The 650 Dakar Thread

Look in my pics above, my HDB guards on the bike with the mirrors in.

One deployed, one in (old photo):

tzabcan your close. It's the mirage 1 and it is designed to suit the '4 screw' screen. After talking to Brittania I used an industrial strength heat gun to reshape it to my '3 screw' shape. Still not perfect but it works. Hard to see in the pic it has quite a few wraps of black speed tape holding it all together after one screw fell out. It's done 2000km like that so I better put the screw back in soon
Next winter I might use it as a template to make a new fiberglass one piece headlight/dash/screen unit to suit the twin Hella lights globe access at the moment is a pain requiring dismantling the whole setup, not helpful when your out n about.

Ah, I see. The twin lights threw me off. Are they the touratech one or something else? I'm bummed that Britannia doesn't make something for the 3 screw 650s. The lynx is awesome looking. Aside from the mounting problems and bulb access do you like the sliding screen design?

Anyone know if theres a port available to put a water temp sensor?? Was going to use an inline hose adapter but would rather have it in the engine if possible.

No not TT but thats the effect I was after Hella DE's mounted to an alloy plate screwed to the original headlight mounts, took a bit of mucking about to get right. I like the sliding screen, run it full up mode for travelling and full down for fire trail work. I gave Brittania some feedback and pics on trying to fit it to the 3 screw dash and they were willing to refund if I wasn't happy with it. I needed something to combat buffeting and it's the best outcome so far.

Low beam 1029-12v


High beam 1030-12v

Great pics Matto!

Looks like Brian Head this time of year.

No idea on a port but if you're measuring water temp you really want to know the temp coming out of the radiator. It'll always be hot in and coming out of the engine, you only need to worry if it's still hot going back in.

Nice country that, must bring my bike and visit when I win the lottery (which has to be any day now, been buying tickets for so fucken long it's ridiculous)

I should perhaps add that my bike was super laden with camping gear and since the bolt sheared at the RHS it was still pretty taut on the LHS so only flexed on the one side which is probably why I noticed.

This happened in the middle of the Victorian high country and I fixed it by buying a meter long (8 or 10mm ?) threaded rod which I sawed down to the proper lenght (about a foot ?) and added two nuts that I could lock against each other to lock it (It threads into a welded on nut on the LHS). The temporary fix is still on there 6 years later.

In my mind at least that bolt is what keeps the whole frame from flexing at the top engine/ frame mount (where the castle nut is)

You won the jackpot lottery when we let you into Oz to litter the high country with broken bolts and the outback with all the other bits that fell off so no more lottery wins for you. I notice you still have that gift we gave you too, that red coloured dye sure hangs around for life, gets under the skin as well

Yeah that shit really gets on there

...North Georgia mountains...80K miles and climbing...

Thanks! Oh man, I snook through Brian Head last week for a couple hours and rode my mountain bike on the way back from Vegas. What a great place! I love the trails there and the Aspens were fantastic. Looks like the little town is doing well too.

Pretty much perfect trails up there:

Yes, pretty spectacular here. Come for a visit out west. You won't be disappointed. Looks like I will be in Norway next year end of August first of Sept for the Mountain Bike World Cup finals in Hafjell. Looking forward to it.

Ya, will put the bold back in just as a place holder at least. My bike was not loaded down, but sure did get beat around a ton! Did not loose any parts atleast.

Damn!! Thats some beautiful country right there. One of these days I need to get out that way.

im glad you keep us updated with the miles. i like to know how far these motors go and when things wear out. im far behind you at 29,000 miles but enjoying every mile!

I'm at 86991miles(140000km) so far... no probs yet, except all my electrical cables are begining to disintergrate

I should prob do a valve check soon , been riding the last 50000 km without doing one. How often are you suppose to do it on theese bikes. I'm proberly way past the point

I just picked up an 05 650 Dakar and am in need of an owners manual. I tried looking online for one to download but no luck finding anything for this "old" of a bike. I'd be happy with photo copies of a manual at this point, pdf would be fantastic though.

Is there a specific starting procedure for this bike? When cold it takes 3 tries for the bike to start, I thought that was odd for a fuel injected bike?

And lastly i'm looking for some stock hand guards, if anyone has a set left over from an upgrade i'd be interested.

Thanks!

Earlier model but 90% same.
http://www.thewatermargin.com/html/F650GS/F650GS Manual (2001-2003).pdf

Start- side stand up or bike in neutral. Turn key- wait for all lights to cycle off (except abs if u have ut). Press start.

Check f650.com hard start FAQS. If that doesn't work.

Most, if not all hard parts are aftermarket.

Turn the ignition switch on, but wait until the water temp light goes out before pressing the starter button (2-3 seconds). Then after the engine fires up, continue holding the starter button 2-3 more seconds (this I was told sets the EFI for the ambient conditions).

Mine is an 03, but I think the procedure is the same for the newer, 2-spark models. My Dakar has always started right up using this method.

You may want to check with your dealer, there was a BMW technical bulletin on the early twin-spark models that covers hard starting. It involves a software update and replacing the decompression lever on the exhaust camshaft. If nothing else, the software update solved the issue of backfiring through the intake and stalling when I blipped the throttle for a downshift.

There's a bunch of other stuff you should check that could affect things, I'm sure that everyone else will chime in on that.