Try to put yourself on those other people shoes.
It is all about the experience. Some of us pay a lot of money for these bikes, we save up to be able to afford these toys, and we do it with the hope to be able to enjoy the freaking thing, only to find out that every time you ride you get a bruised toe from the hard shift. That is dangerous to be out in the middle of traffic having such difficulties trying to shift and get moving.
To be honest with you, I have owned so many bikes throughout the years and this is the very first time that I have to worry about this issue. Is my shift linkage is properly adjusted? Is the oil I that I have always used causing the hard shifting. Is the slack on the chain causing the hard shifting?
I just sold an SV650 with 20K miles that had butter smooth shifting, I could bring that bike from 6th gear down to first in the blink of an eye, I used to be able to slice through traffic effortlessly without having to think about shifting.
With the money I got from the SV650 I went and got a 2022 KLR, again butter smooth shifting from the time I first rode it. I just did the first oil change on the KLR with Rotella Diesel engine oil, it has not caused any issue with the KLR, it continues to shift effortlessly, I don't even think about shifting unless I am riding the Versys, then I have to be aware and think every step of the way to make sure I don't find myself in the wrong gear and not been able to shift quickly.
These are things that I never had to worry about, even when I own Harley Davidsons in the past, they all shifted smoother than the Versys. So, it is an issue, one that is hard to overlook.
So, understand that it is a shock when you get a bike, and you have to deal with an issue that really has no clear solution. You should do this do that, try this try that, but there is really no definitive answer as to where to go to stop the madness.
As soon as it warms up a bit, I will do the foot peg assembly cleaning and lubing, hopefully that will take care of the issue, but I have a feeling it is more than that.
I take offense when someone comes and joins a forum looking for a solution, then digs up every thread they can find that says other people are having a problem-
must be something defective with Kawasaki and the Versy. I have owned two, a 2007 and now a 2015. I did a post about not being able to get above 3rd gear, nothing wrong with the gearbox, it was a linkage and footpeg problem.
I have been on this forum for going on 14 years-- I have never told anyone it is their imagination, a really simple solution is to disconnect the linkage and try manual shifting with the bike on a pit stand-yes it is dangerous- I do it all the time now, if the bike takes off, my front lawn and tree should stop it.
If you asked about electrical defects, every 650 Kawasaki made since 2006 has one, the headlight relay is to come on when producing power, the collapsing field of the start solenoid will give 3 out of 5 tries the same result- even with the stator disconnected.
I have seen firsthand issues when a new bike was purchased from a dealer and it was never set up, correctly. I am talking a 2015 650ABS Versys-my buddy had an identical bike to my bike, he complained about the herky-jerky POS . We stopped for coffee and I had a look, I have no idea how he even got the bike home, let alone put 6000 KM on it. The throttle cable had about 20' of rotation before anything happened, the push cable also wasn't set right. His clutch was set wrong, almost 3./8 inch of travel before the clutch actuator started moving, he complained he had to use the brake when putting it into gear. It took me 5 minutes at the coffee shop to set it correctly.
If every new member did a post and told me it isn't working, my time and effort didn't solve anything, that obviously I am mistaken,Kawasaki is a POS-I would have stopped posting about 11 years ago, and I wouldn't own a 2015 -and speaking of the 2015 the fuel map is a POS -fortunately, the flash by shoodaben make it something beyond your imagination.
Be aware we all take time and effort trying to help others, negative posts help no one.
This reminds me-a week ago my friendly neighbor across the street-walks everywhere doesn't own a car but has a double-wide concrete driveway ( he bought the house from a previous owner that had trailers and trucks and added the concrete drive)-bought an electric snow shovel in October and carried it home from 2 KM away.
So a week ago, we had a heavy snow fall, I was out blowing snow for several hours, the very first hour I saw him in his garage, it looked like he was kicking his gas-powered 8HP snowblower, pulling on the rope start for a good 15 minutes- next thing I see him with this electric snow shovel, he looks like a snowman and is going like crazy, I am concerned he is going to have a heart attack
I stop blowing snow and go across- he had the gas blower serviced in 2021-it has less than 10 hours on it, but 2-year-old gas. So he admits to cursing and kicking it -I had a hard time not laughing and rolling on the floor because I could see some of this about 200 feet away.
Anyway, he is very good-natured, I asked him why he isn't using the electric start-it has a male plug as part of the assembly-he kind of looks at me and like a light just came on. I told him I have a cord on my Ariens and it is 20 feet long, with two 5 inch 5/16 stainless bolts acting as a means of wrapping the cord around, I then have a old female cord cap wire tied to the handle, I plug the male cord cap of the extension into it, which protects it from icing over.
It took about 3 minutes of electric start to get it going, I then brought fresh gas I keep on hand and filled the blower, and also gave him about 8 liters in his small gas can.
Neighbors helping neighbors.
www.kawasakiversys.com
www.manualslib.com
