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New Versys 300 for the wife, let the mods begin...

16K views 29 replies 12 participants last post by  fasteddiecopeman 
#1 ·
Hello everyone. This weekend I traded in my old 2009 Versys 650 towards a mothers day present for my wife. Lots of farkles are currently enroute to our home. LOL Of course my wife being all of 4'11" tall Ill have to lower it a touch. There doesn't seem to be a lot of foam to work with in the seat for reducing the seat height though. I removed the SWMotect plate and givi topcase to put on her bike. I have lowering links from T-rex coming as well as their adjustable side stand. Im not big on lowering bikes but not much of a choice when you're a shorty. Shes had several bike previously, I built her a nice SV650S with GSXR suspension parts that she loved but we sold it when we moved.
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#6 ·
Nice!! Have fun with the mods! Once you get it lowered, post a picture with her on it. My wife is 5'3" and can't come near to touching the ground on mine. She used to have a Ninja 250 that she could tippy toe after we took some foam out of the seat. Maybe my 5'3" wife just has short legs, LOL.
 
#7 ·
Hello everyone. This weekend I traded in my old 2009 Versys 650 towards a mothers day present for my wife. Lots of farkles are currently enroute to our home. LOL Of course my wife being all of 4'11" tall Ill have to lower it a touch. There doesn't seem to be a lot of foam to work with in the seat for reducing the seat height though. I removed the SWMotect plate and givi topcase to put on her bike. I have lowering links from T-rex coming as well as their adjustable side stand. Im not big on lowering bikes but not much of a choice when you're a shorty. Shes had several bike previously, I built her a nice SV650S with GSXR suspension parts that she loved but we sold it when we moved.
Beautiful bike. You can farkle the X300 in many ways. I have a Youtube Channel dedicated to the upgrading and moding the X300. The Channel name is: trekOCLVone. I recommend safety items first like swap out all bulbs to LED. After that crash bars and a T-Rex Heavy Duty Skid plate that can be beefed up to lift the whole bike on a motorcycle jack. And then many more fun projects like changing the front sprocket to a 15 tooth rubber bumpered sprocket. All this an more on my YouTube channel.
LInk: https://www.youtube.com/user/trekOCLVone/videos
 
#9 ·
The tail light flashing 3 times is an excellent feature. Can you provide a link where to buy it? Also the city lights - I went with yellow to provide the contrast that you mention. Thanks for sharing.
 
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#10 ·
#11 ·
That is a very nice colour scheme.
About the seat height- I have only had my 18 model a couple of months and considered lowering the bikes dog bones.
When I looked online, prices were quite expensive, especially if bought from the the US and shipped over here to the UK.
So I rummaged around on Ali*** and found longer dog bones (steel) for £12 including P+P from China. For that price, my curiosity go the better of me and I bought them to see what they are like. Hey they are not bad quality, but things
take so long to arrive from China, then uk customs, then delivery that I have got used to riding the bike as it is. Whether
or not I'll use them is another matter.
 
#12 ·
That is a very nice colour scheme.
About the seat height- I have only had my 18 model a couple of months and considered lowering the bikes dog bones.
When I looked online, prices were quite expensive, especially if bought from the the US and shipped over here to the UK.
Shipping and customs can drive the prices up to the point of an item not being worth it, thats for sure. I went with the T-Rex adjustable dog bones and they are supposed to be here Friday.
 
#14 ·
The bog bones aren't rocket surgery - just clone the stock dog bones with about 3/4" longer distance (your mileage will vary) between the mounting holes for one inch of drop on the bike.
 
#16 ·
Re: lowering links/dog bones ... If you're tippy-toeing, use them! Even when you have over 50 years riding experience and are pretty confident with your riding skills, there are few better feelings than being confident that your feet will make good solid contact with the ground when you have to stop.

For someone like me who is challenged in the leg length department, trying to lowball on price is just false economy when you start with the fact that bikes are toys in most parts of the northern hemisphere. And lowering links are not farkles. They are a safety measure.

It makes me nuts when I see folks talking about putting a bash plate and crash bars on a bike that will probably spend 90% of its life on the pavement and then wondering how to save a couple of bucks on something like lowering links that will be used many times every single time the bike gets ridden. Indeed, will be even more useful when on uneven terrain.

For reference, I do not have a bash plate or crash bars on my 2017. I have never had any reason to question that decision.

@amad1972 show your wife how much you care about her by putting lowering links on the bike for her. As I said above, there are few things you can do to the bike that allow you to instantly feel more confident and in control. If you aren't a machinist who likes making different dogbones just for the fun, do her a favor and get adjustable ones so you have more choices in tire sizes when it comes time to replace them. These are the ones I have:

And don't worry about the lost ride height. Unless she is seriously into leaping over logs and large boulders, the minor loss in ground clearance is not an issue. I speak from experience. In 60,000km on mine, the only small difference I've noticed is that I can scrape the footpegs a little easier in the tight twisties. 😎
 
#17 ·
@amad1972 show your wife how much you care about her by putting lowering links on the bike for her. As I said above, there are few things you can do to the bike that allow you to instantly feel more confident and in control. If you aren't a machinist who likes making different dogbones just for the fun, do her a favor and get adjustable ones so you have more choices in tire sizes when it comes time to replace them.

Oh, my wife has no intention of riding MY X300 or ST1300. I was just commenting that she used to tiptoe her Ninja and would have no prayer of even touching the ground on my X300. :ROFLMAO:
 
#20 · (Edited)
That can happen. For the links I have in my Youtube videos and links I've been asked the same question. Amazon has you tell them what brand/model bike you have and then the bulbs say they don't fit. Well, the do and the work great.
 
#27 ·
I changed the dog bones and had the seat redesigned with multiple layers of foam and a higher quality covering, both together lowering the rear more than two inches, I am 5 7. I am a late starter, or returner, only riding a Honda wave around Phuket for last 15 years . I am ’only’ 76, was 72 four years ago when buying the 300X, wanted something I could lift back up after dropping it (which I have done several times) when exploring some of Thailands back roads. It has been great, 61,000kms later after riding the length and breadth of Thailand it was a great choice, but with reservations a single cylinder with lower revs and low down torque, ie RE Himalayan might have been easier to handle in those small tight lumpy corners, and negotiating the rocky farmers tracks.
 
#28 ·
Found some yellow aux lights I like. They put out a good beam but to be honest they are mostly for visibility when commuting and they accel at that. They are Amazon cheapies but if they last great. If not I’m not out much $$$. What I like most is how small and light weight they are.
 

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