The 650 Dakar Thread

[Lion BR]

Here is mine. 2006, less than 4k miles.

Stock except the engine guard. And Metzeler Karoo tires.


Lion BR

[notmybikemodelname]

[quote=bacon]

Originally Posted by notmybikemodelname

Why waste the money. For double the price of emulators you can just do this, and gain 20 times the handling, strength, adjustability and gain 3" of travel.

Forks and triple clamps $126 on Ebay
Longer brake line $40 from Deering Ind
Excell rim w/tire $26 Ebay
Brake caliper $49 Ebay
Total $241
I think you payed to much for that front caliper
But seriously not how about a parts breakdown and problems you ran into.

That pic was taken during the installation process. The difference between JDRadman's and mine is that I also bought the YZ rim, axle, and caliper. He has made a very trick system for mounting the stock BMW braking system. I couldn't wait to ride, so I did the Yammie thing for the interim.

As for additonal parts, seriously?..........just a longer brake line and a 1/4" spring steel shim that goes under the top clamp. Oh yeah, $109 for a pair of .52 Racetech springs. So all up.......$350, not counting a 12 pack of Corona and half a bottle of Tres Generaciones .

The whole teardown and installation took less than two hours.

As for handling, I can't believe I rode the bike before without doing this. I came off more high perf bikes like a Husky TC450, and the Dakar now handles like a real dual sport. I can take woops that I would typically take at 15-25mph, at 45-60 mph now. Cornering is 10 times better, it tracks unbelievably good in the sand and silt, and the bike actually handes better on the Hi-way as well.

Since I only ride my bike on the asphalt to get to the dirt, I don't miss any braking ability gained from the larger rotor that came with the BMW. However, I do plan on mounting JD's system on my bike when they make the first run.

Here's what my bike looked like the day after I finished my install. This pic was taken just before we hit the dirt at Lytle Creek in San Berdoo and then road out to Randsburg via Coyote Canyon-Baldy Mesa-Aster-KJ-Cuddeback dry lake and back. Over 260 miles of dirt and about 65 pavement.

[tmotten]

Originally Posted by mcgiggle

the swing arm bearings are had it after 12k mls, and that's no off road use, so got to wait until Monday to get some new.

Did you lube them?

Originally Posted by notmybikemodelname

Why waste the money. For double the price of emulators you can just do this

For double the price of the bike I can just get a better bike. All relative. Still keen to see the finished project though. Don't upside downers have more seal/ leaking problems?

[notmybikemodelname]

Originally Posted by tmotten

Don't upside downers have more seal/ leaking problems?

Well let's hope not since over 90% of the bikes being made have them. I would think not since most modern USD systems have more travel, which means it's harder to bottom them out. Seals get blown when you over use your suspension and over-compress them putting too much pressure on your seals. I bottomed out my stock shocks all the time. I haven't bottomed out my new ones once yet and I'm riding a lot harder and faster. At this point, not a drop of ail leaking.

[mcgiggle]

No I havn't lubed them ! We brought the bike about 8 months ago will 6k on the clock and the guy had had it from new and done 1.5k a year on road and the bike was like new, then I put 6k on it with a 100 mile round trip to London and back for work through the summer so I was suprised to say the least that they're shagged.

[tmotten]

Sorry mate. Wasn't trying to be a smart arse.

Don't be surprise they're gone though. Factories never put a lot of or any grease on the bearings. I'm going through all this all over again with my new DRZ400E. Luckily it has grease nipples but not all of them (swingarm bearings) and they were dry as. Had heaps of trouble getting the swingarm shaft out. So it's not just a BM thing. On my BM the bushes (that's the name for them, isn't it?) looked like this once I got around to lubing them. I now do it at the 10k km interval. Same for the SHB, even though it's not on the schedule.





For the record. This is a few 100km down the track off a new Dakar.


notmybikemodelname, don't upside downers get more pitting though or do those guards actually work?

[mcgiggle]

No problemo, didn't think you were

[HeadinSouth]

[quote=ET Chief]

Originally Posted by JDRadman

I sent an email to unifilter asking about it today. The US catalog does not list one for the F650GS but the Australian one does. The Ausi p/n is NU7304 which is listed as being for K bikes 1985-1995 in the US catalog. Seems strange to have different part numbers for different countries.

When I get a reply I will post there response.

If you dont have any luck finding one, just order from Touratech since its the same filter.

[neepuk]

Originally Posted by underwaterguru

I see a lot of upgrades with TT stuff. It just seams not to be built very good. I wonder if the TT stands for trailer trash or not? Why would you by over priced junk just to have it brake and fix it yourself? Not sure but some one is getting f***ed here and I think it us!!!!

We all got F***ed when buying a friggen BMTroubleyou F650 dakar to begin with.... Overpriced, overweight, SLOW, P.O.S that absolutely sucks off-road! (same with the F800 by the way) It's a road bike with big wheels. May as well blow another 10 grand trying to make the bike something it will never be like the original owner of mine did! It's the nicest Dakar I've ever seen and it still doesn't hold a candle to the DR650, which is half the price.


WP suspension w/TT triples, excel wheels, and just about every guard, lever, foot peg and farkle that TT sells and the bike still sucks compared to my simple, cheap and reliable DR650. The Dakar is an overpriced KLR at best!

[Lion BR]

Looks really nice. This is the best looking color scheme for a Dakar in my opinion. The farkles, especially the black wheels, make it even better.
Congratulations.

Originally Posted by neepuk

[tmotten]

Originally Posted by neepuk

We all got F***ed when buying a friggen BMTroubleyou F650 dakar to begin with.... Overpriced, overweight, SLOW, P.O.S that absolutely sucks off-road! (same with the F800 by the way) It's a road bike with big wheels.

It's built for the European market in mind. Try finding any challending off road for large thumpers there and you will quickly find that you would rather have a 1200 for going out and finding all this stuff.

[notmybikemodelname]

Originally Posted by neepuk

We all got F***ed when buying a friggen BMTroubleyou F650 dakar to begin with.... Overpriced, overweight, SLOW, P.O.S that absolutely sucks off-road! (same with the F800 by the way) It's a road bike with big wheels. May as well blow another 10 grand trying to make the bike something it will never be like the original owner of mine did! It's the nicest Dakar I've ever seen and it still doesn't hold a candle to the DR650, which is half the price.


WP suspension w/TT triples, excel wheels, and just about every guard, lever, foot peg and farkle that TT sells and the bike still sucks compared to my simple, cheap and reliable DR650. The Dakar is an overpriced KLR at best!

That's becuase the bike still weighs too much the way you have it set up. With all of the shit you have on that bike, it weighs well over 400lbs. Just those lame engine guards you have add 15-20 lbs to the bike! You can strip a Dakar down to around 340-350(mine wieghs 338lbs) and they will do anything a DR650 can do. I ride with some damn good ex-racers who ride DR650's, KTM 690's, KTM 640's, XR's, etc, etc, and I have no problem doing anything they can do just as fast and half of the time out in front of them. And I always end up riding my bike home....they have to trailer theirs most of the time, either because it broke down, or they are too warn out from riding it for 500-600 miles in a weekend.

Have you actually taken the time to learn how to ride the bike?
True, they don't handle like anything else I've ever ridden in it's class either, but I wouldn't say worse......just different. It takes a while to figure them out.....Just like women .

I'll tell you I'd be pretty damned pissed off too if I spent $4200 on a TT/WP suspension system, when you can get a better set up for less than 1/10 the price with the Yammie YZ set up. A friend of mine has the TT system and I have the Yammie. I think mine rides better and is definitely lighter. And I can buy ten more if it breaks before I've spent as much as him

In the set up you have your bike in now, I'm sure it weighs 50-60 lbs more than the DR650, so no wonder it doesn't handle as well. So my suggestion is, ride it like the street bike it is with good suspension in the current set up, or lose about 50lbs and then make the judgment. Otherwise, if you're that unhappy, just ride the DR and sell the Dakar. I'm sure there's another sucker out there who'll pay too much for it, thinking just because it has a decent suspension it's an offroad bike.

Cheers!

[neepuk]

Originally Posted by notmybikemodelname

That's becuase the bike still weighs too much the way you have it set up. With all of the shit you have on that bike, it weighs well over 400lbs. (mine wieghs 338lbs) and they will do anything a DR650 can do. I ride with some damn good ex-racers who ride DR650's, KTM 690's, KTM 640's, XR's, etc, etc, and I have no problem doing anything they can do just as fast and half of the time out in front of them. And I always end up riding my bike home....they have to trailer theirs most of the time, either because it broke down, or they are too warn out from riding it for 500-600 miles in a weekend.

Have you actually taken the time to learn how to ride the bike?
True, they don't handle like anything else I've ever ridden in it's class either, but I wouldn't say worse......just different. It takes a while to figure them out.....Just like women .

I'll tell you I'd be pretty damned pissed off too if I spent $4200 on a TT/WP suspension system, when you can get a better set up for less than 1/10 the price with the Yammie YZ set up. A friend of mine has the TT system and I have the Yammie. I think mine rides better and is definitely lighter. And I can buy ten more if it breaks before I've spent as much as him

In the set up you have your bike in now, I'm sure it weighs 50-60 lbs more than the DR650, so no wonder it doesn't handle as well. So my suggestion is, ride it like the street bike it is with good suspension in the current set up, or lose about 50lbs and then make the judgment. Otherwise, if you're that unhappy, just ride the DR and sell the Dakar. I'm sure there's another sucker out there who'll pay too much for it, thinking just because it has a decent suspension it's an offroad bike.

Cheers!

I bought it set up that way for $5500 bucks, with only 6000 miles... Sold it soon after I bought my DR so thanks for the advice but I'm already there.

Never said it wouldn't do what a DR can do, just implied that it's not anywhere near as good of a dirt-machine, by saying that the Dakar doesn't hold a candle to the DR when it comes to off-road abilities. Sure, it'll do some solid off road stuff, but the same rider on a DR will be less tired and a bunch faster at the end of the day.

Don't take my post personally. I just found it to be very ironic (and a little funny too) that a BMW Dakar rider would post some TT trash talking with regards to price. The Dakar itself is just like Touratech. Way overpriced for the performance you get out of it. I still say that if you don't look down while your riding there's not much difference between a KLR and a Dakar. Certainly not $5000 difference.

...and No, I have now idea how to ride a motorcycle at all. I just sit on them and make "vrooom vrooom" noises in the garage in my spare time.

[tmotten]

Lets not turn this into a slinging match. He's right that the STOCK Dakar is nowhere near as offroad capable as a DR. The DR needs to be modified in the suspension department as well, but it will still lighter.

Problem is that you're comparing apples with pears, and everyone knows they are not comparable.

Sorting the Dakar out with TT bling is a waste of time still. You can get that stuff straight from WP yourself (most of the other stuff is useless), it's just most BM riders prefer to shop at the same shop. Hence a lot of BM riders ride in BM gear. Major money spinner for BM. The Dakar is a more road orientated bike and eventhough notmybikemodelname has sorted out his bike more in the dirt department, he can still enjoy that design feature more than his DR riding mates.

Put it next to even a new KLR, look at the details, and you will find if it's worth the extra money. It has been spent on things by BM (most of it). I take the BM over the KLR anyday. TT is a rip off on a lot of items. When you're BM has a flat you can just ring up and they'll drive you home. Try ringing up TT.

[Lion BR]

Well, I like my Dakar. I don't mind that it is heavy. Or that it is not as fast as so many other bikes out there. It is a fine motorcycle. It is not better than Bike X or Z on many things. But I'm not racing nor plan on racing so that small differences don't matter. It goes well on fire roads, and on other stuff up to some level of technical challenge. Hasn't left me stranded anywhere yet. So what I have is fine.

By the way, the photo below is from when I took my Dakar to the Black Rock desert (Gerlach, NV). No other 650 or similar on my group could keep up with my Dakar. And the one DR 650 that was trying to keep up with my speed, well, it blew a gasket. So, there is no perfect bike.

Lion

Originally Posted by tmotten

Lets not turn this into a slinging match. He's right that the STOCK Dakar is nowhere near as offroad capable as a DR. The DR needs to be modified in the suspension department as well, but it will still lighter.

Problem is that you're comparing apples with pears, and everyone knows they are not comparable.

Sorting the Dakar out with TT bling is a waste of time still. You can get that stuff straight from WP yourself (most of the other stuff is useless), it's just most BM riders prefer to shop at the same shop. Hence a lot of BM riders ride in BM gear. Major money spinner for BM. The Dakar is a more road orientated bike and eventhough notmybikemodelname has sorted out his bike more in the dirt department, he can still enjoy that design feature more than his DR riding mates.

Put it next to even a new KLR, look at the details, and you will find if it's worth the extra money. It has been spend on things by BM. I take the BM over the KLR anyday. TT is a rip off on a lot of items.