Return of the 650

The F800GS had done me well for the 15 months and 10,000 miles I owned it for.  It’s great for touring, great MPG, comfortable with the add ons I had and pretty bulletproof however the weight and height was something I never got used to.  I don’t know why bikes need to be so high and heavy, I guess it’s because people want all the bells and whistles on them and a lot of it is more “form over function”.   It’s not just the BMW’s either – The Honda NC700 and its variants as well as others are > 200kg.

Anyhow, before the 800GS I had a 2004 F650GS which was lovely.  Not as powerful or perhaps stylish as the 800 and I’m sure those are the 2 reasons I was drawn to it.  So a compromise was needed.  I like the characteristics of the 650 single cylinder engine but didn’t want to go back to the F650GS, I wanted something even lighter and hopefully a few years newer.

Enter the G650X Country.  Yes, it’s yellow, just like all my previous bikes.

2014-04-24 16.28.00It’s a 2009 model, hence the yellow.  The same 650cc engine as before but ever so slightly more BHP and best of all, a weight around 159KG.  That’s at least 50KG less than the 800.  It has a few flaws which I’ll sort out shortly but for now I’m having a great time on it.  Happy days!


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