As some are aware my wife recently purchased a G650GS as her retirement present to herself.
I have to say at the outset that I like the bike a lot, albeit that I am aware that those of the model put to hard use have something of a reputation for self-destructing. That said, herself is never going to use it hard and it will probably see her riding career out comfortably (she bought her R65/80 new in 1979 so if she rides the 650GS for the same period of time that will make her 98 years of age).
I am utterly unimpressed with both the general build quality and pre-delivery standard of the bike.
To explain:-
When it arrived I fitted Koubra lowering links to it to drop the rear suspension 1”, in the process of dropping the front suspension by the same amount I discovered that the lower triple-clamp bolts were only finger tight.
That sufficiently alarmed me so that I went over all the other major bolts in the suspension system, in the process discovering that whilst the majority were somewhat over-tightened, some were very loose and in the case of one bolt securing the bracket holding the front brake line – completely stripped, which I repaired with a heli-coil.
Three weeks ago I fitted a Hepco & Becker “enlargement plate” to the rear – I found that all of the bolts securing the rear “ducktail” were over-tightened to the point of being stripped and in one case the hole thread was completely stripped.
Yesterday I adjusted the chain, in the process discovering that the rear axle nut was so tight that I had to slip a 2 metre pipe over a ¾” drive bar & socket and jump on it to get it to release, as I weigh somewhat more than 100kg the torque must have been astronomical (by way of commentary I undo the rear axle bolts on VW Kombi using the same piece of pipe and ¾” drive bar and I generally do not have to be as energetic on them as I had to be on the 650GS’s axle nut, the torque on the VWs is 280 ft/lbs. Chances of undoing the GS’s axle by the side of the road with onboard tools – zero, none, zip and nada.
Mind you the chain adjustment system is 1st class.
Oh, I forgot to mention, when it came back from its 1st service it was short 300ml of oil (and yes I do know the silly way in which oil is measured in these beasts) and had 45psi in the back tyre. Needless to say it has visited the Stealership for the last time.
Also yesterday I fitted a Hepco & Becker C-bow pannier system. In the process I discovered that the factory line workers had left out one of the bolts that secure the rear inner guard to the frame (I was removing those bolts to fit longer ones to mount the C-bow mounting struts). I quickly discovered that the bolt had been omitted because the inner guard was twisted and the hole in the guard did not line up with the tang on the frame. Hot water softened it enough to get the holes to line up and the C-Bow system went on perfectly.
But, I would like 5 minutes alone with no witnesses with the moron in BMW who specified the “torx” fasteners used on the 650GS. I have nothing against the “torx” system in general, other than the irritation of having to own more tools in order to deal with them. I am familiar with the argument that torx gives a greater surface area in contact with the tool and therefore less likelihood of stripping out the head. However the fasteners used by BMW on the 650GS have reduced height heads which means that they present less surface area to engage with the tool than any self-respecting allen headed cap-screw. Add to that situation that all of the blasted things were over-torqued to hell and back and all bore the accursed blue “solid” thread lock. My frustration level was pretty high as it took me 30 minutes to remove the bolts (it should have taken me 3 minutes max).
The C-bows themselves had an annoying fault, they are merely alloy castings dipped in a fairly rubbery (and I hope resilient) plastic. Unfortunately the holes to bolt the C-Bows to the struts were drilled and tapped before the plastic dipping took place. If I didn’t own a sharp knife and a lead and bottoming tap, the job would have stopped right there and the whole lot would have had to go to pay someone to fit them.
Not the standard I was led to expect from Hepco & Becker.
All in all I am unhappy with the build quality and attention to detail, I’d sum up by saying:-
The old airheads we know and love were simple things executed in brilliant engineering. The G650GS is a complex thing with highly suspect engineering decisions combined with crap attention to assembly detail.
And with that I think I have finally crossed the Rubicon and am now officially a “Grumpy old man”.
I am considering buying a R1200GS in a few weeks’ time and I suspect I will be making some salesman’s life a misery if I find the same problems. On the other hand I could buy a good R100GS “bumble-bee” with all the fruit for $8k, spend $4k giving it a complete birthday and be $23k in front. I also suspect I'd be a lot happier with the bumble-bee.
