ThatGuy
Puppy
Good Morning BMWilddogs,
You'll notice the wall of text... if you read through it, and offer input, I would be very grateful. Some of you may have seen my intro post. If you didn't, you missed out on another guy saying hello - a greatly unfortunate situation for you, I know. I'm looking to get a bike so I'm posting around to see what people have to say about the different bikes and whether they'd suit me. Some of the text is a bit of a copypasta from threads in the XT, Transalp and KLR discussion pages.
I'm new to this whole dual purpose business and am looking to get a bike fairly soonish. Ideally I'd like to know what I want and buy it by early to mid December but if I have to wait for something good, then I suppose I'll deal with it.
I would really appreciate some advice. My housemate has an '08 KLR and seems to be pretty stoked with it. He did a fair amount of research and got himself a great deal. He has told me about the KLR clan website which I will have a squiz through when time allows - there's a lot of info to go through and what with this whole 8-5 job thing that I have to go to every day, there isn't as much time as I'd like to go through it all. (I hope that I don't get in trouble for writing this during work time.) Jupiter has me seriously considering a 2000-2004 XT600E and Fuzzy Muzzy and another friend of mine are pulling me in the direction of the Honda Transalp.
Following is a bit about me and the riding.
I'm 1.75m tall and my inseam is 83cm(+-36")
Most of my riding will be commuting - a 60km round trip per day with the occasional mission over a weekend and hopefully a bit of dirt thrown into the mix somewhere. So probably 90%+ on tar.
Reliability is key.
My budget is about 33k give or take a couple of grand and I don't want to have to lay down any more money for at least 6 months, preferably more.
I am a touch nervous that I'll drop it once or twice so I don't want anything too shiny and new but I also don't want an old beater that I have to spend hours and hours on to keep in shape. I don't plan to drop it, but then again, I don't think that anyone ever plans to drop their bike - it just happens.
A couple of questions:
Are there any defects with any of the F650GS/Dakar that I should be aware of? eg the doohickey on the KLR.
I'm not sure what year BMW is should have as my limit because I hear that the rotek engines are ridiculously solid. I don't think I'd be able to afford a G650GS or a post '07 parallel twin. From what I've been able to find out, the bike didn't change from '00 to '07 so the year thing is purely an age of the bike situation. From a realiability point of view, at what year should the search begin?
In terms of kms, where should I get concerned or not even consider a bike?
Any particular extras that are vital to having a good time and how much dosh will they set me back?
Are there any mods that are considered important for maximum enjoyment? eg the yamaha guys suggest and extended screen and changing the front forks on the XT600E.
I know I can get a BMW for 33k but realistically, should I even consider it since it probably wouldn't be much younger than an '03.
Comfort wise, how does it feel?
From what I can tell, the main difference between the standard 650GS and the Dakar is the seat height and the front wheel size - what else am I missing and which would better suit my purpose?
Compared to an 2000-2004 XT600E and the post 2000 generation of Transalps and the post '08 KLR, how do the BMWs fair? From what I've read, the XTs and KLRs are generally a bit cheaper but they also seem to be a bit older tech - is this a valid
Transalp vs KLR vs F650GS/Dakar vs XT600E vs (any suggestions)
Any insight would be great as well as any reading that you think I should do to help inform my decision.
Post has been modified to remove anything that may be irrelevant. Please ignore anything about bike comparisons. I have been shown where the right place is on the forum to ask those kind of questions so this post is purely to find out if the F650GS/Dakar is a bike I should be considering.
My commute is from Cape Town to Brackenfell - about 5km city and the rest on the highway.
I don't need to carry anyone at the moment. The option would be nice but it's not something that would influence my decision.
You'll notice the wall of text... if you read through it, and offer input, I would be very grateful. Some of you may have seen my intro post. If you didn't, you missed out on another guy saying hello - a greatly unfortunate situation for you, I know. I'm looking to get a bike so I'm posting around to see what people have to say about the different bikes and whether they'd suit me. Some of the text is a bit of a copypasta from threads in the XT, Transalp and KLR discussion pages.
I'm new to this whole dual purpose business and am looking to get a bike fairly soonish. Ideally I'd like to know what I want and buy it by early to mid December but if I have to wait for something good, then I suppose I'll deal with it.
Following is a bit about me and the riding.
I'm 1.75m tall and my inseam is 83cm(+-36")
Most of my riding will be commuting - a 60km round trip per day with the occasional mission over a weekend and hopefully a bit of dirt thrown into the mix somewhere. So probably 90%+ on tar.
Reliability is key.
My budget is about 33k give or take a couple of grand and I don't want to have to lay down any more money for at least 6 months, preferably more.
I am a touch nervous that I'll drop it once or twice so I don't want anything too shiny and new but I also don't want an old beater that I have to spend hours and hours on to keep in shape. I don't plan to drop it, but then again, I don't think that anyone ever plans to drop their bike - it just happens.
A couple of questions:
Are there any defects with any of the F650GS/Dakar that I should be aware of? eg the doohickey on the KLR.
I'm not sure what year BMW is should have as my limit because I hear that the rotek engines are ridiculously solid. I don't think I'd be able to afford a G650GS or a post '07 parallel twin. From what I've been able to find out, the bike didn't change from '00 to '07 so the year thing is purely an age of the bike situation. From a realiability point of view, at what year should the search begin?
In terms of kms, where should I get concerned or not even consider a bike?
Any particular extras that are vital to having a good time and how much dosh will they set me back?
Are there any mods that are considered important for maximum enjoyment? eg the yamaha guys suggest and extended screen and changing the front forks on the XT600E.
I know I can get a BMW for 33k but realistically, should I even consider it since it probably wouldn't be much younger than an '03.
Comfort wise, how does it feel?
From what I can tell, the main difference between the standard 650GS and the Dakar is the seat height and the front wheel size - what else am I missing and which would better suit my purpose?
Transalp vs KLR vs F650GS/Dakar vs XT600E vs (any suggestions)
Any insight would be great as well as any reading that you think I should do to help inform my decision.
Post has been modified to remove anything that may be irrelevant. Please ignore anything about bike comparisons. I have been shown where the right place is on the forum to ask those kind of questions so this post is purely to find out if the F650GS/Dakar is a bike I should be considering.
My commute is from Cape Town to Brackenfell - about 5km city and the rest on the highway.
I don't need to carry anyone at the moment. The option would be nice but it's not something that would influence my decision.
