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BMW F650GS Dakar

The next question was which kind of bike to use.  A guy i know, Marcos, (we used to go off road-ing together in Romania) used his old 1987 Yamaha XT while rallying in Northern Africa.  But he got into trouble several times because of various problems with the bike, so i decided i need something newer. I decided to spend $4k to $5k on the bike itself, plus $1k on extras. Some people i asked suggested Suzuki DR,  Honda Africa Twin, others said Yamaha Super Tenere.  But my friend here in Los Angeles was riding a 2004 BMW F650GS and after test riding that i finally decided that will be my bike. Bullet proof reliability at an accessible price, with a good payload and still not very heavy and with tons of after market accessories readily available, that seems to me like a reasonable choice.  I am also considering the big brother, BMW R1200GS, but at $10k it is a little over my budget. I am right now not sure what might happen to the bike once i get in Mexico, Colombia or other unsafe countries, so i don’t want to invest too much in a motorcycle that might be stolen, wrecked etc. In addition, it seems very difficult to find an insurance company that will insure the motorcycle for such trip. So i have to bear all risks 🙁