Getting a new bike, beamer...

Fred W said:

Follow-up on my BMW F650GS Dakar:

After getting it into reasonable riding shape last winter, I jumped the shark this spring and “invested” (with expected loss of investment) in a 2021 Husqvarna 701 Enduro with 12k miles on it.

I, of course, went through the bike thoroughly. It had some needs, which I took care of, and fitted it with side racks to put some smaller hard cases on suitable for day rides in the woods.View attachment 7864

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So after getting this Husky I was thinking the BMW GS was kind of unnecessary. Heavier that the Husky by a lot, and not much lighter than my Africa Twin. But the AT has twice the HP, and gets the same gas mileage.

Anyway, I put the Dakar up for sale, both on Crag’s and ADVriders. Nobody seemed to appreciate the bike for what it is. I was only asking $3500 for it, but all I got was lowball offers.

For what I paid, and what I have i to it, I decided to just keep it, ride it occasionally (I love how cushy it is, especially offroad) and can use it as a guest dual sport bike.

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Oh yeah, I put those Harbor Freight cases on the racks it already had. What a great thing those are. And fixed / replaced a few more things. Today I put new brake pads on front and rear and replaced the seriously worn rear rotors. Oddly, the front were not worn at all. One of the POs must have been a back brake guy.

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Fred W said:

Just priced those Trailmax Mission tires. Yikes! They’re over $400 for a set! They’d better last a lot longer at that price.

The Tusk “2-track” (rear) and “waypoint” (front) adventure tires that I bought for the Africa Twin are less than $200 a set. And they look considerably more dirt worthy than 50/50. The Tusks are only available from RMATV, as far as I know. But I’m a frequent flyer there anyway. I got the Waypoint for the front because I run a tube up there. I converted the rear wheel to tubeless, since that is where most flats occur, so can run the TL 2-track in the back.

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Fred W said:

So, in keeping with the theme of this thread, look what followed me home today

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Fred W said:

Took my first real ride on the K12RS today. My God, what an amazing bike. So smooth. So powerful, even carrying about equal weight to the FJR it is blisteringly fast, and corners like it’s on rails. This could be very bad for my license.

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Fred W said:

It definitely requires extra steering input, but don’t find it offensive. I have half worn michelin tires on it (old PR2 rear and PR3 front) so some of that may change with new tires. It has a 170/50 rear, but there is an option to use a 180/55, same as the FJR. That may quicken the steering up a bit.

And the feel when braking is great with the telelever front. Very little nose dive. Had that on my old ‘95 R1100RS many years back, so knew what to expect.

On the bad side, after a 200 mile jaunt a couple of days ago, I felt some clutch slipping. Well known problems with the dry clutch getting oil contamination from leaking seals. Very expensive if you drop it off at the BMW shop for repair. Of course, being a frugal Yankee I’ll be tackling the job myself.

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Fred W said:

Yep. I have the FSM and Clymer manuals. Pretty sure it’s just the o-ring went dry from sitting around a lot. And use the viton o-ring so it doesn’t happen again so soon. But I’ll also change the main seal and trans seals since I’m in there. Probably the clutch slave too. Hopefully the clutch pack isn’t destroyed and can be cleaned up and reused. It didn’t slip very much on me. I recognized the symptom immediately.

You have to expect stuff like this when you buy such an old machine for such short money. I’m ok with doing the work at home.

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