The 650 Dakar Thread

Sorry, man.....you didn't read the bottom of my post

Actually I have no idea what would hold the residual energy.... any add ons with an internal battery ? GPS, computer... ?

Sorry about misleading you

Anyone remove the light blue and red checkerd flag decal of there 2002 Dakar? They sometimes call that paint sceem " The Captain America " I think the decals are clear coated over. I was thinking if I use a heat gun I can get the decals off but will the clear coat paint left over will look terrible. Anyone done this sucsesfully? Will that clear coat pollish off? I don't realy want to have to have the tank pannels repainted.

Those are not decals. They are painted onto the panels. You should just sand and repaint.

Thanks BMACW650 !

This thread shows a Captain America re-paint: http://f650.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=225555. Yes, those are decals.

Sounds like a pain in the ass to sand the clear coat off. I'll keep my eyes on ebay for some used tank panels I can mess around with. If I get something I'm happy with I can always sell the old ones.

Well I checked out the local Kawasaki dealer and Eureka! Brought in a shim from a Dakar and theirs match perfectly. 29 mm and any size I'll need. Saves me from having to make a one hour trip one-way to get to the Beemer dealer. Oh, and they're pretty nice folks too!

Hi Dakar enthusiasts,
I bought a secondhand '07 Dakar on the weekend and wanted to share my first impressions with you. It is pretty stock-standard with 23,000 km, has done little off-road, and is in brilliant condition. Now, I have been riding for some 15 years, but always japanese bikes - Hondas, Suzukis and Kawasakis. Allways dual-purpose, single-cylinder machines. I've never had electric start, or fuel injection, or heated handgrips. My biggest bike was the DR650 which I did 50,000 trouble-free kms on. I'm stating all this so you can understand what I am used to. I've always followed the evolution of the Dakars, and always wanted one. Well the planets finally aligned last weekend, but I am sad to say it has been a nightmare.
Day 1 - pickup bike and ride the 600km home, all bitumen. The handling was shocking but I think this is a tyres issue only (I really hope so) - it has brand new Michelin M21 front and Dunlop D606 rear (the fella I bought from was getting ready for a trip that never happened). The bike would not track straight, it would follow any tiny cracks in the road, and cornering was bordering on dangerous, just unstable. The bike also surged all the time - is that to do with fuel injection or electronic ignition? The trip meter made no sense to me either, seemed to reset to weird numbers every time I stopped. Finally the engine developed a significant vibration at 5000rpm which was uncomfortable and kept me below 120km/hr. Otherwise I love the engine.
day 2 - tightened the steering head bearings which I thought may have been responsible for the poor tracking yesterday. They were definitely a liitle out of adjustment. Went for a 100km ride afterward, but the bearing adjustment made little or no difference to the handling, just terribly unenjoyable.
day 3 - pressed the electric start, hear a horrible BANG, CLANG, CLATTER as it fires, then nothing, just the engine turning over and over lifelessly. Dead. Figured it may have a sticking valve or something, and is now flooded. Waited till lunchtime and tried again, but no improvement. Rang a BMW dealership, they said the battery sounds too flat, so I pulled the fairing panels off to get jump leads to the battery. When the left panel comes off a big bolt with rubber grommet falls to the ground (pictured). I didn't undo this, it was already loose. Looking at the left side of the plastic air intake 'box', I noticed a hole, like where this bolt used to hold the engine oil reservoir to the air filter box. Well, if thats right, there must have been a nut INSIDE the air filter box. It is nowhere to be found, and now I suspect it has been sucked into the engine, which would explain the clatter the day before. The spark plugs probably have no gap left, so no start? Any comments/thoughts would be gratefully received, but needless to say at this stage I am not impressed.

There is a wellnut inside a rubber grommet exactly as you describe and it always worried me that it could come loose and get sucked down the throttle body. If it did, it would also make the horrible sounds you described. I would confirm by taking off the intake snorkel and reaching in to feel around if it dropped on the bottom of the airbox... because if it did fall down the intake manifold possible damage to the piston valves etc. I wouldn't try starting the bike until you know. If you think it might have, the whole head may have to come off the motor. Sorry to hear about it.

hey kids -

Another Dakar owner (05), just saying hello.


I had an annoying fuel leak that I just fixed. There was this weird 'clamp' thingy on one of the lines coming off the top of the tank. Replaced that with an actual hose clamp and made it nice and tight - problem solved! I'm glad I found this thread, seems like a ton of info here.

It's usually a case of people over-tightening that bolt holding the oil tank to the airbox. Sounds like it hasn't been maintained very well. Who worked on it?

The forks handling is pretty poor (They are just standard damper rod suspenders and that's why a few of us put YZ250/450 forks on it. Emulators improve it massively as well), but not as poor as you describe. Twisty roads is where it shines, or should. Sounds like the SHB are stuffed. It happens often at that mileage. It's not hard to change on this bike.

07 Dakar's aren't known for surging. That was solved at about 05 I think. My 07 started it at about the same mileage though, and it turned out worn or fauled plugs. I've replaced them with iridium tipped plugs since which solved it. They're a lot dearer, but also last longer. So it probably evens out.
Another surging cause is loose battery terminals, and maybe even worn battery. Voltage doesn't indicate the state of the battery BTW.
Keep in mind that this is one of the first FI systems available on motorcycles. And although it's just about bulletproof, if does NEED a good strong battery. If it hasn't got a maintenance free one, and it's still original, and you ride it off road. It NEEDS a maintenance free one.

The previous answers to your questions are spot on; you have a good bike on your hands...alas you have a used bike with an unknown service history. Give it a good going over and sort out the problems you find...it will be a reliable and enjoyable ride for you once you get it sorted.

one comment about the handling problems...the stock suspension is pretty much average OEM. I don't know what quality you are used to on the other bikes you have owned, but this bike often sees a new rear shock and race tech emulators in the front at least. Some folks here have had good luck with the Yami front end exchange; I have joined two otheres to do a WP exchange from a KTM 950. You have all sorts of options depending on what needs you have.

About the tires...The MT21 and the 606 are aggressive dual sport tires. I didn't follow whether or not you were on pavement for you 600KM trip home, but if you are coming from a street-oriented dual sport tire like the Anakee or Tourance, these tires are going to handle like sh*t on the pavement by comparison. They are great on the dirt and that is where they really belong...riding to the dirt excepted.

-good luck sorting out your issues; trust that you will solve them

And in case you don't know, you can often get better help at F650.com because the knowledge over there is quite extensive.

Thanks for those replies. Herrhelmet, can you confirm that if that bolt had vibrated loose, it would drop the wheelnut into the air silencer box? I took the silencer off this morning, and no nut to be seen. If it can only fall off inward, then it has to have been sucked into the engine. I will pull the sparkplugs next - the nut may have hit one and closed the gap, if so this would confirm the nut had visited. It sounds like this bolt is undone to change the oil on this bike, so the last person to do so may have neglected to tighten it. Thats the risk you take with secondhand bikes I guess - this time I have been unlucky.
PS, latest thought is that the nut won't get INTO the engine, but be stopped at the valve entrance. Here it may have jammed the valve open and then the piston hit the valve, making all the noise.

My guess is that second thought.



Have you got that rubber ring shown in the picture on the RHS of that assembly still on the air box? I'm not sure how it connects on the inside though.

I think it's possible that if it got over-tightened it could have pulled outside the silencer box. The rubber gasket is very soft, so hopefully that is the case. I just reacted to the description of how the motor sounded. Loud bangs and sudden engine cuts signal bad things in the top end. It would be worth making sure nothing DID get in there. A mechanic would need to take all those things off to do a valve check so maybe that's the safest bet.

Thanks tmotten and sellmeyer too. That photo helps in that is shows how it SHOULD look. The bolt I found caught between the engine and frame has the two steel washers and large thick rubber washer, but thats all. The thinner rubber ring on the right must be the flange of the 'wellnut' (I looked up wellnut on the 650.com site and they are a long, mostly rubber nut with a flange at one end and an intergral steel bit at the other end which has the thread, so when done up with a bolt the long rubber centre gets squished into a thicker shape which cannot pull through the hole in the air silencer). All I see on the air silencer side is a hole in the plastic, maybe 12mm. I'm going to take off the "throttle valve stub" next, which should allow me to see if the nut has fallen down there. If so, SOMEONE will be taking the head off. Oh something else, which may be related, I found a blown 10amp fuse. My manual doesn't mention a 10amp because I think it is for earlier Dakars.

I had to google what a wellnut was, but it makes sense now. Still weird how that flange made it's way through.

Well, the good news is that the thing we believe may have been sucked into your engine is encased in rubber. Let's cross our fingers that may have protected things somewhat on it's journey.

I gotta say your attitude about dealing with it so far is really good. I know shit happens but I rarely handle it so graciously.

Typically when those well nuts fail, they fail to the outside, not the inside. That is to say that they get worn out and 'spin' when removing the screw holding the oil tank to the airbox...then the wellnut just gets pulled out with the screw and the oil tank. If an idiot did the last service and noticed this, AND removed the wellnut from the screw, AND reinserted it into the airbox for reassembly, he just might have pushed it through the hole while trying to insert the screw. Lots of ifs there.

Lets hope you are okay in the end.