9th August 2023 - We were contacted by an old friend who claimed to have found a “Dakar bike” on Marketplace. Knowing the customer for some time, we greeted him with a “Yeah, OK champ - whatever you say!” but, he was insistent that he wanted to chase this particular rabbit - so we agreed that we’d inspect the bike at London’s Docklands and, upon approval from the customer, bring it back to the workshop here in Yeovil.

Following a VERY early start followed by a VERY long day in the van thanks to M25 snarl-ups at Gatwick, we arrived at Truck Yard in the docklands, we inspected and picked up half a bike and 4 boxes of various parts that the seller “assumed” came with it.

The bike then sat with us for a few weeks before we had time to get to it - and BOY WHAT A FIND!!!! a 3/4 complete BMW F650-RR Dakar Bike. A few things didn’t add up, such as the bike was registered on a 2007 plate when, as avid Dakar followers, we knew these bikes didn’t compete after 2004 but, it did come with a few very choice extras that weren’t available to the general public at the time such as the French-made Fournalis air shock, Excel Rims that weren’t standard sized to the stock road bike, a selection of front mudguards, a selection of shocks, a full custom WP front end and a full rally navigation tower along with every extra from the Touratech catalogue at the time. Sadly the bike was missing it’s Elkamet rear fuel tanks, matching seat & rear subframe, and extended swingarm - but this gave the customer an idea….

The customer’s brief was simple: Keep the patina, use as many used era-correct parts as possible, and using Lyndon Poskitt’s ethos of “Races-to-Places”…… Build the ultimate travel/rally bike and get it rally-ready for Christmas 2024!

This full rebuild took us 4 months, most of which was sourcing and waiting for delivery of parts - the seat for example: was the ONLY seat available worldwide and had to be imported from the south of France at huge expense. The shock linkage was sourced from a replica bike in Canada - Every single nut and bolt on this bike was removed, inspected and reinstalled or replaced. A few head-scratchers presented themselves, such as why were so many parts on this BMW made by KTM? What country did all the dead spiders come from? How do you source replacement keys for fuel tanks that were discontinued 15 years ago? and why was there an Argentinian road book in the bike?!?

Roll on 3 months and a rolling chassis was established. The customer drove down to the workshop so we could re-spring the suspension for his weight and riding style and set it all up for him and, following a fresh MOT, the bike was delivered to the customer by our friends at DJ Recovery.

All work was completed with 2 weeks to spare from the initial deadline and within budget (if only just!) - needless to say, he was a very happy chap!

We’ve put some photos below (in a slightly random order thanks to the website!!) of the rebuild and a walkaround video of the bike 95% finished. The video does not do justice to how loud this thing was!!!