F650GS Fork Failures

UPDATE - A failure has been reported on a 2011 G650GS - See Components and Failure List

The early F650GS machines produced from the start of production to October 2002 are prone to failures of the front fork axle mounting lugs. BMW revised the castings of the lower fork legs and implemented the revised fork legs into production in September 2002.Images of the old and new castings are below.

There is considerable information and discussion of these failures in forums and there have been articles written in the motorcycling press. Investigation and analysis has shown it is not a batch problem.

The failures have been reported to safety authorities in the USA and Australia with the US NHTSA conducting a PE (Preliminary Investigation) into the causes which concluded it is a forced failure.

The pages here provide information gathered from public sources on these failures to enable owners of the machines concerned to make an informed choice on whether to replace their forks or continue using them.

We are always interested in any information which can assist in determining the cause of the failures as well as any failures which are not documented here. A contact form is provided so if you know of any information or are aware of any further failures please let us know

The images above are of the 2 versions of fork sliders for the 2000 to 2010 models. The 2011+ forks are manufactured for BMW by Sachs rather than Showa so the castings are different but look similar.