07' 650gs!#$%!

[freewheelin frank]

I absolutely love my 650GS and have put 50,000 miles on it in 3 years....BUT working on it is a huge pain in the ass. You have to take half the bike apart to simply repair the water pump for instance. WTF? It seems to me that BMW's are way over engineered. Like I said, I love this bike but ease of roadside repair is much more of a hassle than any other bike I have ever owned.
Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?

FF

[Calvin]

Just you FrankI have the same bike and year and do all my own wrenching, with the exception of the first 3 water pump repairs under warranty!
What else is there to do here in Canada when you are not on a trip down south for the winter and it is minus 10!
Saludos
Cal

[tmotten]

It's a bit of a princes eh. But more issues regarding making maintenance easier and faster are well documented. Re waterpump the flexible oil hose. I'm just using a standard hose, not the steel braided ones heaps of others use. No need really.

You can often see why BM made the choices that they made. Only usually their priorities are all skewed.

[somemustard]

Uh huh.

I've sworn more at my Dakar than any other inanimate object I can think of. But I'm not as mechanically inclined as you, and have certainly never torn down a Harley.

If you're after a bit of a chuckle (at my expense) about the #@%*ing f650 water pump issue, head here - Another Cup Of Java - the motorcycle maintenance post

L

[freewheelin frank]

I have just returned from a year on the road and need to replace the water pump, clutch, neck bearing, sprockets etc.
I guess I just need a crash course in wrenching this bike. I have owned many Harley's (in my former life) and they are as simple as it gets to work on. They are just not the bike for the kind of riding I like to do these days.
Oh well, practice makes perfect right.
Enjoy the ride

[tmotten]

Well, if you're going to keep it. Take the oppurtunity to get rid of that stupid solid oil hose and get someone to cut it at the banjo and silver solder a half inch barb on the end of it.



I've since replaced the stainless hose for a stock on. This was you can do the change in 20min + replacing the coolant. AND you get to keep the oil. All you than need to do is remove the LHS indicator (WTF!!!) and panel.

It's really not that hard after you remove the body work. It's just a pain to have to do it every time you do anything. This is why I'm making my own body work with 1/4 fasteners.