Long distance on 650CS

[beemergrl]

I currently have a 2005 650CS. I live in Texas and was planning on going to Gillette on my bike. However, lately I have been noticing oil leak around the motor. I took it into the shop this morning to get them to look at it. They suspected an airbox problem with the oil. The mechanic there stated this was common in this model because they were not designed to ride long distances and when you do, it creates this leak. Can anyone give me some opinions on this? Does your CS leak after long distances? What is the longest and furthest you have ridden. Ever hear of this airbox thing?

Thanks for the help. Wanted to leave this weekend for Gillette and now I am worried. Appreiciate any feedback you can give. :cry

[boxerr]

What a load of bull!!

Oil leak at airbox usually indicates that the engine is a little overfull with oil.

These bikes(all the 650 range) will go to the end of the earth and back, and then do it again tommorrow.:D

Unless your bike has a great heap of miles on it(and it would have to be a heap!!)
I cant see a problem.

In short, I would find another mechanic.

[AKBeemer]

I currently have a 2005 650CS. I live in Texas and was planning on going to Gillette on my bike. However, lately I have been noticing oil leak around the motor. I took it into the shop this morning to get them to look at it. They suspected an airbox problem with the oil. The mechanic there stated this was common in this model because they were not designed to ride long distances and when you do, it creates this leak. Can anyone give me some opinions on this? Does your CS leak after long distances? What is the longest and furthest you have ridden. Ever hear of this airbox thing?

Thanks for the help. Wanted to leave this weekend for Gillette and now I am worried. Appreiciate any feedback you can give. :cry

Go to the ride reports forum and checkout the thread "North to Alaska" by Paul and Voni. They are riding older 650s to the rally with a side trip to and around Alaska and the Yukon. Should ease your doubts about the bike.

[Burnszilla]

I believe there's an airbox drain tube to remove the oil on that bike.
http://faq.f650.com/FAQs/AirFilterFAQ.htm#Questions

[motomo]

Beemergrl,

I PM'd you about riding up to Gilette. I also live in Dallas and am still debating about whether to go or not. Talk about waiting to the 11th hour. Check your PM.

[LHairgrove]

First, find another mechanic....the wife put 6500 miles on hers at the time of trade-in, and we missed it the next day....in fact, we are still trying to get it back.

Hope to see you all in Gillette!:buds

[Kutcher]

He wants your bike...


Hes trying to convince you to part with it cheap-so he can snag it up...:deal





Like others have said, find a reputable shop/ mech...

And F650.com is your friend...

[nytrashman]

you have too much oil in the bike and it is dumping some into the air box.

as far as not being able to ride long distance, i have a buddy who rode is dakar from our hometown in NY to alaska several times. i am riding my F650GS to the national in Gillette and my friend is riding her F650GS from Amarillo to Gillette so these bikes are more the capable of being ridden long distances

[jgifford]

Some air boxes on F models have a drain plug on the underside. It's usually a plastic plug that looks like the oil filler cap plug. Open this and drain it. Be ready for the ugliest fluid you ever saw. You may even want to do this with the water hose going and some soap on what ever is under the drain.

What's been happening (besides the possibility of a little over fill) is the breather on the motor crank case is pushing a little oil out of the motor and into the air box through the vent lines. This is no big deal, but a good thing to drain every once in a while.

If you cannot find the drain plug or get it done before you head out, don't sweat it. Just note where the BMW dealers are on the way up and bring your anonymous book incase it gets worse. But someone at the rally (even I if you can find me at Awards & Tallies) can show you where this drain is and how to open it.

[dallnerml]

I will be taking off for Breckenridge CO from Milwaukee, WI on the 24th. That will be about 1120 miles one way. I talked to a local independent shop, The Shop http://www.theshopmilwaukee.com/ , and their mechanics said that would not have a problem riding any of the 650's LD. They had done the maintenance on one earlier for a woman who rode to NY and back with no problems.

I am doing the fine tuning on mine. A Throttle Meister http://www.throttlemeister.com/ and I am trying to decide on a taller windscreen. The ZTechnik or C Baileys are the ones I am looking at. The Parabellum is over $200. The ZTechnik is probably the one I will get.

7/10/08 Update. I got the Throttle Meister and it is a fine piece of machining! The device replaces the bar end weights and as you rotate the throttle side one towards you, a cam comes out and against the throttle that will lock it where ever. Twist hard enough and you can't move the throttle. Or it can be set with just enough friction to hold the throttle in place. When you put your hand over the Throttle Meister and throttle and throttle down, the Meister releases. about a 1/4 turn from unlocked to full lock.

And I changed my mind and order the Parabellum Windscreen. We will see if it arrives in time.

7/13/08 This is Sunday morning and I got a call from the Parabellum folks confirming ordering information! Didn't expect that. I hadn't realized the lead time needed for this and they were kind enough to expedite my order. Natural disasters holding off, I should have the windscreen on 7/21. That will give me a couple of days before my trip starts to get the wind screen mounted and correct any other issues that may arise.

I have Givi bags with a 52 liter top case. The stock luggage mount that the top case mounts on was not up to the 52 liters! Even keeping the weight under the 5 Kilos stated. Since I am doing the ride one up, I am working on a "custom" mount for the top case. Using the existing mount points of the luggage rack, I am trying to come up with a way to have the top case ride over the "rear" seat. A Work in progress...

7/15 update:

Received and email notification that the Parabellum windshield has been shipped! They said planned shipping was on 7/18! Ahead of schedule!

I took my broken luggage rear luggage rack to a welder today. He stated that he may be able to repair it. I am still going to re-enforce the thing. The stock rack is way to weak.

7/19 Update

I have received and installed the Parabellem windscreen. Fixed my luggage rack and got a tune up bolt tightening done. So I am ready for the ride.

Here are the pictures:


Enjoy the Ride!

[dallnerml]

How was your ride to Gillette?

I got back yesterday from my ride to Breckenridge CO and back from Milwaukee.

The only problem was that I blew the fuse, at least that is what I am hoping, on the power socket. That also means that my clock and trip odometer were not working. Over all, minor. The beastie was run all day at 75 mph.

What I learned is that well padded gloves would have helped with with vibrating hands... The stock seat made my aXX sore! I supposed I could have stopped at a UPS store and got some bubble wrap to soften the blows to my back side. The handle bars could have set back further. I found that I was leaning on the handle bars and that made for muscle aches across my shoulders. My longest time in the saddle was 3.5 hours and the fuel lamp had not come on.

On the way back I rode up us 40 from I 70 in Colorado, then took US 34 through Rocky Mountain National Forest. That was a sweet ride. Beautiful country! The ride down the west slope after getting out of the park on US 34 was fun. Well paved and twisty down a mountain gorge next to Big Thompson River.

I had strapped my video camera to the top of my stuff bay/bag and got some video of the RMNF. There is a lot of damage to the forest from the pine beetle.

I met a couple of guys, recent retirees, on separate occasions that were out on a four week tours of the US, both from the SouthEast part of the US.

Enjoyed the Ride.

[PGlaves]

Go to the ride reports forum and checkout the thread "North to Alaska" by Paul and Voni. They are riding older 650s to the rally with a side trip to and around Alaska and the Yukon. Should ease your doubts about the bike.

Here is a bit of an on-topic epilogue report.

We are temporarily back at our son's in Kansas. We rode the F650s just a bit over 13,700 miles since leaving Texas in April. The sum total of repair issues were an exhaust leak on Voni's bike, repaired with a tin can and two hose clamps; one burned out brake light bulb; and one loose starter relay connection. We used up two rear tires and 1-1/2 front tires on Voni's bike and 2-1/2 rear tires and 1-1/2 front tires on my bike. (Very abrasive roads up there). Two flat tires too, so one new tube plus one of the tubes I had as a spare were used.

The bikes are dirty but didn't leak, blow out, or otherwise do anything untoward with any oil. I did manage to get quite a bit of chain lube splattered about, but I'm not very neat when putting it on in a campground.

Now I need to mount a new rear tire on Voni's, and change the oil, etc and they will be ready to go again.

[dallnerml]

OK, here is a review of a product for the F650 CS fans. I recently visited my son in Breckenridge, CO. from Milwaukee, WI. I purchased a Parabellem windscreen for my first long distance ride.

The windscreen is the 22 in version. Parabellem makes a 20 in and 24 in version. The windscreen did a great job of protecting me from the bugs in Eastern Colorado and Western Illinois where the flying insects seemed to be more abundant.

I had made a run to my cabin in Mountain, WI to see what I could handle with the stock bike. I do have Givi paniers and their 52 liter top case. On the way up, I rode between 60 and 65 mph and got about 63 MPG in 190 miles. On the way back I pushed a little harder and the MPG dropped to 57.

After talking with some fellow riders, I decided to order a more conventional windscreen. While researching, I found four windscreens for the CS.

BMW F650CS Windscreen by Cee Bailey's
http://www.ascycles.com/detail.aspx?ID=43682

Laminar Lip - F650CS http://www.ascycles.com/detail.aspx?ID=2510

ZTechnik http://www.ztechnik.com/products/index.html

Parabellum http://www.parabellum.com/

I decided on the Parabellem. Their customer support was very good in that they got my order to me in time for me to mount and test before my ride to Breckenridge. This screen is the most expensive I found at $225. The MPG on my trip with speeds averaging 70-75 MPH ended up being in the low 60's. The fuze on the aux power socket blew so the trip odometer always reset to 52.3 miles when I turned the bike off and I didn't bother replacing it until I returned to Milwaukee. I spent about $165.00 for fuel. Price per gallon of premium ranged from $4.46 in Fairplay, CO to $3.69 somewhere off of Interstate 80 in Iowa all with in a weeks time.

I am 5'8" tall and I discovered on the trip that the 24" windscreen might have been a better choice to hide behind. The mounting is solid and after 2536 miles, the mounting bolts were still tight.

Other comments on the CS: the stock seat is way to firm, at least for my backside. And I found that I was leaning on the handle bars which made for some sore muscles across the shoulders. This bike seems to me to have been billed as a commuter. It performed well on this trip and I plan on another next year. I ride about 6,000 miles a year commuting and will be adding long distance to that in the future.

My current setup is: 2005 F650 CS with Parabellem windscreen, Throttle Meister "crusie control" and Givi paniers and top case.

Items to add: handle bar set back, "freeway" foot rests and a softer saddle!

Enjoy the Ride!

[beemergrl]

Well, I made it back to Texas. The CS handled perfectly. I did 3600 miles roundtrip. It pulled 75-80 MPH all day long and the gas mileage was averaging around 65-69 MPG on the whole trip. Went through Abilene, Amarillo, up through Colorado via Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins and onto Gillette. My husband and I then headed to Yellowstone via Beartooth Highway and down through the Tetons. We then came back through Colorado using the same route home. Thank God I rebuilt my seat prior to making this ride. It was the best thing I could have done to the bike. I also added some extended footpegs and some windshield brackets and I had a bike that was set up perfect for me. I had an awesome time at the rally and the trip was amazing. The bike was perfect. Definately will not be for sale in my lifetime. :thumb

Best thing I did to the bike....rebuild the seat

Hardest lesson learned....zip my sleeve all the way so a bee won't sting me next time going 75 MPH.

Most memorable moment...Getting to share my story of how I got into riding at the Women's seminar at the rally.

[dallnerml]

BeemerGrl,

Tell me more about your footpegs, pictures please. And did you rebuild the seat yourself or have it done. Say more about that.

Thanks,

Mark

[beemergrl]

PM sent. Thanks for inquiring!!!