RantMachine

Happy Birthday! That'll be time for another bike, then?

Yeah, I check it every now and then To be fair I'd replaced most of it by the time I sold it off! But doesn't mean I'd trust that particular one - god only knows how much the current owner has spent keeping it on the road

Just stay the hell away from a red one with the license plate V969 EJM

Never had a single electrical issue with mine, beyond a faulty abs sensor on the rear that really is as easy to fix as unplugging the old one and plugging a new one in. I can honestly say that the electrics seemed really solid on that thing, the routing of the wiring was top notch (nothing to get in the way while working on other things or anything that rubbed or pulled depending on the angle of the bars) and none of it ever misbehaved. [mention]old-timer[/mention] makes a great point that you shouldn't be deterred by the bad experiences one owner had with one specific bike, but there are a couple of common issues to be wary of on the F650GS single that it's worth being wary of before buying one, and most of them can be avoided by steering clear of the first couple of years of production: Surging and stalling (like 1/6th of all 2001 models, mine didn't do this) Fork failure (2001 and 2002 models, but most if not all will probably have had a fork swap with a 2003+ by now, mine had) Water pump seal failure (all models, and real nasty when it does happen) Biggest tip I can give you when looking at an F650GS is check the oil for any signs of contamination! You do not want to inherit a bike that needs the pump seal replaced, much less one that could have been running contaminated oil for an unknown length of time. And if the temp light comes on when you're test riding it, walk away. I don't mean to give the impression that there is a high chance of running into this issue, it's just more common than most and a real headache if you do run into it, so avoid buying one that's already gone awry A more serious consideration, though: Seeing as a bunch of your questions have been about working on the bike yourself, be aware that a lot of the jobs on the bike will require you to buy extra tools! Obviously it's a BMW so you'll need torx bits (and the torque values on some of those torx bolts, I would strongly recommend torx bits for your socket set over torx keys, Halfords do a really good and cheap set). But also a few of the non-torx bolts use somewhat odd sizes that you may not already own, as noted earlier the sump bolt needs an offset spanner, and you'll need BMW specific tools in order to dismantle the forks or steering head. And of course, BMW only sell those to dealers, so you'll need to eBay it or improvise your own. Aside from those tools for the forks and head, it's only cheap items! But oh boy do you not want to start a job then realize half way through that it needs some weird and obscure tool that you don't own. Oh, and I would 100% echo what [mention]Tiggie[/mention] said about the fumoto sump plug. At the best of time I'd already be worried about using an aftermarket plug that sits markedly lower to the ground (and protrudes way more therefore making it easier to catch on things), but on this type of bike? If you ever want to take it off paved streets, I would seriously encourage against using on of them. Aaaand if none of that put you off, they are gloriously fun and satisfying bikes to ride. Despite my truly terrible luck with mine, I did really love it.

I love this place

Oil change isn't too bad, but two considerations: You'll need an offset spanner for the sump plug, it's in a bloody awkward spot The oil return line (hard metal one running from the sump up to the oil reservoir in the fake fuel tank) is a HUGE pain in the arse at times But honestly not too bad overall. And so long as you didn't get the oil get truly vile you can be horrifically lazy and just change the stuff in the tank without completely emptying the sump Of course, you can't do the lazy approach if you experience the classic oil pump seal feature. Noooo, that's a big old job - have to be prepared to enjoy being off the road for a little while I can speak with quite a lot of experience working on the F650GS single, lemme know if you have questions about any other bits of it!

Delete me and ill record mouse captures and bombard your forum with sign ups and messages. Or release some software to the masses that will do a denial of service attack on your domain. Your pocket dude. Wow, you're a grade-A tit

You mean you won't be spending the weekend lying on a sunbed and mainlining Dettol? Trumpbriefing1.jpg I'm dubious about the wisdom of this, my body still hasn't quite recovered from all those Tide Pods...

[mention]Glorian[/mention] introduced me to Helldivers and that has basically become my plan for every weekend until the Stay At Home order ends. http://scifiaddicts.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/helldivers-keyart-feat.jpg

Give me a heads up next time you're going and I'll fly over specially

pfffft! I know what I am doing Wasn't worried about that, it's the people that designed it and the bike itself that don't!

Nice work so far! But, burn it while you're ahead.

And if they see it ever again it's going in a river, if I remember rightly?

I had a weekend project of creating a statistical model for the impact of letting go of each member of my team, and then used it to plan out my staffing at 10% through to 90% cost reduction. That was fun.

Maybe just maybe starting to get my butt in gear and sort my Murrican licence? Suddenly have a lot more spare time on my hands, might as well put it to good use...

Oh you can totally kill Americans too. Straight up got a law around here called the "Make My Day" law, says you can shoot each other all you like. Or something to that effect. My green card says something about "provisional licence to kill" in the small print, I swear.

Arwen flounced? I missed that one as well then! Who was responsible for the aforementioned flounced? I'll give you one guess

On the bright side, at least they gave you a quote, even if it was a bit barmy... Most places wouldn't even touch my old KLX And at least one gave me a quote higher than the new price of the bike...

When isn't there?

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you, and all that...

Could just use a GPS Speedo app instead, as a lazy/easy solution. Speedo functionality isn't tested in your MOT

Does not showing up to collect the runners up prize guarantee a head start in the 2020 vote? oh yes Seems about right, then.

Does not showing up to collect the runners up prize guarantee a head start in the 2020 vote?

Aww no, this definitely can't be accurate and those pesky Russian hackers have clearly rigged the vote! https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ReliableHairyLarva-size_restricted.gif' alt='GFYCAT>'>