Dual Sport Shopping F800 GS / F650GS / other?

[goodtimes]

Those are good bikes. Essentially, they are the same as the pre-2008 F650GS. There was a name change to align all the engines under the same alphabetic prefix. ("G" bikes are upright singles, F bikes are the parallel twins, R bikes are the horizontally opposed twins, K bikes are the in-line four cylinders...).

My '07 F650GS (same bike as your G650) was the first bike that I 'owned', and spend considerable time on...including the western half of the Trans America trail (see summer issue of the Overland Journal). It was a great all around bike. I'm sure you will have many happy miles on it...

:bike_rider:

 

[Ozrockrat]

Other options ??????

No don't get me wrong here I regularily drink from the BMW coolaid bottle but consider this.

A KLR 2008 onwards.

So before ya start blasting away about one brand versus another here is a bit of history.
I have had a string of BMW's starting with a 90S, R80G/S PD, K100RS, K100LT, F650 Funduro, R1150GSA and still have a R1100GS and a 60/2 with a ural sidecar.

I also had the opportunity to buy a KLR in Chile and use it down there for a few months including following the Dakar.

The KLR was cheaper to buy, maintain and farkle than any BMW I have had. It was better in the dirt than any of my BMW's. It stood up to pushing it along the freeway as well as slipping through the desert to bypass police roadblocks (to see the race nothing criminal )

The KLR was also easy to sell at the end of its use to me.

My suggestion is to find a good used (and hopefully farkled) 08-09 KLR650 use it until you know exactly what you want. Especially if you are looking at putting a few character marks on it.

My other recommendation (from trying all other options) is no matter what bike you get, make sure you get Jesse panniers for it. I have had Touratech, Caribou, Givi, BMW, Gearsak and none of them come close to what Jesse's do.

 

[Cruiser]

I'd rather suggest a suzuki DR 650 over the KLR,, I know they have a large following,, but I have rode a few and found them lacking on and off road.. so much so I'm awstruck at the large following.. must be the $..

 

[805gregg]

I just did a trip to Mammoth from Ventura, my friend John rode his DL650, and since it was a freeway ride, I was on my ST 1300. I have a radar detector so I was in front, I can cruise at 110mph all day on the Honda, but I slowed down to 78-95. John was able to stay with me all 3 days. After we went to Bodie Ghost town, we traded bikes, and did the June lake loop, his wee was great, I had no problem passing everything in front of me, but it lacked the kick of the Dl1000, I have one at home. The BMW will be allot better off road but for bad roads or fire roads, the wee is excellent and the reliability is built in.

 

[T.Low]

No don't get me wrong here I regularily drink from the BMW coolaid bottle but consider this.

A KLR 2008 onwards.

So before ya start blasting away about one brand versus another here is a bit of history.
I have had a string of BMW's starting with a 90S, R80G/S PD, K100RS, K100LT, F650 Funduro, R1150GSA and still have a R1100GS and a 60/2 with a ural sidecar.

I also had the opportunity to buy a KLR in Chile and use it down there for a few months including following the Dakar.

The KLR was cheaper to buy, maintain and farkle than any BMW I have had. It was better in the dirt than any of my BMW's. It stood up to pushing it along the freeway as well as slipping through the desert to bypass police roadblocks (to see the race nothing criminal )

The KLR was also easy to sell at the end of its use to me.

My suggestion is to find a good used (and hopefully farkled) 08-09 KLR650 use it until you know exactly what you want. Especially if you are looking at putting a few character marks on it.

My other recommendation (from trying all other options) is no matter what bike you get, make sure you get Jesse panniers for it. I have had Touratech, Caribou, Givi, BMW, Gearsak and none of them come close to what Jesse's do.

Here, here. I always try to suggest to buy something used that is very sellable. That way, you can continure shopping while you are riding and evolvong into the rider you are going to be. If you do it right, you can buy low and sell high and not lose $ instead of buying new, spending on farkle, damaging and out growing, then selling for a lose while buying new and spending on farkle again.

Buy a low priced high demand popular bike to learn on.