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chid's 2015 Versys 650 mods and farkles

17K views 71 replies 11 participants last post by  JT in GA 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I had a thread but was diverted to How-To for the Headlight Conversion, I wanted to have one for the bike with the mods and farkles I make, maybe somebody will be inspired.

1. the headlight conversion, bi-xenon projectors, angel eyes, LED strips with turn signal switch:
Chid/Projector Conversion / Angel Eye/ Led Light Bar

2. Windshield Givi AirFlow, I'm very happy with it (it needs a wash, but I prefer riding ;) )

3. short brake and clutch lever, adjustable, 2 fingers action, amazing mod for 30$ (the color faded a bit, but I'm for functionality)

4. Denali Soundbomb air horn split, everybody thinks a truck is coming...:) installed in front of the bike (no problem with rain or anything else), compressor installed under left fairing (see red wires)

5. tablet support (home made from Al piece of metal)

6. 2 electrical plugs, 4 USB with optional cigarette plug (phone, tablet, Sena, GPS)

7. Aprilia Tuono mirrors (no vibration)

8. switch for HID and GPS support

9. waterproof switches (green) for angel eyes and LED strips (see headlight)

10. GoCruise throttle lock and Cramp buster (great combination for long trips)

11. Highway pegs (home made, cheap but great for what I need)

12. Givi rear hugger (wish it was a little bit longer, but does a good job)

13. Givi Trunk, I use it every day (commuting) for 8 years, great!

14. raised front for the seat, for comfort ( no more sliding forward)

15. Fuzeblock for all the electrical stuff, install under the left fairing

16. balasts for xenon, and a lot of wires tucked in front (see headlight link)

17. sun visor on the helmet, I installed a tinted foil to block the sun, I don't know why they don't do it like that !?!

If I remember something else, I'll post it here.

I have other ideas, coming soon.
 

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#4 ·
...I’ve only had my 2015 for a couple of months but haven’t ridden at night. Are the standard headlights bad?...
Dave
Bad? I wouldn't say that... but not NEARLY AS GOOD as the Gen 1 lights.

Gen 1 - I can easily ride at 70 mph and NOT overdrive them.

Gen 3 - kind of 'sketchy' once you exceed about 50.

I put extra lights onto my '15 - DENALI DMs - but they are mostly to help cage-drivers see me.
 
#3 ·
Thanks!

There is a night and day difference between standard headlights and dual bi-xenon projectors ;)
Givi Airflow is installed in place of the stock windshield. BIG difference! The design pushes the air just at the top of my helmet, I can hear the engine at speeds well about what I should ride ;)
 
#5 ·
Went to Romania and managed to rent 2 bikes for 2 days.
A BMW F650GS and a Africa Twin, both with a lot of km on board ;)

Just to say that coming back to my Versys was great :D
I missed the comfort, the tires, position, highway pegs, throttle lock, windshield...
but it was ok, for the price and first time trying a bike in Romania.

Did some nice rides, first day about 280km and second almost 400km over the Transfagarasan (best ride of my life, my son agrees)

If you decide to go to Romania on a bike.... do the Bran-Rucar-Curtea de Arges- Vidraru - Transfagarasan - Fagaras.
 

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#7 ·
Ok, time to change my rear tire, I got 11k km out of it, but the wires are showing off

The shop asks 45$+tx to do it, and I have a little more time now, so.....I bit the bullet, I ordered the tire online, ordered a valve core remover, a 3 piece set tire irons, rim protectors and weights.
I have to do at least 1 change per year, and when the front comes in... at least 2...so why not?

I watched a lot of videos, but this will be my first time.
I'm a little bit confused at balancing..... yes, you need a stand, or beads or not balancing it....

With weights, my question is.... you balance the tire when is new..... but is the wear uniform? my tire now is almost busted... and no vibration.
the weight removed from the tire by wear is important..... so the original balancing should be off...
I'll try to weight it but not sure I have the precision needed.

My point is that I'm not sure the balancing is needed... or that the beads would be the way to go?

Also, I have a 12V emergency compressor, I'll let you know if I can seat the bead with it or I need to go to a gas station with a compressor.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Ok, time to change my rear tire, I got 11k km out of it, but the wires are showing off

The shop asks 45$+tx to do it, and I have a little more time now, so.....I bit the bullet, I ordered the tire online, ordered a valve core remover, a 3 piece set tire irons, rim protectors and weights.
I have to do at least 1 change per year, and when the front comes in... at least 2...so why not?

I watched a lot of videos, but this will be my first time.
I'm a little bit confused at balancing..... yes, you need a stand, or beads or not balancing it....

With weights, my question is.... you balance the tire when is new..... but is the wear uniform? my tire now is almost busted... and no vibration.
the weight removed from the tire by wear is important..... so the original balancing should be off...
I'll try to weight it but not sure I have the precision needed.

My point is that I'm not sure the balancing is needed... or that the beads would be the way to go?

Also, I have a 12V emergency compressor, I'll let you know if I can seat the bead with it or I need to go to a gas station with a compressor.
:laugh::laugh::laugh::funnypost:


So the yellow line is from my compressor, the red line is my short line for tools. I have a 3/8 line that I use for the nailer, as the line itself acts as a reservoir.Not a good photo, but notice the gauge isn't covered by the petcock lever, as it is open and pointing towards the yellow airline.


I have seen some people take a old Freon tank or old propane tank and make a air pig. The advantage is high volume , it could take 20 minutes with a 12 volt compressor to fill that tank. If you watch how all tire installers work, they take out the valve core as you need a large volume of air to seat the tire including tire lube / sealant, once seated they quickly insert the valve core. Sorry about the laugh, but if you succeed , go out and buy a lottery ticket.

Also be aware about marking on tire as to location of valve stem;
https://www.tires-easy.com/blog/what-are-the-red-and-yellow-dots-on-my-tires/
 
#13 ·
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#18 ·
Hi Eddie,

This is the kit I bought. I don't have a "normal" one, I'll get the side-by-side photo after I change the tire.

I bought the long zip-tie, I located the closest gas station with compressed air (just in case ;) )
Hopefully tomorrow I will change my tire.
 

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#19 ·
Ok, everything is done, new tire installed.
I need to go probably buy a lottery ticket, as I was able to seat the bead with a small, beat-up, cheap, old 12V mini compressor :D

It was pretty easy for my first time, the most time consuming and heavy was breaking the bead, I had a Motion pro 3 irons kit, it worked but not ideal. Next time I'll have a better tool.
After that, taking the tire out and putting the new one in... pretty easy, my son didn't believe when I said that part is done.
I have a new Pilot Road 3 and it doesn't have a white point, after looking intensely on internet, I found out that Michelin have a better quality control and there is no point on tires :O
There is one sticker, that I aligned, but nothing more.

I started inflating the tire and seating the bead with my 12V compressor..... and it was amazingly fast :O (ok, not THAT fast as a big air compressor, but...:) )
Helped it with a little bit of Windex, no escaping air, beads seated (including the 2 BANGS, but smaller)

I changed the valve core with the one from CounterAct, but no beads inside yet.

Mounted on the bike, did a small trip to verify, a longer one after, 2up, about 60km.
No vibration, no problem. Actually, I feel some small vibration from the front tire, a Pilot Road 5 with about 3k km on it, "balanced" with weights. I might put the beads in this one.

There it is.
Can you do it and save some money and time, be proud in the process? YES.
I need to buy better tools, which reduce the gain, but hey! I'm changing my own tires!

And the question was: can you seat the bead with a 12V emergency compressor? YES!
 

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#21 ·
I usta do my own tires. I used a high lift jack under the trailer hitch of a '79 Chevy 4x4 pick up that I had at the time, placing the base of the jack on the tire sidewall, laying on some two bys. A rider friend of mine over in Arkansas has an 8ft 2x4 hinged to his wall in the shop with a one foot 2x4 dangling done about a foot from the wall. He places that dangling 2 by on the side wall and has plenty of leverage. Easy and frugal to set up and works a treat. We changed out a rear tire on my V while I was at a rally that he throws every spring(awesome get together, BTW).

I have a local guy that mounts and balances for $20 whether the tire was bought through him or on the interwebs, if I take the old one with. The tire recycle place is about a mile away and is free for residents. For $20, I ain't gonna mess with it.

Have fun!
 
#20 ·
something interesting, the old tire 11k km, had a nail in it at about 5k.
I fixed it with Dynaplug and had no problem since.
Actually I didn't even add 1 teaspoon of air since install it :O

Here are 2 photos with the tire out, on outside with the small mark, and the inside with the Dyna plug head still in.
I love it that you don't have to ream the whole when you take the nail (screw) out, limiting the damage.

I felt no vibration or any other negative effect after plug-it.
I have no affiliation to Dyna plug :D just personal experience.
 

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#26 ·
Did my first valve checking / adjustment ever ;)
I'm close to 40k km, no problem with the bike, running well, but I thought I should at least check.

Everything went very easy, I was able to remove the valve cover with just the acceleration cables removed at the TB and another support on the right side of the valve cover.
Surprisingly, all in spec, just cyl 2 2B IN was at 0.15mm, all other IN at 0.16mm
EX were all at 0.26mm and 0.25.

I adjusted only the IN to bring them at 0.18mm, one is at 0.21mm (mystery ;))
I sanded them down.
I used tie rap to keep the chain in position and I just twisted the IN camshaft to access the buckets.

I changed the spark plugs, not looking bad.
The surprise came from the air filter.... fully clogged. And it seems that I had a mouse making house inside, I had a full cup of corn seeds inside :O:O

I put everything back and it works, I didn't do the TBS, I'll try to rent a tool to do it if needed.
Very curious how it feels after this, tomorrow I'll do a ride.

Next time it will be much faster and easier, happy that I finally did it, I learned a lot from the forum, thanks guys!
My son was with me, perfect day!
 
#28 ·
Just curious if you found any difficulty following my How To thread on the Valve shim check?
 
#27 ·
Well done chid!
One thing to keep in mind when balancing your tires.
Some tires will have one yellow dot. In this case, it is the lightest point on the tire which should be position at the heaviest point of your rim (usually where the valve is).
However, if there are 2 dots on your tire (one red and one yellow), the red is the lightest point on the tire (not the yellow).
This can easily cause confusion when installing your own tires.
Just my 2 Canuck cents. ;)
 
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#30 ·
Thanks!
Apparently the Michelin lately made their tires so well balanced that they don't have the dots anymore.
I didn't feel any vibrations on the rear tire, with no balancing.
I'll see what happens when I'll change the front one.
 
#32 ·
I wanted to do some photos of the headlights with different configurations active:
1-bi-xenon projectors both ON, LED angel eyes ON, LED strips ON, normal light
2-bi-xenon projectors ON, LED angels eyes ON, LED strips ON, exposure time reduced
3-bi-xenon projectors ON, LED angel eyes OFF, LED strips ON
4-bi-xenon projectors OFF, LED angel eyes OFF, LED strips ON
5-bi-xenon projectors OFF, LED angel eyes OFF, LED strips ON, normal light



Vehicle Asphalt Sunlight Road Auto part
Black Darkness Light Night Sky
Light Darkness Sky Night Tree
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Vehicle Personal protective equipment Cycling Recreation Road
 
#33 ·
I need to change both tires, I have the rear stand and I used it to change the last one, but I don't have a stand for the front.
I decided that I don't want to buy one, I looked for some materials I already had and I built one. It took about 2 hours.
Feels solid, more than enough for what I need.

Tire Wheel Land vehicle Vehicle Fuel tank
Tire Wheel Automotive tire Motor vehicle Tread
Tire Wheel Fuel tank Automotive lighting Automotive tire
 
#34 ·
WOW*****WOW****WOW I see you own a mig wood welder. Awesome!!
 
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#36 ·
Is it flux core or Argon
 
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#39 ·
OK, this weekend was very busy.
Got into the garage and worked on the V to get it ready, we have 2 weeks left until the start of the season (hopefully).

I changed my tires, adjusted the chain, changed the oil.
I used my wooden Abba stand version, worked wonders! (not bad for a few pieces of wood, screws and free labor ;) ) I used some duct tape to make sure it doesn't crack.

I used a C-clamp to break the beads, if you don't have a special tool.
This was my second (and third) tire change, so with the past experience, it was a lot easier and faster.
What I noticed, you have to keep the tire's both sides inside the lowest point inside the rim. This allows you to move the tire toward outside on the part that you want to get out (or in).
It was so easy, that putting back the rear tire on the rim, I didn't even use the tools, I just pushed it with my hands.

I was able to seat the beads with my cheapo, 14$ 12V pump :O:O You can see it working on my front tire (yes, it's that small). The advantage is that I can have it with me all the time.
It took a little bit of convincing with the front tire, but it works!! (I shot a video but not perfect conditions, maybe I'll post that on YouTube)
Enjoy!
Automotive tire Rim Tread Bicycle tire Sleeve
Jeans Hood Light Automotive tire Automotive design
Tire Wheel Automotive tire Tread Vehicle brake
Tire Wheel Vehicle Motor vehicle Automotive tire
 
#40 ·
I finally had a chance to ride more this weekend and I want to come back with an interesting point.

I installed a rear tire before, and I didn't feel the need to balance it.
This was the second time I installed the rear tire and I didn't balance it. Didn't feel any vibration.

But this was the first time I installed a front tire, and I didn't know what to expect. I don't have a tire balancing tool.
I bought the kit for the beads, but I didn't install it, I wanted to see how it feels without.

I bought Michelin Road 5 both front and rear. They don't even have a yellow dot anymore, they said the manufacturing process is precise enough to avoid having a part of the tire heavier that another.
I'm happy to observe that there is no vibration on the front tire, up to a highway speed limit.
So the balancing kit remains unused.
 
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