Noob 2008 FE650 questions

Hello all. Very happy owner of a 2008 FE650 here. Firstly I'm sure most of these questions have been asked before but if you dont mind I'd like to post them here.

The inevitable oil breather. Is it normal for some oil to be in the airbox ? I have the stock Y piece later design breather but there is no foam inside, is there any spesific foam to use ? I may have added too much oil as well as I serviced the bike without changing the oil filter and I added 1L. I can see oil in the carb intake but the bike runs perfectly so does not seem to be getting oil into the carb.

The bike is on 111hours / 5000km. I only use it for dual sporting and I'm not hard on the motor at all, I have read about some very high mileage motors (300 hours plus). What is the norm and can be expected from them ?

I got 28km/l on my last ride that is excellent gas mileage so now I'm wondering if it's not running too lean, what are other 650 riders getting ?

I had a KTM 525 too and a buddy told me the worst thing to do on those motors is to lug it in higher gears, on the 650 Berg I found it had so much torque that I could basicly do my whole trip in 6th gear ! I'm guessing just like the KTM it's better to be riding in a lower gear and up the revs slightly ?

Lastly my only gripe on this bike is the left hand kick starter, I'm not a fan hence I will always go for the button first. Now on the morning of my trip when it was cold the starter would not always turn the motor and I got the dreaded starter slipping sprag gear sound. I finally got it going and after it was up to temps I could start it the rest of the day no problems on the button. Is this a sign that the starter clutch is going or normal on the high comp motor ? I have a Motobatt and it fully charged so no problems there.

Many thanks

Hello, welcome!

I usually have a tiny bit of oil in the airbox. It's never enough to worry me, 1 litre sounds like too much oil though. When the engine is cold I have the level in the sight glass only just above the bottom of the sight glass.

Left hand kick - just get used to it! When you are worn out and tired up a mountain and have stalled, hit the button. But it's a small thing to kick her over from the comfort of your own garage.

Cheers,
Alex

your starter gears are slipping. continue to kickstart whwn cold in order to protect it for as long as you can. it will eventually one day be useless when warm too but you can stave off that day with the above treatment.

I do a repair kit when you are ready to get in there and do it. the idea is that you get the tappets nice, the FS and jetting sorted, and semi-synthetic oil. and then it should be a once only repair.

cheers

Taffy

Hello

Thanks for the replies, after I posted spent about an hour or two on the forum and picked up a lot of tips and tricks. Taffy I saw your page with the parts and I will need to order it soon. Do you ship to SA ?

yes we do but you must pay for courier sevice and not expect to recieve the parcel from the post office....you know why!

taffy

Taffy said:

yes we do but you must pay for courier sevice and not expect to recieve the parcel from the post office....you know why!

taffy

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