2010 BMW F650GS For Sale

I finally made the decision and am ready (mostly) to sell my motorcycle.

As much as I love this bike, I don’t see myself using it much this year. Once Hubby retires at year’s end, I don’t want to pay to store it while we roam the country in our RV. Spring is generally the best time to sell motorcycles, too.

So, if any of you know anyone in the market for a gently used and well-cared-for 2010 BMW F650GS, please let me know.

It’s carried me, faithfully, on many grand adventures, that’s for sure. The video below provides a virtual ride-along for prospective buyers.

It is completely sound, mechanically speaking and never gave me a minute of worry. The battery is brand-new and the tires don’t have much mileage on them either.

Weather permitting, I would not hesitate to take it for a long ride. It’s great for zipping along twisty, curvaceous mountain roads. If the buyer is local, I can even offer some great route plans.

Right Profile

 

Right Front

 

Front

 

Left Front

 

Left Profile

 

Left Rear

 

Right Rear

It has never been crashed, but it did get dropped (as in fell over) a couple of times.

Asking $4,875. Mileage is currently 28,203.

Features include: ABS; heated grips; on-board computer; BMW trunk, side bags/panniers, and mounting brackets; aftermarket windscreen and seat cover.

Please share on forums, with friends, etc. I’d appreciate the assistance. There’s a company, similar to Carvana but for bikes, that we thought about using, but the prices they offer are rock-bottom and, quite frankly, a little insulting. I would rather give it away than hand it off to a re-seller for $2,000!

I might even be willing to ride it to the buyer’s location as long as they can get me back home (drive me themselves, pay for plane fare, bus or train ticket, or rental car). All reasonable offers and options will be considered.

So far, I have listed it on BikeZ.biz and Facebook Marketplace. (I reactivated my Facebook account so I could use Marketplace to help offload stuff.) The specifications below are from Bikez.biz.

Model: BMW F 650 GS
Year: 2010
Category: Enduro / offroad

 

Engine and transmission
Displacement: 798.0 ccm (48.69 cubic inches)
Engine type: Twin, four-stroke
Power: 69.7 HP (50.9 kW)) @ 7000 RPM
Torque: 75.0 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)
Cooling system: Liquid
Gearbox: 6-speed
Transmission type,
final drive:
Chain
Clutch: Multiple-disc clutch in oil bath, mechanically operated
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)
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: Cast aluminium dual swing arm, central spring strut, spring pre-load hydraulically adjustable (continuously variable) at handwheel, rebound damping adjustable
Rear wheel travel: 170 mm (6.7 inches)
Front tyre: 110/80-H19
Rear tyre: 140/80-H17
Front brakes: Single disc
Diameter: 300 mm (11.8 inches)
Rear brakes: Single disc
Diameter: 265 mm (10.4 inches)
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: 820 mm (32.3 inches) If adjustable, lowest setting.
Overall height: 1240 mm (48.8 inches)
Overall length: 2280 mm (89.8 inches)
Overall width: 890 mm (35.0 inches)
Wheelbase: 1575 mm (62.0 inches)
Fuel capacity: 16.00 litres (4.23 gallons)
Reserve fuel capacity: 4.00 litres (1.06 gallons)
Other specifications
Color options: Orange, white, blue
Starter: Electric

Leave a comment and contact info if you have questions and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Suiting Up

It’s not entirely clear to me whether the stay-at-home orders allow motorcycle rides or not. However, in my opinion, suiting up and stepping out for an afternoon ride meets all of the social distancing guidelines. Especially when the rider practices ATGATT like me.

ATGATT: All the gear, all the time. Shorthand for a philosophy that complete motorcycle safety gear should be worn at all times, and gear should not be reduced at times when the perceived risk is less.

Safety gear is critical. I borrowed that blockquote text from this Wikipedia entry on motorcycle training.

The image below, which I found on Pinterest, explains what ATGATT means.

Wearing gear like that isn’t always comfortable. Especially in the Summer. Talk about getting hot and sweaty. But I’d much rather deal with some occasional discomfort than risk worse injury in the event of a crash.

First Ride of 2020

Petunia is a BBQ grill at The Apple House in Linden, Virginia.

I started this blog in early 2008. My purpose, at the time, was to have an easier way to document our then-upcoming vacation to Alaska. By “easier” I mean as  compared to manually building/maintaining a group of web pages, like I did to document the building of the WV Place. (Sadly, we no longer own the WV Place.)

Slowly, over time, other people found my blog. Many of those folks also have blogs. I started interacting with some of them on a regular basis and, as a result, established some online friendships. I have even met several of them in person, which is awesome.

Many of the people who found my blog did so because of the motorcycle and/or travel-related info I used to share frequently. Motorcycling is the common tie that bound us initially. As we got to know each other more and more, more ties were established. Even as I posted less and less frequently, people still seemed to follow, i.e., care about what was or was not going on in my life. That surprised me. Especially since I’ve gotten awful about keeping up with everyone else.

Like me, many of my motoblog buddies seem to have lost interest in blogging. (Using social media [Facebook, Instagram, etc.] is so much quicker and easier!) I’m pretty sure all of them are still riding motorcycles and/or traveling.

I still maintain the links to my Motoblog Buddies’ blogs. I thought about deleting those that are no longer active, but decided against doing that. They, too, might find their way back to blogging one day. I suspect all of our lives will be very, very different once we get past the coronavirus crisis.

If any of you MOTOBLOG BUDDIES read this and want me to delete your link, let me know. Otherwise, your link will stay:

CurvyRoads (Lynne): last post 28 June 2019. Very active on Instagram. Facebook, too, so she has said, but I shut down my Facebook account m id-2019.

Find Me on the Road (Sonja): still active

Fuzzygalore (Rachael): still active, but not posting as regularly

Life on Two Wheels (David): still active

Machida Meanderings (Bridget [Richard’s wife]): more-recent addition; active

Princess Scooterpie (Darlene): last post 30 March 2019. Active on Instagram.

Richard’s Page (Richard): still active

Scooter in the Sticks (Steve): still active

Travels with ScooterBob (Various): Bob passed away, suddenly, in late 2014. He had been the catalyst that brought many Moto-bloggers together, so a group of us did a tribute/around the world tour in Bob’s honor, which is now documented on what was once Bob’s blog.

Trobairitz’ Tablet (Brandy): last post 31 December 2018

Troubadour’s Treks (Bradley): last post 28 April 2019

Two Wheels to There (Ry): last post 29 January 2017. Active on Instagram.

Slowly, my blog has evolved. It is now less-focused on travels and more-focused on me. Over the years, I have enjoyed going back and using the blog as a reference. That’s how Hubby and I “remembered” when we visited certain places, did certain things, etc. I have missed being able to do that since I have been blogging less frequently.

I’ve re-started posting a few times over the years. This is the FINAL re-start. Really. If I am not able to manage posting regularly, I’m just going to let that urge to blog rest in peace. Because this should be fun. If I am not enjoying it, doing it doesn’t make sense.

So, you’ll be seeing the new, relaxed version of me from here on.

I kicked this week off with a motorcycle ride. It was a completely spontaneous. As it turns out, it was also very well-timed. While I was out riding, the governor of Virginia announced that this state is now on lockdown, too.

This may be the last ride for a while. Here are a few pics I captured while out.

My first stop was the State Arboretum of Virginia (on US-50 near Boyce). It’s a place I have been meaning to visit for years. We passed it countless times over the years on our way to and from the WV place. So, I FINALLY visited. It was pretty, but there were too many people there for my liking. So I rode through, but did not stop.

From there, I headed to Bentonville at the Shenandoah River State Park. My route took me right past Dinosaur Land in White Post, so I HAD to stop.

My bike with two dinosaurs.

 

Pursuit!

I did not realize when I took that picture that it looks like that dinosaur is trying to eat my bike!

I almost wiped out half a block from home. I forgot the back tire was new.

I did get to visit the state park, but will share pics in a separate post. The state park is only a short drive (15 minutes?) from Shenandoah National Park. So, after I left the state park, I decided to traverse the northern section of Skyline Drive.

Just outside Front Royal off US-340.

 

Me

 

View of the Shenandoah Valley from a Skyline Drive overlook.

 

Such a pretty, clear day! (looking east, I think)

 

Skyline Drive (my favorite shot of the day)

I love that we are so close to Shenandoah National Park.

From there, I headed home via back roads through Little Washington (the first Washington) and Flint Hill. So much nicer than US-211, which Fodderstack Road and Crest Hill Road roughly parallel.

On Fodderstack Road between Washington and Flint Hill.

If you have spare time and are interested, open Google Maps (or click on View larger map below) and look at some street views along there. It’s idyllic for sure.

Finally, here’s a pic I’ve been meaning to capture and share. It’s a barn quilt that was recently installed at a produce stand on US-211, just east of Sperryville.

Barn Quilt!

And that’s it for the pics.

Stay safe and well everyone. The world is a better place with each and every one of you in it.

Stable Expansion

Our stable of vehicles has expanded temporarily. Hubby got a new bike!

Hubby’s New Ride

It’s a 2015 Honda CTX-700 DCT with ABS. That’s quite a mouthful, isn’t it?

He’s had his eyes on that model for a while now, and was just waiting for the right one to become available locally. It only has a little less than 1,700 miles on it. The previous owner used it for commuting. He’s moving and didn’t want to take the bike along, so now it’s ours.

Now we need to re-home the big-ass Victory that’s carried Hubby all over and around the US as well as into and through southern Canada.

Mike says he is through with long distance motorcycling. By that I mean, things like the Four Corners Tour, last year’s ride to Hyder, Alaska, and riding to Utah just because he’d missed “the middle” of the US when he did the Four Corners. There’ ll probably be more long weekend rides for us in the near future.

But first… we’ve got a trip to Hawaii coming up. We were supposed to go last year to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, but the timing didn’t work out.   If all goes well, we’ll be on a Hawaiian beach in a little over two weeks.

That’s the only state where Hubby has not ridden a motorcycle. Yet. So that will be one of our must-do activities on one of the islands.

Other than getting to and from the islands plus making lodging and car reservations, we have no set plan for our time on the islands. We will do some touristy stuff, but we will will also be relaxing, too.

I’m sure I will have lots of photos to share AND lots of down-time in which to share them.

Chillaxin’

The Good Kind of Surprise

I have been neglecting you all again. Sorry. Finally, there was some excitement today that I think some of you will find interesting.

Mike and I had a lovely lunch with some friends today.

They were in the neighborhood to visit family and decided to drop by.

For those of you who don’t know those folks, it’s Richard and Bridget Machida from Fairbanks, AK. I know Richard through his blog, Richard’s Page. We all met in person a few years back, for lunch in a different place. So it was nice seeing them both again and doing a bit of catching up.

Our favorite Mexican restaurant caught fire a while back and we are still waiting to see if it will re-open. So, no fancy food tales, but we did have a lovely, lunch together.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t until after Mike left us that I thought about getting a picture. But at least we got one of the three of us. In front of our local LOVE no less.

I even took them to the famous local  caboose photo spot. Now if I can manage to get a second photo uploaded, I will have successfully written this entire post on my phone. (I had to resize the image with an app on my tablet in order for it to post.)

All in all, it was a very nice visit. Maybe we will see them in Alaska next time.

Motoring Along

Scenic Route

In case anyone is wondering, Hubby and I are still riding together. It’s just that it is summertime, which means it gets hot. It’s worse for Hubby on his big-ass Victory with it’s 1,740-cc engine. I’m usually fine up until the thermometer his 85 degrees (~29.4 C), then I start to get really uncomfortable.

The other day, Thursday (?) maybe, I needed a prescription from Costco. The store closest to us (Manassas) didn’t have the med in stock. The next-closest stores are in places like Chantilly, Fairfax, Woodbridge, and other places in the dreaded Northern Virginia metropolis (one giant, heavily populated suburb of Washington, DC). Since I have spare time on my hands, I chose to go to the Winchester store because I knew it would make for a much-nicer ride. Plus, it would make it super-convenient to visit the unlisted LOVEwork I’d recently driven past on I-81 southbound near Clear Brook.

LOVEwork at I-81 SB Welcome Center

It actually made for a very nice ride. I didn’t leave early enough, though, because it started getting hot during the ride back. By the time I got into our garage, I was READY to get all that gear off. So ready, in fact, that I didn’t fully extend the kickstand. That meant that, when I got off of the bike, it fell over. It didn’t fall all of the way to the floor, it just leaned right up against Hubby’s pretty red Victory. Due to the angle, I could not get the thing standing up, so I had to ask Hubby for help.

It was embarrassing, but he didn’t give me a hard time. Luckily, it didn’t even scratch the Victory.

Yesterday, Saturday, we went for a nice little loop ride together. I planned a route to include four LOVEworks, so now I’m up to 81 visited!

LOVE in Stanardsville

Stanardsville is in Greene County. Within about the last year, a barn quilt trail was established there, which is why the LOVEwork has a quilt theme. One day, when we both have time, my friend Kelly and I are going to spend a day following the Blue Ridge Barn Quilt Tour. At the time of this writing, there are 59 barn quilts listed in the brochure! That’s a lot. Trails usually start small, maybe 10-20 barn quilts, and then slowly grow. To have that many so soon after establishing the trail is quite impressive! You can read more about it here.

The Stanardsville site was the last on the list. Temps were hovering around 80 at that point, so I adjusted the route on the fly and we headed home. Just in time, too. It was 83.3 degrees (28.5 C) when I pulled into the garage.

I made absolutely sure the kickstand was fully extended before I got off of the bike.