opinion on the best bike out of honda or bmw

[adventurer]

hi new on hear. I looking at geting a africa twin, but am also thinking of the bmw 650 dakar as my friend has one and it seems a good bike.
has anyone hear got an thoughts on the best out of the two to help me make my mind up. Thanks

[xrv_jim]

Of course the Honda's the best bike! But then you're probably asking the wrong people

[Cie]

I'd at least have a sit on them both, see which feels comfortable

[africajim]

Hmmmm, the Beemer's possibly comfier, over all I'd prefer the Honda. A lot depends on personal preference. The Honda's possibly the more reliable but that could be arguable, but for looks the Honda wins hands down. You would have to test ride both bikes. I have and picked the Honda.

[Chad]

twin beats the single any day of the week thats not to say the beemers a bad bike but either the TA or AT beat it hands down

what biased me never

IMHO as a manufacturer I think Honda are leagues ahead of BMW. I've had three new and one used BM and had problems with all four.

My 650 Dakar, one of the first production bikes, was so bad I got my money back from the dealer. I had owned the bike for four months and it had been at the dealer for most of that time while they tried rectify the faults. The bikes motor would cut out on the over-run and refuse to start for several minutes or, in some cases not at all requiring the attendance of BMW assistance who know nothing about bikes what so ever so, ended up calling recovery. It performed this trick in the middle of junctions and once (the last time I rode it) in lane 3 of the M25 from where I had to push it across two lanes of fast moving rush traffic to the safety of the hard shoulder. It also had a flat spot the size of an aircraft carrier between three and a half and four thousand rev's. As far as I know neither fault was ever rectified.

The 1200GS I sold last year had faults with the ECU and alternator and whilst the dealer fixed the problems under warranty I had lost faith in the bike being reliable. A friend who bought a 1200GS last year had a final drive failure before Christmas and only got her bike back this week.

The R100GS (used, with 7k on the clock) had a number of small electrical problems and then, at 14k miles, the gear lever return spring broke leaving me stranded in Northern Italy. That cost the best part of £300 to replace the 50p spring.

The 1150RT's electric screen broke on the second day I had the bike and the speedo filled with water the first time rained. The left hand pannier handle broke and the top box fell off due to a faulty rear rack.

I've had several new Honda's and the only problem was a leaking fork seal on a VFR which was replaced under warranty.

LB.

[Taz]

I like the design and colour scheme of this one, but seeing that the Dakar is only 650cc I have to go for the @ every time. Now if they made a 750+ one like that I might think twice about it.

[posiwev]

Like others have stated, its horses for courses.
The Beemer is light and agile and therefore probably a better proposition for green laning.(BTW a m8 has had 2 and luved em)
The @ is more competent on the road, where torque of the twin means less jumping up and down the gearbox, also the @ has far more road presence.
Not to mention Honda Built quality is head and shoulders above anything else.
FWIW I've got a pegaso which uses a similar engine, which I must say isn't the most reliable unit on the planet, infact its in bits at the moment as the sprag clutch has just disintingrated

The decision is yours.

[lootch67]

There's no arguing the fact that the AT is a heavy girl when riding off-road so that's one for the BM. But you need to rev the BM quite a bit to get it going which is quite surprising for a big thumper. I agree with the road presence and looks comments but also think that the TA is really the bike to compare to the BM, in which case I'd go for the TA and if you're going to spend some serious time off-road upgrade the suspension.

[Taz]

Now, if you're going to go for a big single 650, then my advice is to also have a look at these bikes, especially the Kwak KLX-650.