2012 BMW G650GS Sertao Owners

I put over 70K trouble-free miles on my Dakar before it was rear-ended two years ago. The Sertao has the same bulletproof Rotax powerplant and these two bikes appear to share the same basic structural components with mainly cosmetic changes on the newer model. I wouldn't be afraid to buy one, but 9-year-old Dakar still has many thousand more miles in her!

It was in legal limbo for over a year and a half before I finally settled the case and ended up keeping the bike, which had damage to the front end and rear tail section.

Right now I'm in the process of restoring her to road worthiness by replacing the spindly and wimpy front forks (same as the new Sertao) with a front end off a Yamaha YZ, beefing up the rear shock, removing the ABS (which sucked on this bike) and replacing the heavy exhaust cans with a lighter single silencer. Hoping the mods will save me 20-30 pounds.

Doing this project I've really been impressed with the quality of the fasteners and other components on the Dakar, compared to the Japanese bikes I've owned. And the fact that with regular service and maintenance my Dakar has been the most reliable and cost efficient to operate bike I've ever owned. Never used a drop of oil and always gets 60+ mpg!

These bikes are neither superlight dirt bikes nor super-comfy big-bore adventure tourers. However, they do better off-road than a 12GS or similar and better on the road than a 250-450. Pretty good at most anything...

At the moment I'm awaiting the shock to come back from the suspension guy and waiting on brake lines (from the ABS removal) before she'll be on the road again... in another week or so! After that the two remaining projects will be to fab up a custom tail section and change out exhausts. Then I hope to ride this bike for the next 10 years or more.

Yesterday:

With my 2003 Dakar, I was aware of the water pump issue and at 20-something thousand miles bought the shaft/impeller/seal kit.

However, after many thousand more miles of watching the weep hole for tale-tell seepage, it never materialized. I never changed out mine cuz it wasn't broken - 72,400 miles on it.

I always attributed this to the fact that my bike was ridden almost daily, which I believe is a big help in keeping anything mechanical working properly, in this case keeping the seals conditioned.

Now that my bike has sat idle for over two years with only an occasional cranking and no riding, I'm expecting to have to replace the water pump stuff. But it's not that big of a deal. I think the parts were around $50 and the project is a two or three hour job.

What I think is interesting is that the list price of the new Sertao at the dealer I looked at was $9445.00. Ok it's on the higher end of 650 duel sport bikes, but you say the Dakar's are in the $6000.00 range used for 7-8 year old model bikes, that figures out to around $450.00 per year depreciation and I'm figuring that from a $9500.00 list price, I know the Dakar's didn't list for that high of price back in their day, so the cost per year would be lower, more like $325.00 per year now. Let me say here, this is not a KLR vs. a Dakar/Sertao debate, this was just to show the cost of ownership of the BMW Dakar/Sertao, or should I say what it has been in the past, going forward who knows.

John

Excellent point John...

In fact, I bought my 2003 Dakar in 2007 with very low miles (4K) and if it hadn't been wrecked I expect I could get the price I paid or close to it today.

Even after the wreck and rebuild it's worth more than twice what a DR or KLR from the same year would be worth, especially since it now has improved suspension.

Just read through the thread and had a few thoughts.. not that anyone cares


1. the price of used Dakars will be coming down?? why would you spend 6-7.5k on a used bike when the Sertao is the same bike with a 3 year warranty? The obvious answer to this is that a) the Dakar has a larger tank b) the Dakar was 100% made and assembled in Europe and the Sertao is being built in China,, at least according to the dealer I spoke to.. parts made elsewhere, but assembled in China.

2. If you want the BMW 650 motor in a more dirt worthy bike wait for the reported Husky 650 to come out sometime this year or next... USD forks, longer travel, etc.

3. I have seen quality riders take 650 Dakars places that I thought only a dedicated dirt bike could go.. even with that spindly ass front end.

Ive been watching this thread with interest. I have a 07 f650gs non daker with 66000kms and a previous post states the different part numbers for the water pump parts, so looking at the Max site it was confirmed the shaft seal kit and the plastic gears are diff. numbers. I hope this means that they have improved the parts on the new bike or maybe it just means the parts are from a diff, source??

I am one of the many who has had problems with the seals and shaft, 5 kits so far in 66000kms! Last change 13000kms ago I changed the left side cover and that seams to help though I still have a drop or 2 of coolant at the weep hole.

Many, as stated before have no problems and many do, lets hope the new bike is problem free!! I sat on one at the moto show and do like it. By the way I am an expert at the shaft and seal change and they really are no big deal.

Cal,

Your above comment has peaked my curiosity. In my post above I mentioned that I've come to believe my bike has escaped the water pump seal problems due to it being ridden daily or almost so.

I'm wondering if yours is also ridden continuously or if it sits weeks or months at a time, such as stored for winter, etc.

Thanks,
David

GSBS - Forgot to mention - thats one sweet ride ^^^^^ Good luck on the rebuild.

good question. A mixture of both, yes it does sit for long periods of time in the winter but the faliures have happened after long continues rides. For example, I left Arizona for Central America and rode everyday for 7 weeks and the seals went after 10000kms, then after 1 week and 1500kms they went again. Changed at a dealer next time and lasted only 5000kms, this was all riding daily!!!

The 5th change BMW gave me a free new clutch side cover and that was 13000kms ago, rode to Alaska and it leaked small drops for the first 1000kms and has appeared to seal its self after that!??

Now sitting in the Garage at 5 degrees C and lets hope for the best in the spring!

Thanks for the comments... If parts come in when promised, she'll be on the road again in about two weeks!

Well damn... that shoots my "sitting up" theory all to hell.

Guess I've just been lucky (but I'll take it).

I put a deposit on one and should have it in a few weeks, waiting for panniers and extra's to be installed. I owned a '03 F650GS (stolen a few months ago) and had no major problems. I put 20,000 miles on it while I owned it, every summer taking a 2 week on/off road adventure trip. Once the clutch cable broke in Nova Scotia and I used vice grips with the back of my left calf to get to a Marine repair shop where this great mechanic made me one for $20. Canadiens are awesome!
Im planning a half way RTW trip for this year and have been looking at '09 '10 F800GS and '06 '07 dakar's and as others have said it seems worth it to spend a little more than the used Dakar's and get 3 years warranty, its a proven bike and lighter than the 800GS although not by as much as I'd like. Im going solo and want the smaller bike.
I just looked at this thread today because I was afraid of the negative comments and suffering the buyers remorse. Im confident Im getting a great bike because of my experience owning one. Also, an advantage for me is I have had my F650Gs apart doing maintenance and repair from a crash so I dont need to learn a lot about a different bike.
I post back after I get it.
Anybody know rules about warranty if I take it out of the US?

As far a the warranty they sell them all over the world, I would have my BMW Warranty Card with me, but call BMW to find out for sure. I personally don't know about buyers remorse on this bike, I have too many other riding buddies that have them and they are very happy with their BMW 650's. The Ft. Worth BMW dealer has had a Sertao on the floor now for 4 weeks and has not sold it yet, so I guess there not moving out the door too fast, It might be the $9445 list price that may be holding buyers back. I'm gong to wait for the BMW incentives, in December you could get $1000 off of the 2011 650GS, they were priced at $7299 plus TTL, in Texas that's about $500. Now there priced at $7899 plus TTL.

John

What didn't you like about the ABS? I find it to be non-intrusive on road even under aggressive braking, and I can switch it off when I ride dirt.

Congratulations on the new bike. Where are you going? Its not a case of honouring the warranty its a case of getting the bike to an official dealer. When riding in Mexico there are not many dealers and when I replaced my water pump at a regular dirt bike shop BMW would not honour the labor charge at the shop in Puerta Vallarta they said I had to take it to Mexico City or Guadalajara(sp) a 1000kms trip with a bum water pump! In the end when I got home they made good on the water pump kit and gave me a new one to replace the one I used which I was carrying with me.

Ridng a BMW to out of the way places does have its problems.

Thanks! The plan is to leave May/June to ship across the atlantic and ride the summer in Europe, I plan to be in Germany so obviously wont be a problem for service there, then through eastern Europe down to Turkey and then shipping to India and into Nepal. After that is TBD. Maybe riding from Nepal into China and down to SE Asia depending on how money holds outs and if its even possible to enter China from Nepal. I have seen reports where people say yes and others said no. Researching this stuff every day. I just made the deposit Friday so it does make for more planning to get it serviced at the proper time.

Cool! Did you look into buying in Germany?

Well... where to begin?

Disclaimer: this is my experience with my bike... maybe it wasn't working as designed, dunno...

1. The only time it ever engaged for me was in situations when the rear wheel slipped and then I simply no longer had rear brakes. Like you're going across an area with wet grass and try to brake, the tire wants to slide, then there's no braking at all there... Scary.

2. Bleeding the brakes was a major PITA cuz you had to activate the ABS modulator to flush any air from the unit. So what I had to do was to bleed the lines as best I could, then ride the bike on grass or gravel or whatever would make the wheel try to slide to engage the unit, then bleed the brakes some more.

3. Riding with others... We'd come to where the trail begins and the pavement ends. All my buddies would tear off down the dusty track. I, however, had to come to a complete stop, hold down a button for several seconds until the ABS off light flashed before I could take off. By the time I got going I was always the one to eat roost and dust. And at every stop when the key was switched off I had it to do all over again.

4. I don't want a 10-pound brick deciding how much braking I need for a given situation. I prefer to judge that for myself. YRMV.

I will say that I did like the active ABS on my 1200GS because I could do all the braking from the handlebars (front brake lever) on the road. And it was even okay on gravel roads.

But the system on my Dakar simply SUCKED (IMHO).

My 2¢

Not really, I wanted time to ride it and break it in and farkle it the way I want before embarking on this trip.

On my 07 F650gs, I had pretty much the same on-trail experience as GSBS. But out on the pavement, I still want the ABS. I really wish BMW had a better "on the fly" solution or setting.