I bought a 2014 with 2550 km in Neiva Huila Colombia in july 1017 i am very happy with this machine because it is my first licensed bike i now have 6800 on it
on days off i go riding to some pretty awesome places and this bike tears up the roads, dirt and pavement like nothing i have ever seen on the Colombian grid
it is very stable being low sg and high performance in the mountain roads
you can pass anything but not a super bike or high end autos
millage is incredible Neiva Colombia to Bucaramanga Colombia 700 kms 2 tanks moderate driving 11 hrs 7 gallons total! How can you beat that

Hi Rolly,

I read your post about deciding between the Sertao and the G650GS and I'm glad to hear the 2014 G650GS hasn't left you disappointed.

I started riding when I was 16, growing up in India on a Yamaha 125cc 2 Stroke machine and I used to have a hell a lot of fun on Indian roads manouvering through traffic. I live in Germany now and haven't had a motorcycle for the past 7 years apart from the occassional day or two in Thailand, Cambodia and India. After my last holiday and a day trip on a Honda Rebel I decided I had to get back on a motorcycle asap.

I took the leap and got a 2015 G650GS with 3100 km on it. The previous owner had never taked it off the tarmac and it looks like its in great shape. I had to pounce on what seemed like a good offer. All the inspections were done by BMW service technicians and now all that is missing is my German driving license (Fingers crossed). The Germans are pretty hard to satisfy when it comes to road rules.

Now that you have a few km on your G650, what is your take on the stock suspension that I hear people constantly complaining about. I intend on doing long tours around Europe for starters once I get the hang of riding the machine. If I had to say do 20% of NOT SO hardcore offroad. The usual gravel and mud, what would you suggest are the upgrades I should look into?

Thank you.

Cheers,

Naveen

I'm actually surprised to read so many negative comments about technical issues with the g650

I bought a used, but relatively new g650gs in 2016 (build '14, first owner BMW, 2000km) and put 70000km on it so far - literally without losing one single bolt. And it really had to take some beating, lot's of rough ground, offroad, water crossings, the whole bit.

The "chinese Rotax" is just working, no oil consumption, no leakage, nothing. It had a strange phase with quite heavy vibrations around 50k, but it just came and went.

The only electrical problem I ever had was a broken clutch switch (the one at the lever).
The cover of the front brake fluid container tends to leak, I recently changed to the third one.
So much for the problems I had...

Just to mention, the hot-start-issue was fixed around '13, afair BMW offered free replacement of the worn out choke or just changed it when servicing. Mine doesn't have this problem.
Regarding possible battery issues: I had a Gel battery from day one, a gift from the shop where I bought it. It's still in there & I never cared about it.

There are a few downsides though; as already mentioned the rear shock "isn't really good", same as the fork. I changed to Touratech suspension last year & really wish I had done this earlier. Not saying it has to be TT, I guess any rear shock will be better
Maintenance is indeed a pain - or expensive. I sometimes think the engineers where told to hide anything as good as possible to prevent self-service... Anyway, it has a 10k interval, so I can cope with it. And, to be fair, I heard about similar maintenance nightmares on others bikes as well.

I'm definitely NOT a BMW fanboy, not at all. If my legs weren't that short, I possibly be riding a 660 Tenere. But I'm really happy with the g650, and I'd always! buy it again. Mine is definitely a always-works-never-lets-me down bike.