Back County Breakdown
Canada
After 110,000km my 2000 BMW F650GS Dakar has had it's 1st ever breakdown. Unfortunately it happened during a multi-day dual sport trip with my wife Sandra. After riding some great roads and a night of back country camping in rural BC, my trusty Dakar decided to take it easy and refused to go any further, leaving us stuck in the middle of nowhere. We were about 100km north of Fernie and 70kms south of Canal Flats off the fantastic Bull River Forestry Service Road when it happened, I'm not sure what the issue was/is, however after several futile attempts to fix it in the intense 35C heat we decided to call it a day and look for a way out.
Bull River Forestry Road
Sandra and I put together a make-shift tow rope and she towed me on her little Honda CRF250L for 40km on some pretty rough and steep gravel roads to a campground at White Swan Provincial Park. On some of the steeper bits her rear wheel was spinning and fishtailing as she haulled me and my fully loaded 650 up the hills. It was our 1st real encounter with towing / being towed and she totally nailed it!
It may not have gone as planned, but we had a bit of an adventure and still had a lot of fun.
A great day of riding
River Side Camping
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107 months ago
I got my bike back today and it's running great! It turned out to be a frayed wire on the fuel pump, which is inside the fuel tank. I doubt I would ever have found that so I'm happy that my local BMW specialist was able to get it sorted in short order. Good job Anderwerks.
I guess 15 years of of vibration from the 650cc single and 110,000km on some pretty rough roads wore through the plastic coating and then thought the wire itself. Considering this is the 1st problem I've ever had with the bike, I'd say that was a pretty good score.
#GemanEngineering
#Quality
107 months ago
I heard about you two. Enjoy reading your updates.
107 months ago
Holy crap. Sandra is totally hardcore! Hope your Dakar has nothing too fatal.
107 months ago
Jordan, OMG Sandra is a rock star!! She and the CRF250L did not give up. The GS got you all the way to South America and broke down just a few hours from home. Curious to know what is was when you find the problem. Thanks for the pics and glad to hear you're all OK.
@VRSCDX you need to check out riding in the Rocky Mountains.
107 months ago
That is some beautiful backcountry. Someday I have to make the trip. Of course someday I have to sell the street bike and get that dual sport that I want so bad.
Your encounter is the one thing that worries me the most. Breaking down in the middle of nowhere just can't be any fun. I am a mechanic and could fix most anything, but with the new fully electronic bikes these days, there wouldn't be much you could do in a major failure, in the middle of nowhere.
Except maybe hope that most of it is downhill to home 😉