This is the motorcycle I am taking from Denver, Colorado to Ushuaia, Argentina (the southernmost city on Earth). At the time of this writing I am back in Colorado while my motorcycle is being repaired in Buenos Aires. This trip should be completed by the end of October 2008.

Photo taken on 'Death Road' in Bolivia 

Handling

The bike has handled remarkably well considering that this is strictly a street bike (hence the CS for City Street) and most people doing this trip, if not all, bring duel sport (on-road/off-road) motorcycles to handle the rough roads and the occasional missing or washed out road. When I came upon these rough spots the bike handled well - except for deep sand where I nearly ate it several times - mostly due to the small front tire. On dirt roads I took the bike up to 80mph before it started to fishtail. I also had on strictly street tires.

ABS

Let's talk about the ABS. It must be said that the ABS (antilock braking system) has saved my life numerous times - slamming on the brakes from seeing the last second speed bump to the occasional sand dune drifting into the highway in Peru to the drunk pedestrian crossing the street in Guatemala. Without the ABS I would have gone into an unavoidable skid. I will never buy a bike without ABS.

Heated Grips

The high/low heated hand grips were amazing. My hands were always the first things to get cold because I didn't have the wind guards for the handlebars. But once I turned on the grip heaters my hands warmed up. However, when it's raining it's no use - my hands still got numb.

Frame

One continual problem was the low frame. Speed bumps became a nightmare because they are rarely marked in the Southern countries and I'd hit them fast and they would bump the bottom of the engine on the skid pads. Having the bike loaded down didn't help either.

Belt Chain

The CS comes with a belt chain so I don't have to do any ‘chain maintenance' like greasing it every few hundred miles. And it also drives much smoother because of the rubber belt. It also lasts thousands of miles longer than the chain.

Miles per Gallon (MPG)

I bought the bike used and it came with an aftermarket exhaust that made the bike sound like thunder when I revved the engine. This was cool but completely useless because it cut the MPG nearly in half. I could only go 120 miles before the orange fuel light became lit. I had several gasoline scares along the way and it became a constant worry.

Starting in Cold Weather

In the colder countries like Bolivia and Argentina in the wintertime the bike would not start in the mornings without buckets of hot water being dumped on the engine. Some towns just didn't have hot water so I was stuck until the sun warmed it up enough to start. Its fuel injected so there's probably something simple, like some setting, to fix this.

Plastics

On the front of the motorcycle on the sides are two plastic parts with the BMW emblem, these two pieces are removable and snap in place. They would have trouble staying put so I had to zip tie the plastic for it to stay.

Torque

The pickup, or torque, was fantastic for quickly passing cars and large trucks and very handy when lane splitting. There were a few close calls when I had to ‘put the pedal to the metal' or be squished by a semi and any lesser bike would have failed me.

Panniers

I ordered Happy-Trail Owyhee Pannier Kit which worked out to be about a thousand bucks after S&H and getting the holes pre-mounted (drilled). The SU racks didn't mount correctly so I ended up having to take of the back pegs (which I would never use anyways I guess) and improvised the mount. It turned out solid. (Come to find this year they improved the kit to fit the F650CS properly). The panniers are waterproof, large but not bulky (I could still lane-split like a madman), have a cool locking system, and are very durable. It ended up being a great for the South American road trip.

Other

The max speed I could get the bike up to was 110mph on flat road, and that is more than enough, but I mostly kept it around 70mph. I overfilled the oil in the bike which built up pressure and that ended up severing the oil line when I had the bike at 80mph while nearing Buenos Aires. For the lack of oil being fed into the engine for that split second the transmission also screwed up and it won't shift into first - that's the reason why it's currently being repaired in Buenos Aires by Dakar Motos.

Prologue

So, overall I enjoyed the bike, but if I did this trip again a Duel Sport wouldn't go amiss. I'll be traveling with Wayne and Bob (friends I met doing the same trip down to Ushuaia) to Australia and Europe and will be taking my ‘03 F650GS Dakar - the ultimate duel sport machine.