Haynes manual has been released!

Checking the Haynes website yesterday and the f650/800 GS manual was still not available. Checking today it is now order-able. Get your orders placed!

http://www.haynes.co.uk/webapp/wcs/...10001&storeId=10001&productId=51803&langId=-1

Sweet! Thanks for the heads up. I have added to my Christmas list. I've got the BMW DVD, but the Haynes are good for the hard copy factor in the garage and scrawling things like "I don't know what they were smoking, but there is no way in hell you need to remove the exhaust to do this." in the margins.

Does it come with the England/American English translation?

took me a moment the last time I used one to figure out what they were talking about when they referred to the Gudgeon Pin. (wrist pin)

Awesome. Thanks for the heads up!

Not sure if the text is the same, but the US site shows it available as well - http://www.haynes.com/products/productID/602

PDFs of these usually crop up on torrent site a couple of months after they are released. There is no charge associated with these, other than your karma dropping a few points.

In all seriousness though, yes, it would be great to have a PDF to carry on the netbook for use on the road, I already have an ISO of the BMW shop manual that I mount on it during trips. I wish the manufacturers of these guides would recognise that people who want to 'pirate' them will do, regardless and instead should offer DRM-free downloads to each person who buys a hard copy of the book.

Absolutely, I'll buy one and search out a PDF... I have to make deposits in the Karma bank whenever possible.

You're right though, they're going to pop up anyways, they might as well offer the download, shoot, I probably wouldn't even care if I had a hard copy and just buy the PDF. The book reader in the iPad is wonderful and stores PDF's too. I like digital things... having a manual thats "searchable" is very convenient, especially on a Mac.

Has anyone tried this manual?

All I used is an iPad. Just sell in iPad format!

Sweet. I've got the REP ROM but found the format somewhat frustrating. It is nice to have on USB stick for road trips, but around the garage, I like working with a hard copy.

Ahhh...finally, a manual...a real manual manual I can carry around and flip through wherever I want. That's what I'm talking about.

I kinda like the REP ROM DVD but I also like a good hardback version so I shall place an order!

I was pretty excited to finally have a manual I can read, after paying for BMW's CD & discovering I have to have a machine that runs Windows to see it.

When I got the book, the first thing I looked at was the scheduled maitinence table. (P1.3). There I found Haynes calling for oil changes at the initial 6000 miles and every 12,000 miles thereafter.

Oil changes at 12K mile intervals? Another thing I noticed was that the chain slack figure is the same as in the owner's manual, but the method for measuring it is different in a way that would cause you to run the chain looser than BMW calls for.

I didn't buy this manual to learn how to change my oil or adjust my chain, but it's a little disheartening to see mistakes like that right off the bat. Use the thing with some common sense.

I hope it is not just about how to change parts. Give me some diagnostics, electrical values and a wiring diagram.

Now, I've not read this Haynes manual yet, but based on other bikes Haynes vs Shop manuals, Haynes seem to lean closer to 'realistic' values of what works in the real world versus manufacturers "ideals".* My understanding is that chain a bit loose, compared to a bit tight is usually a good thing unless you're hunting every last drop of HP. So I wouldn't worry about that too much.

That said, 12K is a bit high for oil changes, even for a bit of a chancer. If you'd ask me to guess what I reckoned Haynes had said for an oil change, I'd have guessed 8K. If you were running the bike out of warranty, weren't about to RTW or take it somewhere really remote and were doing a lot of your miles on superslab, 8K with regular level checks would probably be fine. I'd want to replace it a lot sooner than 6K if my bike only ever saw hard dirt use. As you say, you always need to apply a bit of common sense and moderate these things yourself.

It's when Haynes cock up torque settings and people end up shearing off bolts that is really bad.

*Probably something to do with the manuals often coming out just as the first lot of this model are coming out of warranty and they're often bought by high milers who self-service and lean towards being a bit tight and stretching things out as much as they can.

I don't see anything in the table of contents about valves. Would be nice to see something there. Can anyone confirm this?

Tried getting the manual through local shop 2 weeks ago, back ordered.
Tried ordering through Haynes website, but can't get any of my credit cards to work, and they don't respond to e mails.
Any other places to get the manual?

Ordered mine from the UK off Ebay should be here in a few days.

Ordered from the Haynes web site, got it Tuesday, just took a few days.

Yes, it has wiring diagrams, valve adjustment and some diagnostics.

And it's a hard cover

After 3 tries on their website, I called to order. Told a week to 10 days. Guess it's worth the wait.