Carrying spare bearings
 

I'll take 2 F650's to BA at the end of the year and am doing all the neccesary preperations now, which is always a good time to pick up spare parts as well. I've put heaps of grease on the SHB which incidentally were nearly dry, so if you haven't ever done this, might want to do that this weekend.

I got some spare ones just in case, together with wheel bearings.

Question is, how common are 6203 and 6204 bearings in SA? Depending on the answer here I might only take complete spares for 1 bike only.

On the bearings themselves, there should be numbers...those numbers are the cross reference number. Check a good local bearing supply store and ask them if they carry those bearings...and why not?

This will tell you how hard it may be to get them at a bearing supply place in other parts of the world. SKF, Timken, tapered roller bearings will have the same exact same number-standard protocol in the bearing world...BUT the race may be another issue. You should replace the race when you replace the bearings on the steering head-otherwise notches in either the original race/bearing will impact the bearings...accelerating their failure.

Check the chaing gang website for more details...

Last year, I had to hunt down a pair of tapered roller bearings for an Iveco(made by Nachi)...real pain, I went to the Caterpillar, Komatsu, etc. dealers in Ulaan Baatur among the many places I tried...but no luck...lesson learned.

I don't know what year model your bike is. If it's like the US '05 and up models, know that BMW used a different size SHB than previous years, and they're only made by one Japanese company.
This is one of the odd experiences I've had where parts were cheaper from a BMW dealer than from a bearing house.

Yes, those are the numbers!
 

MotoEdde,

Yes those are the numbers for single row roller bearings. YES, they are available at 2 or 3 places at every town over 20,000 pax. The only thing missing from your numbers are the zz or ss meaning double shield (z = metal) or double seal (s = rubber) after the number.

Check your wheels every night and change the bearing at the slightest wear (and ALWAYS after an accident!), and you will never get caught out without bearings. No need to carry those types with you..

I'm gonna respectfully disagree - crumbling bearings are the F650's weakest spots as the oil in the frame cooks the head race grease, and just because a mountain town sometimes stocks replacements, there are no guarantees. I had to replace front, rear and headraces within 16,000 miles on my 2003 Dakar, and that wasn't unusual. I'd say carry them.

Suerte, Dan

Dan maybe right...What grease did you put in there?

High temperarture lithium based grease, or something with a bit of moly mixed in would help possibly...

Also, another thing to consider is torquing the the nut on your steering head twice...the first time enough to seat them, second time...the final adjustment.

Also, do your steering head bearings come with dust covers? IF so re-order them with your bearings as the originals will get thrashed during removal.

More info is below as you've already tapped their forum yesterday...
Steering Head Bearing Replacement FAQ

I remember those bearing numbers from when i worked in motorcycle spare parts >10yrs ago. 6203, 6204 and 6205 would be the most common wheel bearings for a dirt bike of all Jap brands and KTM and Husqvarna. Although the 640ADV has 6096 in the front because of the oversize axle to cope with twin disc. So you can find the former types easily in Sth Am, as Toby said.

Also, it may just have been because I had a firmer spring in my F650GSD or rode it like a dirt bike sometimes (F650s are not IMO), but I would wear out or even crush the suspension linkage bearings about every 15,000km.

There is no oil in the frame of the GS I thought? I'll have to agree on carrying SHB's.

07 Dakar. That's news to me. Is that in the Chain Gang FAQ?

That's good news. Cheers for that. I'll just carry one set than and replace the spares in the road.

There are a lot of bearings in the linkage. Not keen on taking all of those. Are they not easily available?

Not when I changed them last year on my girfriend's '05 F650 - a different size, and I went to one of the largest bearing distributors in Atlanta (where and when her motor sucked hairy, sweaty goat balls) with them having access to all manufacturers. IIRC, the Jap manufacturer was 'NTN' or something similar...

Again, hers is a US F650, which may very well be different than those in other countries.

There are a lot of bearings in the linkage. Not keen on taking all of those. Are they not easily available?[/QUOTE]

There are only 2 types from memory, and they`re small, but i`d bet that you could get them from a large bearing store in SA or order them if need be. I`ve not heard of anyone else having a problem with them(?), so i`d say just check them for movement every once in a while, and if you could obtain the bearing numbers from say chaingang.com then you could order ahead if there a was a lot of movement. I don`t remember the numbers or have them recorded with me as i`m on a KTM currently. Suerte

No trouble in Argentina or Onterio
 

My back wheel bearings collapsed near Timmings, Ontario and the repair shop, not BMW, had no trouble getting a replacement set of bearings. I did not realise that the spare front wheel bearings I had were the same as the rear until after he had got a set from the industrial supplier up the road. Biggest problem was the chewed up spacer, and since we didn't know the original length, we couldnt get one made.
In Argentina I had trouble with my rear end again, and asked a Honda shop to look at it, in particular the bearings, and without prompting him he said that bearings were not going to be a problem because he could source anything. In the event the bearings were ok. What I did have trouble with was the sprockets, the early f650s are specials and pattern sprockets don't fit, not sure about later f650s though.

With the 650 your gonna need more than spare bearings *Ted ducks for cover from the 650 owners in denial ;)*

Take a spare regulator/rectifier and a complete water pump assembly too. You more than likely will need them.

Bearings are widely available if you know the sizes but if they are fairly new then if you keep them greased the wheel bearings should last.. Headstock bearings are a weekspot on the bike too.

Can't explain why
 

Hi Ted, how you liking it so far?

All of the things I was warned about on the f650 are fine, but I did move the regulator to the outside of the rear side cover and that probably saved that. (See Chain Gang for details) My bearings collapsed because my chain snapped and wrapped itself around the rear wheel at 60mph. Didn't do the bearings much good, didn't do me much good. (broken collar bone) The chain snapped because I ballsed up a corner and crashed the bike on some gravel in NFLD, Canada, must've weakened the chain.

Maybe running with no water in the radiator for a month has hardened the seals, as I have had absolutely no problems with the water pump. The f650 can survive as an aircooled bike as long as you don't stand in traffic with the engine running. This I know, I have done it after the fan came loose and tried to carve its way through the radiator one day.

The shock is fine, but did take quite a lot of adjustment to get it right to begin with, and I added Progressive springs to the front forks, also I try and miss as many pot holes as possible, those of you who have travelled afar will know what a mission that is!!!

Sprockets once they start wearing go very quickly, I suppose once the hardened surface is worn through the rest goes faster.

So for me a chain and sprocket set would have been all I needed if I hadn't made that first error. Everything else has been available on the road, .........except a new front fairing, replacement windshield, new indicator lenses, new rev counter and cable, oh and replacement pannier latches of course.... but you can't have everything can you?

Here we go again. I think we all know by now that you've seen quite a few banged up GS's. The thing is, untill you provide feedback on whether or not the person on that bike is savvy or skilled and did some preventative work you'll never be able to prove the bike is shit. This is now the second post I've suggested that to you. I've take nearly the whole bike apart to make adjustments and improvements and got familiar with it in the process. Including greasing SHB as mentioned earlier, but I'll still be taking spares just in case.
I would have made adjustments and improvements to any bike, as none of them are designed for round the world riding. God knows our old XT's were not full proof. I let Dave Lambeth do all the prep before, and I learned a big lesson about that. Not that he did a bad job or anything.


I'll get a new shock set up for the weight. OEM gear is not designed for the weight and is just asking for trouble. We bottomed out so many times on the XT's. Learned my lesson there too. A mate of mine broke 2 shocks on 2 seperate trips. One in a Dominator and the other on a Transalp.

I've got fork seals as well, but I'm reckoning that the failure can be avoided with fork gaiters. I've got the neoprene ones. I suppose I'll find out.

The GS have the VR down in front of the engine as well. Indeed not a bad idea. All the motor heat goes up and it's right in the wind. As this bike is so very heavily dependable on electrics it'll be a key part. I've got a sealed battery as well. I had a dried out one on the XT in the desert.

Exactly how many broken VR did you see Ted?

These bikes were NEW and well maintained bikes.. What I said are well known problems so detailed case studys are a little irrelavent. PM me if you want specific details or people emails who had all these problems. Im not going to argue about it here. Its a different thread.

With the XT, i uprated the spring and it was flawless throughout South America. Thats all it needs really. Cheap and bouncy on the XT but its a budget bike.

VR's ????

PM sent. VR=voltage regulator/rectifier. Preventative measures for known failures are not part of regular maintenance and can't be judged without dissembly and detailed review.

Not sure on the proper technique but I suppose that excess of anything is no good.

More info
 

I know what a worn out chain looks like, and my chain was not worn out, it only had 5k on it, but as the old saying goes, a chain is only as strong as the weakest link. Unfortunately I was in hospital and had no chance to view the offending article. I think I would call this a freak accident. I made the assumption that the workshop that put it back together would have checked out the wheel bearings during the process.

There is only one radiator, and the early model f650s have a temperature guage, not all bikes do, some just have a warning light. Maybe I stretched it a bit to say 'no water' so although I refilled her every morning and lunch time I was able to keep an eye on the engine temperature and checked the oil often, oil does a hell of a lot of engine cooling, and maybe the dry sump method has the advantage of the oil cooling somewhat while passing through the gearbox/filter/oilpump/frame before it returns to the header tank. Main thing was that the guage needle only moved over half way, point at which the fan cuts in. When I was stopped in traffic I switched the engine off and let the fan carry on to bring the temperature down. I am indebted to Albert of The Turtles Head in Quito for finding me a man who could weld aluminium, and made an impecible repair.

I carried two panniers, a 45litre top box, all my camping gear and a 65litre rucksack, plus me at 14st (200lbs) and am convinced that setting up the shock correctly at the very beginning was the key. How did I do that. Loaded up the bike and took a local long winding corner many times, adjusting up until the wobble just went away. Not sure if that's the 'book' way, but it seems to have worked for me.

Main problems with the regulator are overheating and overcharging. You can cure the overheating by moving the regulator out from under the seat where the heat builds up. Overcharging is due to small resistance build ups in the connectors over time. The regulator senses the battery charge via the ignition switch, so all the joins and connectors to the front of the bike and then all the way back to the battery add a little resistance at each and the regulator thinks the battery is undercharged. At tick over mine registered a charge of 15V, not good because it cooks the battery. There is a 'Chain Gang' fix that wires the regulator directly to the battery through an add-on relay. I never had time to do this though and had to replace my battery after about 6 months riding, but I was resigned to the fact that this might happen before I set out.

The thing is you can't carry everything with you, mine is a 13 year old bike, so I just had to take into account that sometimes crap happens, it's called risk management. So you do your best and keep focused and get it fixed.

I did not set out on my ride to prove that the BMWf650 was a good bike to tour on, I set out to find out who I really am, see the world, meet interesting people from a different culture to mine and have something worth remembering at the end. I've said this before elsewhere, but the bike is just a heap of metal, rubber and plastic, the rider is where the miracle lays.

Now that is what I call good feedback. Cheers for that.

I've got a Datel volt meter on mine. You reckon that would be able to detect over-resistance which would cause the VR to fail? Say if it's over 14.5v regularly it's time to clean out the connectors?

Chain Gang
 

Go here, F650 Flaying the VR FAQ (obsolete!)

Then visit the rest of the site, you will be amazed.:thumbup1:

A pal who has pocket rockets from the land of the rising sun says it's the best info site he's seen....but let's not argue over it please guys.

I know, that was a large part of my chosing the F650. I've got a GS though so the VR is already at the front in the wind.