Greetings to each of you.
I am a new forum member...an old guy who is very retired...have always had a
sport-bike, and had thought my next purchase would be a supermoto of some breed. However, I saw the Versys (Pearl Solar Yellow) on a kill-some-time loitering trip to a dealer in Saint Charles, MO and took an instant liking to it. I bought it. Two days and 840 miles later I had it home.
This is what I have learned so far:
1. Having owned many Kawasakis it appears to me build quality from the Heavy Industries has improved a lot since my last Kawasaki.
2. My instinct that it was about time to downgrade from liter-class bikes to something smaller was justified. The Versys moves well and handles well for my current needs/expectations.
3. Given the number of accessories available for the Versys, there is no excuse for not modifying it to conform closely to one's individual goals.
Mods/Plans:
I have added mirror extensions, a hugger, and kick-stand pad "Big Foot". The long ride home convinced me to leave the seat alone for now. Also, I did not have much of a complaint about the windscreen...am going to leave it alone. I seem to have a high tolerance to pain but not boredom.
I have thought hard about the luggage topic, as I head out on at least a couple long tours each year...plenty of very good hard and soft luggage set-ups out there, and going "soft" would have been a big money saver, but I had such a good experience with a GIVI hard luggage set-up on my last bike that I will go with the Kawasaki side racks and Kawasaki version of the GIVI 35 liter cases, deciding on a top case addition or tail-section bag come springtime.
I want to thank everyone within the forum for the ideas I will steal in the future, and look forward to sharing the highlights, lowlights, and photos of my 2013 summer tours on the Versys.
Be careful out there!
I am a new forum member...an old guy who is very retired...have always had a
sport-bike, and had thought my next purchase would be a supermoto of some breed. However, I saw the Versys (Pearl Solar Yellow) on a kill-some-time loitering trip to a dealer in Saint Charles, MO and took an instant liking to it. I bought it. Two days and 840 miles later I had it home.
This is what I have learned so far:
1. Having owned many Kawasakis it appears to me build quality from the Heavy Industries has improved a lot since my last Kawasaki.
2. My instinct that it was about time to downgrade from liter-class bikes to something smaller was justified. The Versys moves well and handles well for my current needs/expectations.
3. Given the number of accessories available for the Versys, there is no excuse for not modifying it to conform closely to one's individual goals.
Mods/Plans:
I have added mirror extensions, a hugger, and kick-stand pad "Big Foot". The long ride home convinced me to leave the seat alone for now. Also, I did not have much of a complaint about the windscreen...am going to leave it alone. I seem to have a high tolerance to pain but not boredom.
I have thought hard about the luggage topic, as I head out on at least a couple long tours each year...plenty of very good hard and soft luggage set-ups out there, and going "soft" would have been a big money saver, but I had such a good experience with a GIVI hard luggage set-up on my last bike that I will go with the Kawasaki side racks and Kawasaki version of the GIVI 35 liter cases, deciding on a top case addition or tail-section bag come springtime.
I want to thank everyone within the forum for the ideas I will steal in the future, and look forward to sharing the highlights, lowlights, and photos of my 2013 summer tours on the Versys.
Be careful out there!