I went up to Bob's BMW yesterday to take a look at the 2013 G650GS Sertao they now have in stock.

While I was up there, out of curiosity, I took a little 2002 F650GS thumper for a ride. It has a skid plate, spoked wheels, ABS, Heated Grips and hand guards and has less than 10k miles on it. It also lacks the lower front fender so has more of an adventure bike front end profile.





It's been lowered by way of a replacement shock, which is unfortunate. It turns out there are two ways to lower these bikes. One involves replacing a lower bracket which brings the bike down 2.5 inches, the other involves an expensive shock replacement.

You know, strangely, of all the bikes I've tested including the 2012 F650GS, 2012 F800GS, 2012 G650GS Sertao, the 2005 F650GS Dakar, and the KLR 650, I've liked this little bike the most.

I obviously wasn't allowed to take it off-road, but I got the distinct feeling that I could do a wide range of trail riding on it without much trouble. Deep mud, water or sand would obviously be a problem as would large rutted terrain, but everything else would be no issue. It was far more stable and comfortable on the road than the other bikes and it felt much lighter as well, although I suspect that's an illusion due to it's low stature.

I think what appealed to me about it is it evoked memories of riding scrambler style trail bikes way back in the day, which thinking back, were the kinds of bikes I used to really enjoy. I was never a go-fast tear it up kind of rider. I was much more about exploring trails and if I think back, my very first "dirt bike" was actually a street bike, the old 90cc two stoke AMF Harley with the little street tires. The most aggressive dirt bike I've owned was a Honda XL350 and even that was really nothing but a trail bike.

I'd say the F650GS might have a few advantages I had not considered:

1. has all the base requirements: fuel injection, heated grips, ABS that can be turned off, spoked rims, semi-knobby tires.

2. cheaply available. (equipped ones with bags can be had for half the cost of a new unequipped Sertao).

3. well supported over much of the country.

4. third party bolt-on parts (touratech) readily available.

5. after the trip would make for a decent trail and trainer bike that's also stable enough for 80mph highway duty.

As for disadvantages, the only one I see at the present moment is ground clearance. It's definitely geared towards less aggressive trail riding. The later model two cylinder F650GS's, with their alloy wheels, are a general purpose street bikes and shouldn't do any kind of real duty off road. But the earlier ones, with spoked rims can handle a wider range of conditions.

So I find myself thinking, aside from aesthetic appeal, how much of a benefit is the longer travel suspension when weighed against everything else?

I'm thinking an F650GS thumper might be an option to consider much more carefully.

And, thinking about it, in the "Long Way Round", the cameraman after he wrecked his R1150GS Adventure bike, was on a some small Russian two stroke and had a much easier time even through the bad stuff than the two heroes in that story.

...which suggests to me that you may be overthinking this.

Anyway, isn't the one at Bob's a lot like the first one you went to see up around Baltimore? That one was well equipped and ready to go, and not lowered I think.

The first one was a 2005 Dakar which had been equipped to be worthy of a round-the-world trip for someone 6'4" or taller. The seat height was at least 36" and with all the steel he had bolted on to it it was /HEAVY/. Getting the thing on the center stand was vastly more difficult than even my super porky K100RS.

Otherwise, yea, if that bike hadn't been so crazy tall (I can't even come close to flat footing it even with my 34" in-seam.) and hadn't been so gawdawful heavy ...

I'm pretty much settled on a standard F650GS thumper from some time in the mid-2000's.

F650.com seems to have a bunch of information on these bikes:

Late 2004 to 2007 F650GS seems to be what I'm now looking for.

For 2013 BMW is offering a lower version of the F800GS with a 32.3" seat height ...