on power then last time they were around)
Apart from the non start problem we havnt had much trouble, there was one that shocked me though, we had a customer whos chain snapped at 5000 miles so might be worth changing that if you are going to go for one long distance.

The huskys 650 is the same bike with slightly differant clothing, not sure whether suspension/chassis is the same, but certainly the engine and electrics are the same apart from the fact its non detuned like the bmw

Finally i like the fact that people are still slating the f800 engine for a problem that was solved in 2008, yes it was a big mistake but that was 5 years ago i bet if your girlfriend cheated on you youd move on quicker

The TR650 uses a different chassis than the Sertao - ovalized steel instead of the rectangular frame on the Sertao.

It has a revised cylinder head with bigger ports and valves, larger lift cam, and a higher compression, forged piston, 1000rpm higher redline, making more than 20% more (claimed) power. Dyno runs seem to show about 10% actual increase. The Marelli ECU is new. The engine mandates premium fuel.

Add a high mount exhaust instead of the Sertao's rather vulnerable low-mount.

The Sertao has a bit more travel with Showa parts but the fork tubes are a beefy 46mm compared to the 41mm on the Sertao.


The fading memory capacity of old men . . . makes them hold on to those they can with a ferocity.

Doesn't Colebatch run the 650 ? That Chinese engine seemed to do fine.

I didnt know the specifics, we havnt actually sold or had any interest in one of the huskys for me to pay any attention to it, but like i said the bmw was detuned from the previous release to fall into the new learner legal bracket so the power increase that you see isnt that much

Husky provides little to no support to us dealers, i would hate to know how much support to their customers if they needed it

The exahaust are mounted in pretty much the same position?

Husky is owned by BMW. The guy who re-designed the engine on the TR650 was on the S1000 team and is responsible for the "red-head" Husky's including my preference - the TE630.

Well . . . not in the photos I'm looking at . . . the exhaust runs under the engine on the left-hand side of the bike on the Sertao and across the cylinder on the same side on the TR650.

Finally i like the fact that people are still slating the f800 engine for a problem that was solved in 2008, yes it was a big mistake but that was 5 years ago i bet if your girlfriend cheated on you youd move on quicker[/QUOTE]

You may work on them but unfortunatly BMW did not fix all the engine issues with the F800GS five years ago, if you dont believe me just compare the new 2013 model with the 2012 model you will see just at a glance it has new water pump etc...who knows what they changed inside?? They also changed the rear hub design as well! Even though when mine blew up they claimed they never heard of it happening!!...refused to replace under warranty!! and magically a new design appears in 2013!!!!

I would choose a XT660Z over a BMW any day! Even if it is slightly heavy it will out last any BMW, The other option as mentioned is the XT660 which are a good budget option...and super reliable of course!

BMW
 

I'm torn between a Sertao and a XT660Z for my next trip.doh

TED, Did you really write that ? Do you know what a Seratao is YES IT IS A BMW lol.

Whats caused this change ? Remember BMW:helpsmilie: (Break My Wallet, Bring Me Workshop etc) Is it going to Snow here tonight (& I live in the tropics):D

Cheers & I love these passionate discussions that we create with the zest for
life that only a Biker has aquired
Paulbier.