I read with interest that Moto Ted did some work on one. He had to take the exhaust off to change the rear brake pads. Imagine that in 20ks time when the header bolts are starting to seize. What utter ludicrousy. It is not a bike that has been designed with long term use and travel in mind. Its made for people that want to dip their toe into the BMW brand.

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https://fernsforays.wordpress.com/

Are you sure about this? Not calling bs, but it sounds a bit of an exaggeration. If so, then shame on BMW.

I wonder if Fern means the bulky silencer, not the whole system.
Annoying, but I'm sure I've had bikes which needed this done just to get the spindle out.

While you guys are all speculating online whether this bike is any good or not, I've been out riding one - right across the USA so far, and will be on my way back east (via a lot more dirt) from next week...



There is a current running ride-report on the ADVrider forum should you wish you follow along and/or engage as appropriate... so far, it's more impressive than you might imagine - particularly when you consider it is a small capacity single cylinder machine.

Jenny x

Nope he had to remove the whole thing. He is a BMW mechanic at a BMW dealership.. (sometimes)

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https://fernsforays.wordpress.com/

Yup ! For my sins.

That case was on the road version. Having a look at the GS version, it might not be an issue.

The silencer and the headers are a single welded unit. INSANE !!! The silencer stops the pin being removed. However, you could remove the caliper (which requires the wheel to be removed)

And yes, those header bolts are small and made of the lowest grade steel you can imagine. I put it back together with plenty of copper-grease to try and save the poor owners wallet down the line. (Which BMW say you shouldn't use... But I say f**k em)

BMW are selling a lot of 310s. Not because they're good bikes. They're part of their "Rookie to rider" scheme. Which isn't that bad really.

https://www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk/en/Of...ietoRider.html


Make no mistake, these 310s are SERIOUSLY POOR QUALITY. Models less than a year old are coming back with issues such as seized calipers, electrical issues (Cheap sensors used everywhere).

These bikes are built in India. Using Indian produced substandard components. Everything on them is cheap zinc plated steel and plastic.

They may look well designed and well made on a showroom floor, but just go and look at one with 1000 miles that has seen a few damp roads and you will realise that they're like any cheap 'throw-away' third world motorcycles/scooters.

Look past the badge !!!

A 310 is around £5k new I think. That's the 1/3 of the price of a new 1200GS. So of course, they're built to a standard. A very low one.

If I had £5000 to spend on a bike. It certainly wouldn't be one of these. You can buy A LOT of good VERY GOOD bikes just a few years old for £5000.

You can buy a BRAND NEW CRF250 Rally for £5000. The only conceivable reason I can imagine that anyone would buy the BMW over one of those is that they have short legs.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Good summary here by JMo after <4k miles. (Rally Raid conversion so suspension obviously gets a pass.)

Besides many good points (like vibes pass after 6700rpm - never got that high myself) she also mentions the too narrow front pegs (for standing) plus prematurely worn out cush-drive rubbers, like the the old XTZ660. Never had any probs (that weren't of my own making) with mine on the short trip I did, but I always thought that the Tenere was another bike which looked great, capitalised on a legendary reputation/brand, but was heavy and cheaply put together underneath. People still managed big trips with the usual minor probs.

Also, far from unique to the 310, but as with all these highly tuned, small-engined bikes (I've had or run a few in recent years), the fuel consumption isn't impressive when you think of what you lose in terms of comfort, easy overtaking, etc. What JMo recorded below (UKmpg added) is worse than my CB500X (av: 74; best: 93.5; worse; 57) and maybe the 500X she ran on the TAT 2015.

3. The fuel economy is good. Initially while keeping the bike under 60mph, I got as high as 67US [80.5UK] mpg, and typically 62 [74.5] mpg was my average according to the dash display. However, it does start to increase once the speed rises - 70mph or thereabouts sees it drop to 57 [68.5] mpg (and as low as 48-50 [59] mpg in a head wind), while pushing 75-80mph means I didn't get over 50 [60] mpg, and as low as 39 [47] mpg into that strong headwind and uphill over Tehachapi [Pass; famous wind farm] …

With the 310GS I see some convincing themselves it's a mini GS1200 so must be suited to travel biking, rather than a small-engined bike with the big GS look.
As Fern said, it's 'made for people that want to dip their toe into the BMW brand'. Nothing wrong with that and a smart move by BMW. Great for nipping about and for Rookie Riders; not convinced it's my kind of travel bike (any more than a 1200GS, tbh) because for me the whole point of putting up with a '250's' limitations on the street is light weight and agility off road.

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Morocco Overland 4 (2025) • Trans Morocco Trail

There is plenty of competition out there for this market. Might be of interest to see how the build standard of this weeGS compares with the new RE Himalayan that comes to the market for 1000GBP less.
KTM are in there with a similar size engine in road-going guise and Kawa/Suzi have products with a comparable engine capacity, to name a few.

With the "rookie" scheme, BMW have sort of caught up with Honda here in the UK: their marketing for new riders with restricted licences started some years ago.
Slightly remarkably, there is a second hand CRF250L on offer on UK ebay at present with 59,000 miles on the clock - going strong according to the advert and not using oil.

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Dave

Predictable. Perhaps some don't realize that building high quality small bike costs about the same as building a high quality BIG bike. (R1200GS vs. G310GS.

I'm wondering if BMW will, in future, UP the standard build quality of India produced product.

As a comparison, look at the quality of motorcycles coming out of Thailand. Most Triumphs are built there.

And of course both Honda and Kawasaki are seriously committed in Thailand and both produce many many bikes there. The quality is very high, equal to anything built in Japan or UK. Impressive.

Could not BMW do something similar for Indian production? To answer my own question ... they could but they probably won't. All about PROFIT.

As mentioned, the little G310GS looks like "the real thing", is cheap and looks quality on the showroom floor. They are, apparently, selling well.

I sat on the road model, gave it a quick look, it looked OK.
And much of the moto press say the same thing. It's all good! ... But is it really?

Chris's reports from Morocco will be key to knowing the real truth once the rental company has feed back after a season or two of use of 310's as rental bikes.

Jenny, you changed your rear brake pads, did you expirience any problems?

Hi Stu' - no need to change my rear pads just yet, but I can't see how it's going to be a problem. The rear calliper is a single piston sliding design - the pads are held in using a pin and R clip, and they slide in and out from the rear.

Ought to be a 2 minute job.

Jx

But charged as a minimum of 1 hour by any main dealer.

Do half a dozen of them in an hour and charge them all for the same hour.

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Dave

So which one would you prefer CB500X with adv kit or this one?

Shameless plug for another website, Jenny, and actually at least 3 of us "speculating online" here HAVE actually ridden one. And none of us thought it would make a good travel bike.
(Of course, idle speculation to while away the hours IS what the internet is for though isn't it?)
As far as I'm concerned, apart from good ish suspension and excellent brakes, I thought it a gutless, over weight, damned uncomfortable oversized brute.
Hope you have a good trip, at least the fuel consumption is low.
Simon.