Big singles rarely work well. My last was an XBR500. With 25000 miles on the clock, it vibrated and stalled at low revs. The electric starter fell apart under the constant abuse. The riding position and suspension played havoc with my back. No fun. Big singles have to fit balancers to stop the vibes tearing them apart. The balancers absorb power, ruin economy. An old XBR is not a pleasant device. But a year in motorcycling is a long time. Memories fade and lust returns.
That's how I ended up testing a six month and 3500 mile old BMW F650. The owner was a Hooray Henry type who seemed amused at my leathers and denims. I certainly wouldn't have turned my back on him. As it happens, I'd owned an old Boxer in the distant past. Quite impressive except for the gearbox and handling. The F650 felt good between the legs, not too far off the ground. An excellent town riding position. The watercooled motor whirred into life straight off. No hesitation or nasty popping. Blipped the throttle, some thrumming through the chassis but better than an XBR.
First gear engaged with such a bang I nearly jumped out of the seat. Pulled off with just 2000 revs up. Plenty of torque, then. Short stroke singles like the BMW usually need loads of revs. Just took her up to four grand, the change incredibly smooth for a BMW. Up to the standards of Honda but not quite Suzuki slick.
There were only five gears. The power band stretching from 2000 to the 7500rpm red line made any more redundant. Not a highly tuned engine for the capacity. The four valve, DOHC unit put out 50 horses at a mere 6500rpm. Over 40ftlb of torque at 5000rpm. From 4000 revs it came in strongly, the front end going a little light in the first few ratios.
The handlebars were quite high and wide, certainly not natural for a BMW. The bike felt good for town work but I reckoned it would limit motorway cruising. Still, the bars would be easy to change. My rapid chug around the suburbs had impressed me but not fully convinced. I told the Henry that the gearbox felt like it was falling apart and the performance seemed a bit off. The half worn Pirellis were obviously due for replacement. And was the tiny scratch on the fairing evidence of a written off bike? I flexed my muscles, trying to intimidate the wimp. It seemed to work, the £3600 price falling to £2950. For hard cash, of course.
The F650 weighs under 400lbs, doesn't have the massive suspension travel of some trailies. The seat height is only 32 inches, most people able to get their boots firmly on the tarmac. It's dead easy to chuck through traffic without any of the falling into corners that afflict many trailies. I was soon having a ball hustling through London traffic. Even in fourth or fifth it'd still pull from 2000 revs. Like some ancient old English thumper. The torque would bang through the chassis, although I wouldn't really call it vibration. That came in from 6000 revs on, but it never approached XBR levels. In many ways, even thrashed, it was less intrusive than the secondary vibes from, say, a K100.
As the weeks rolled by I was more and more impressed by the engine running. It always started without hesitation and ran so cleanly that at times I could hardly believe it was a big thumper rather than a twin. The engine was fed by twin Mikuni carbs, had twin spark plugs and electronic ignition. It's a large lump of alloy that would look more attractive if the minimal half fairing was dumped.
The motor was developed by Rotax, with design input from both Aprilia and BMW. Each company went down its own route in certain areas. BMW chose four instead of five valves and a plain bearing crank rather than roller. The F650 is assembled by Aprilia but to BMW's high standards of engineering. There was no sign of crap Italian design. It's likely that all three companies gained useful experience out of the collaboration. All part of the new European world of cooperation.
After a couple of weeks hustling in town it was time to head for the open road. So far I had nothing but praise for the BMW. 50mpg was poor for an 100mph machine but expected. I soon found myself on some curvy back roads. Would it wobble at speeds like an old boxer? Would it bounce all over the place like many big trailies? No chance! The bike felt better the faster it went. The joys of a light, slim single.
The XBR had been too vague and slow steering. The BMW was both rock steady and dead easy to heel over. The square section steel frame wasn't exactly excessive but it showed no signs of weakness. The single rear shock had multi-adjustable damping and springing but I never bothered as it seemed always untroubled by road conditions. A sure sign of a good suspension unit.
I had to take a couple of corners faster than I'd expected. Leaning all the way over until I thought the rubber was gong to let loose as I went right to the edge of the tread. But it held. The reason for the excess entry speeds was the front disc brake. In town, I hadn't found much to complain about, used as I was to worn out pads, calipers and discs on old hacks. Losing speeds from 80mph or more, brought in some vagueness and a little bit of fade. It was difficult to know when the wheel was going to lock and I certainly didn't fancy going into corners with a howling front tyre!
The back disc was better. I felt quite happy giving the lever a sharp stab. Engine braking was also good. At milder paces I could just lope along on the throttle, with a bit of gearbox action thrown in for the more radical loss of speed. In the wet it was a little too easy to lock up the rear wheel on rapid downchanges. Not that it'd worry a boxer owner who'd find himself in seventh heaven. With all that single cylinder torque flooding through the transmission, chain adjustments were still only needed every 400 to 500 miles. With 8000 miles on the clock it's about two-thirds worn.
Comfort was limited by the lack of a decent fairing. Something intolerable from the company that produced the RS fairing, to my mind. But that's modern life for you. Anything greater than 80mph was intolerable due to arm and neck strain. In its way this was okay because the motor would start buzzing at higher speeds. Like the boxer range, the motor's beat is quite relaxing. I felt happy enough running along at 80mph for a couple of hours. Fuel was around 45mpg at such speeds, giving a range of about 150 miles. There wasn't a fuel gauge or even a clock and the instruments had little of the high tech flash of bigger boxers. Still, as with the controls, they did their job without sending me crazy.
Riding through the rain, an all too common occurrence, did get me mad. The usual lack of mudguarding meant the whole machine was quickly coated in crud. With lots of nooks and crannies it was a horror story to clean up. Finish, despite this assault, remained excellent.
BMW have made a good job out of making such a big thumper work well. In no way, though, is the engineering exceptional. Looked at logically, power and economy are pathetic for such an expensive bike. On the road it's a different experience. If you only rarely go above 80mph, then the F650's perfect. Huge gobs of torque, sweet running and handling plus that BMW special factor - quality; it shines through! BMW call it the Funduro, which is about right.
Dave Harris