Soberpete's YBR 250

[euphonius]

Here's one more bit of useful information about the BMW 650cc single that perhaps puts into context the skepticism of Heiri's BMW buddies about Loncin's manufacturing of the engine. According to this wikipedia entry, the 650 single engine indeed is assembled by Loncin with technology from Rotax of Austria, which had made the engines previously, and even the Loncin-manufactured engines contain some components provided by Rotax.

2009: G650GS

In late 2008, BMW relaunched the original single-cylinder F650GS under the new name G650GS in the United States, South America, Greece[1] and Australia.[4][6] The new G650GS is essentially the 2007 single-cylinder F650GS brought back into production with some minor modifications and with the engine assembled by Loncin in China instead of Rotax in Austria, but still using parts manufactured by Rotax in Europe.[1][7][8] The finished engines are shipped back to BMW in Germany where the bikes are assembled. G650GS models with the Chinese-assembled engines can be easily identified as the engines are painted black while in the earlier European-assembled engines were finished in silver. For a short period prior to discontinuation of the bike in 2007 the engines were assembled by Kymco in Taiwan.
The G650GS received some upgrades over the F650GS of 2007: the engine now produces 3 additional horsepower (now 53 hp) and received a stronger 400 watt alternator.[1] In the United States and Australia, ABS and heated grips are now standard equipment instead of additional cost options.[1] An emergency services specific version of the G 650GS, fitted with blue lights and sirens, is available from BMW Motorrad's Official and special duty vehicles division.[9]
In 2010, at the EICMA show in Italy, BMW Motorrad announced the global availability of the G650GS with a slightly down-rated engine producing 35 kW (47 hp).[10][11]

BMW has only itself to blame for the confusion, since they changed the model name of the 650cc single from F650GS to G650GS, then started using the F650GS name for the new parallel twin bike that was launched in 2009 along with the F800GS. To add to the confusion, the F650GS is not even a 650cc engine, but a 798cc (i.e., "800cc") engine that is essentially the same engine as that in the F800GS! Why, oh why, couldn't they just keep using the F650GS name for the thumper, and come up with something new for the new twin. And why, oh why, did BMW think it necessary to build two separate bikes around the new 800cc parallel twin engine -- one designated as an 800 and the other designated as a 650??? These guys may be marketing geniuses, but they are not particularly honest with their customers.

dang.

[euphonius]

Heiri,

Yes, you got it right! My "lock, stock and cylinder" comment was a (weak) play on the common English idiom "lock, stock and barrel", which is a gun reference and means "the whole thing" or "in its entirety" -- i.e., "gesamte".

cheers!

[ZMC888]

Actually I think that maybe the Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 is made in China. The reason for this is that they are available to be bought in China for an almost reasonable price compared to other bikes. If you think that they are made in Milwakee USA I'll string shit out with unsubstantiated hunches based on nonsense and refuse to listen to reason including sworn testimony of people who actually know what they are talking about. I'll always include 'I could be wrong but' in my posts to avoid actually being plain wrong.

[barnone]

Actually I think that maybe the Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 is made in China. The reason for this is that they are available to be bought in China for an almost reasonable price compared to other bikes. If you think that they are made in Milwakee USA I'll string shit out with unsubstantiated hunches based on nonsense and refuse to listen to reason including sworn testimony of people who actually know what they are talking about. I'll always include 'I could be wrong but' in my posts to avoid actually being plain wrong.

You could be wrong because the Sporster is manufactured in Kansas City, Missouri (– Vehicle and Powertrain Operations: Manufacturing site of Sportster, VRSC, and other vehicles) according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley-Davidson which could be wrong.

[marcomagica]

I got a hunch that HD 883 is made in the North Pole by Father Christmas, that explains the reasonable price too.

I could be wrong, but I've had enough of this picking on heiri of yours.

Peace

[ben2go]

IMHO,I think the key word with the BMW 650 is "assembled" by Loncin.I believe the engine parts are machined by company X and assembled by Loncin.Same thing with my car.It's parts are manufactured in the US but it is assembled in Canada.

[ZMC888]

I could be wrong, but I've had enough of this picking on heiri of yours.

Picking on heiri? Really if I wanted to learn about something I didn't know anything about, lets say 4x4's in China I'd go on-line and maybe join a forum. Then when there is another forum user who had lots more posts than me and had been keen to learn things about the subject for the last 9 years and had visited 4 factories I might just shut up and let them know something more than me rather than making up horse shit at every turn.

IMHO,I think the key word with the BMW 650 is "assembled" by Loncin.I believe the engine parts are machined by company X and assembled by Loncin.Same thing with my car.It's parts are manufactured in the US but it is assembled in Canada

Almost certainly Loncin make the whole engine, sorry. Massive company, they even make mediocre cars too. Chinese manufacturing is too low quality to outsource to other companies like that, there would be too many mistakes.

[Fred]

Ok back to topic please !

Is Soberpete still on the forums, could we go back to a review of the YBR250 ?
I'd like to know about the reliability so far of this bike, and the real-life performance of the bike :
- max speed ?
- good cruising speed without being too hard on the throttle : 90 km/h, 100 km/h ?
- what about 2-up : what is your pillion review of the bike : pillion seat comfort, foot rests position, cramped legs, etc. ?

Thanks a lot for all YBR250 owners who could reply.

Cheers,

Fred

[marcomagica]

Ok back to topic please !

Is Soberpete still on the forums, could we go back to a review of the YBR250 ?
I'd like to know about the reliability so far of this bike, and the real-life performance of the bike :
- max speed ?
- good cruising speed without being too hard on the throttle : 90 km/h, 100 km/h ?
- what about 2-up : what is your pillion review of the bike : pillion seat comfort, foot rests position, cramped legs, etc. ?

Thanks a lot for all YBR250 owners who could reply.

Cheers,

Fred

I've also just bought a YBR250 and so far so good, it's a good bike.

Having only 150 Km on it I shouldn't have pushed her, but I've already brought her at 115 on the speedometer, no vibrations, it runs great. Max rated speed is 126 Km/h but I doubt I can squeeze that out with my 130+ Kg, I'll try later on when the engine has a few more Km on the clock.

It runs 80 Km/h at at just over 5K rpm,that's my comfort zone, but also 90Km/h at around 6K rpm is a good pace for the engine.

For the pillion review I can't really say, as I'm just under 2 meters so legs are little cramped, but it's not too bad, I find the seat comfortable.

Overall the motorbike feels solid and responsive, I'm very pleased with it!

[soberpete]

The HD 883 is made in the North Pole by Father Christmas?
BMW bikes?
ZMC888 has made Heiri his new arch-nemesis?
...
I've been away from home for over two weeks in my wife's hometown. The internet connection down there is awful so I've been away for a while. Looks like a missed a lot.

Marcomagica. Good on you for joining the YBR 250 club . Treat yours well and I'm sure it'll please you as mine has pleased me.

Fred.
-I've reached over 135kph (I'm a skinny 65kg b*stard) on it but I'm not sure if the speedometer is entirely precise. I'd like to think it is (Yamaha is not a bad brand in my eyes) but I still need to GPS test it.

-In fifth gear it cruises at 78kph/5000rpm. I found that I could get about 600km on one full tank of petrol riding like that.
Since I fully broke the engine in I've been cruising very comfortably between 90 and 120kph/6000rpm - 7800rpm and that's brought the distance of a full tank down to just over 500km. It costs me about 125 Chinese RMB to fill it to the brim.
Like Marcomagica said, there are no vibrations and it's really comfy. After an hour or so of riding over 100kph, however, my hands go slightly numb from the vibrations that the engine sends through the handlebars. I never got that kind of sensation while riding below 5000rpm/6000rpm during the 1000km/1600km break in period, of course.

-2 up on the YBR 250 is no problem . My wife weighs around 40kg and I barely notice the difference in acceleration with her on the back. You can really feel the torque that it puts out while carrying the extra weight.
I just got back from Mengyin, a 180km trip, with a 25kg rucksack on my back; I could still get 130kph out of it going up a shallow hill and 105kph going up a steep one. Overtaking is piece of cake at any speed below 100kph, especially uphill.

-The seat is big, comfy and firm. It allows you space to sit further forward or further back depending on your riding style preference (While doing speeds over 110kph I tend to sit my arse further back in order to get my head down).
I have never been on the back seat but my wife has never complained about it being uncomfortable. Just be sure to warn whoever sits behind you to lean into you and hold on. It wouldn't be hard to throw someone off the back by just whacking the throttle on.
-The pegs are directly beneath my shoulders. I can get both my feet down at traffic lights and it's really easy to push the bike backwards while seated. It's a pain to push the bike forwards while seated because the pegs get in the way but the engine can take care of all of the forward movement work.
-I'm 178cm tall with fairly long legs and only ever feel a little cramped after about two hours of solid riding. I don't feel any discomfort if I stop and stretch my legs (walk around) after every hour.

I have over 3000km on the clock now. I've had no problems other than the brake light trip switches being too loose (not coming on unless you squeeze the brake really hard) but that only took a minute to adjust. There is one small part of the exhaust that has gone rusty and the chain went rusty a few weeks ago too. I go the chain oiled up and might swap it if need be but not sure right now...