Bikes

2009 BMW F650GS

Bought in May 2016 with 12,000 miles

3000 miles and a few additions later...

Modifications & add ons:

 Protection:

• MW Motech crash bars
• Givi hand guards
• Wunderlich headlight guard
• Wunderlich radiator guard
• Altrider skid plate
• Touratech beak extender
• Maier front wheel fender extender
• Puig rear wheel hugger

Ergonomics:

• Sergeant seat
• Foam handgrips
• Pazzo adjustable brake / clutch levers
• Alaska leather sheep skin
• Ztechnik tall touring windshield
• Ztechnik mirror extenders
• highway pegs

Luggage:

• Jesse Luggage traveller 8" panniers
• Givi V47 top box
• Nelson Rigg tank bag
• Overboard waterproof duffle bag

Lights:

• Cyclops low and high beam LED lights
• Admore rear top box LED light kit

Upgrades:

• Ricor Intiminator in forks
• TFX rear shock absorber
• RK chain
• JC sprockets
• 1.7GAL Camel tank for additional 80 miles range (total range 350+ miles)
• Scottoiler automatic chain lubing system
• Booster Plug

The "Camel" tank adds 7 liters of fuel increasing the range

by about 130 Kms

The Wunderlich radiator protector keeps the radiator fins

protected from any stones flung up form the front wheel.

Super bright LED headlights by Cyclops are a huge improvement

for night time riding and being more visible in the daytime.

Large Ztechnik touring windshield for optimized wind protection & 

Wunderlich headlight guard to prevent stone chips

Custom pearl monaco red paint work with color coded top box 

General information
Model: BMW F 650 GS
Year:2009
Engine and transmission
Displacement: 798.00 ccm (48.69 cubic inches)
Engine type: Twin, four-stroke
Power: 71 HP (51 kW)) @ 7000 RPM
Torque: 75.00 Nm (7.6 kgf-m or 55.3 ft.lbs) @ 4500 RPM
Top speed: 185.0 km/h (115.0 mph)
Compression: 12.0:1
Bore x stroke: 82.0 x 75.6 mm (3.2 x 3.0 inches)
Valves per cylinder: 4
Fuel system: Injection. Electronic intake pipe injection / digital engine management (BMS-K)
Fuel control: Double Overhead Cams/Twin Cam (DOHC)
Lubrication system: Dry sump
Cooling system: Liquid
Gearbox: 6-speed
Final drive: Chain
Clutch: Multiple-disc clutch in oil bath, mechanically operated
Driveline: Endless O-ring chain with shock damping in rear wheel hub
Fuel consumption: 3.70 litres/100 km (27.0 km/l or 63.57 mpg)
Greenhouse gases: 85.8 CO2 g/km. (CO2 - Carbon dioxide emission)
Emission details: Closed-loop 3-way catalytic converter, emission standard EU-3
Exhaust system: Closed-loop 3-way catalytic converter, emission standard EU-3
Chassis, suspension, brakes and wheels
Frame type: Tubular steel space frame, load-bearing engine
Rake (fork angle): 26.0°
Trail: 92 mm (3.6 inches)
Front suspension: Telescopic fork, Ø 41 mm
Front wheel travel: 180 mm (7.1 inches)
Rear suspension: Double sided aluminium swing arm, central spring strut, spring pre-load hydraulically adjustable (continuously variable) at handwheel
Rear wheel travel: 170 mm (6.7 inches)
Front tyre: 110/80-H19
Rear tyre: 140/80-H17
Front brakes: Single disc
Front brakes diameter: 300 mm (11.8 inches)
Rear brakes: Single disc
Rear brakes diameter: 265 mm (10.4 inches)
Wheels: Cast aluminium
Physical measures and capacities
Dry weight: 179.0 kg (394.6 pounds)
Weight incl. oil, gas, etc: 199.0 kg (438.7 pounds)
Power/weight ratio: 0.3896 HP/kg
Seat height: 765 mm (30.1 inches) Low suspension, low seat.
Overall height: 1,240 mm (48.8 inches)
Overall length: 2,280 mm (89.8 inches)
Overall width: 890 mm (35.0 inches)
Wheelbase: 1,575 mm (62.0 inches)
Fuel capacity: 26.95 litres (5.93 gallons) inc. auxiliary fuel tank.

2005 BMW R1200GS

 Bought in May 2011 with 16,000 miles

25,000 miles later and a lot of modifications.

Modifications & add ons:

Protection:

• Touratech crash bars
• Touratech headlight protector
• Touratech cylinder head guards
• Touratech fuel potentiometer guard
• Touratech beak extender
• Wunderlich oil cooler guard
• Maier front wheel fender extender
• Maier rear wheel hugger
• Touratech headlight anti glare shield
• Touratech hand guards

Ergonomics:

• Ztechnik Vstream tall touring windshield
• Wunderlich Tobinators (to raise the windshield further)
• Sergeant touring seat
• Cee Baileys wind wings
• Ztechnik mirror extenders
• Air hawk seat cushion
• Alaska Leather sheep skin
• highway pegs
• Cee Baileys windshield support bracket (ADV model)

Luggage:

• Givi E55 Top box
• Jesse Luggage Safari 11.5" panniers
• Touratech tank bag
• The north face 72L dry bag
• Bell bottle holders (lube oil, gear oil, cooking fuel)
• Rotopax 2 GAL water container
• Altrider luggage rack (pilion & rear)

Lighting and electrics

• Touratech instrument cluster surround with 12V power outlets
• Admore rear light kit for top box
• Clearwater "erica" 6000 lumen floodlights
• Cyclops LED low beam headlight

Upgrades:

• Ohlins front and rear shock absorbers
• Booster Plug
• Siebenrock oil resistant clutch disc
• Rotopax 2 GAL aux. fuel tank (plumbed into the main tank) 80 miles extra range total range 300 miles+
• custom made winshield adjuster brackets to raise the windshield
• custom made top box support to accommodate rotopax tanks
• custom made support brackets under Altrider aft rack to take up top box.
• BMW spoked tubeless wheels
• Canisterectomy (US riders will understand this) for the rest of the world, just returning the bike to the way it was designed
• Motorworks serviceable drive shaft
• Beemer boneyard magnetic oil plugs (everywhere)

The auxiliary fuel tank set up:

In order to increase the range as needed in Alaska, I would need an additional 2 Gal fuel capacity. I looked into available options but couldn't find anything to suit what I wanted. I took the idea from the Camel Tank on Zoes GS and used the same principle for my set up. Rotopax offers a tank that was perfect in size with a great mounting system, I adapted it to be fully integrated to the bike and which doesn't need to be removed to fill. Additional parts include a billet aluminum filler next with screw cap, a 90 degree fuel resistant rubber hose just large enough to fit over the tanks screw neck (after the threads were ground off), a rubber reducer to accommodate the filler neck into the rubber hose and 2 zipty fuel vent fittings.

The rank is mounted on an Altrider luggage rack which had to be modified a little. the fuel line is plumbed via a quick release connection (from beemer boneyard) to the vent line of the main tank. As I use the fuel in the main tank, the vacuum draws fuel from the auxiliary tank. venting of the main tank now happens through the auxiliary tank vent.

In addition to the fuel tank, I have a 2 GAL water tank stacked on top. the whole thing is locked with a key system.

Both tanks installed on the bike

And finish product with cover (more pleasing to the eye!)

The windshield set up:

Being 6'7", getting out of the wind was a challenge. I started with the tallest available aftermarket windshield produced by Ztechnik. That improved things a lot but at highway speeds the wind was still hitting my helmet just above the visor. I found some tobinators (Wunderlich) which would enable to raise the front of the windshield but that was not enough and I wanted to raise the back of the shield too, essentially raising the whole thing by about 25mm. So I made my own brackets to tie into the adjustable stock system. I am now able to raise the windshield and angle it with a wide range of settings.

The tobinators lifting the front of the shield

  The home made bracket lifting the back

The raised up windshield

the aft luggage rack set up:

In order to accommodate the auxiliary rotopax fuel tank in between the panniers, allowing enough room behind my back, I had to move the top box aft by about 30mm. This mean making a customized set of brackets for the Givi base plate to sit on. In addition, once the box was set further back, the overhang on the Altrider luggage rack was such there was a lot of movement which eventually was going to result in fatigue and breakage. Luckily, I had the old brackets that came with the Givi base plate which, with some cutting and welding were able to support the luggage rack and stiffen the whole set up.

The space under the Givi base plate will be great for lightweight spare parts storage.

6 10mm stainless bolts inside aluminum tubes hold up the Givi top box base plate on the Altrider luggage rack. The 2 middle ones have a slight lateral angle to give it more lateral stiffness.

2 Brackets screw into the frame of the bike just above the rear light and into the Altrider luggage rack. This gives the additional support required to carry the top bad this far aft.

Filling up the space under the top box with lightweight spares and a few tools.

General information:

Displacement: 1170.00 ccm (71.39 cubic inches)
Engine type: Two cylinder boxer, four-stroke
Power: 105HP @ 7500 RPM
Torque: 115.00 Nm (11.7 kgf-m or 84.8 ft.lbs) @ 5500 RPM
Top speed: 200.0 km/h (124.3 mph)
Compression: 11.0:1
Bore x stroke: 101.0 x 73.0 mm (4.0 x 2.9 inches)
Valves per cylinder: 4
Fuel system: Injection. Electronic intake pipe injection/digital engine management: BMS-K with overrun fuel cut-off, dual ignition
Fuel control: Single Overhead Cams (SOHC)
Cooling system: Oil & air
Gearbox: 6-speed
Transmission type,
final drive: Shaft drive (cardan)
Clutch: Single-disc dry clutch, hydraulically operated
Fuel consumption: 4.50 litres/100 km (22.2 km/l or 52.27 mpg)
Greenhouse gases: 104.4 CO2 g/km. (CO2 - Carbon dioxide emission)
Chassis, suspension, brakes and wheels
Frame type: Three-section frame consisting of front and rear section, load bearing engine-gearbox unit
Rake (fork angle): 27.1°
Trail: 110 mm (4.3 inches)
Front suspension: BMW Motorrad Telelever
Front wheel travel: 41 mm (1.6 inches)
Rear suspension: Die-cast aluminium single-sided swinging arm with BMW Motorrad Paralever
Rear wheel travel: 135 mm (5.3 inches)
Front tyre: 110/80-ZR19
Rear tyre: 150/70-ZR17
Front brakes: Double disc
Front brakes diameter: 305 mm (12.0 inches)
Rear brakes: Double disc
Rear brakes diameter: 265 mm (10.4 inches)
Physical measures and capacities
Dry weight: 199.0 kg (438.7 pounds)
Weight incl. oil, gas, etc: 225.0 kg (496.0 pounds)
Power/weight ratio: 0.4852 HP/kg
Seat height: 840 mm (33.1 inches) If adjustable, lowest setting.
Overall height: 1,430 mm (56.3 inches)
Overall length: 2,210 mm (87.0 inches)
Overall width: 915 mm (36.0 inches)
Wheelbase: 1,520 mm (59.8 inches)
Fuel capacity: 33.00 litres (7.28 gallons) inc. auxiliary tank