Kawasaki Versys is here

[salbrecht]

Hi everyone! I have been lurking on this forum for six months or so while I tried to decide what bike to get to replace my Phantom. Being 63, a 'sport' bike was out of the question. This left out the Kawasaki ER-6n due to the riding position. It also eliminated all the 400cc Super Four types of bikes. I am a big BMW fan (R1150RT back in the USA), and the F bikes were really interesting, but I just can't justify 720,000 baht for a bike. Nor can I justify 600,000 for a Brit bike. I live in Ban Phe, so the distance to a service facility is also important. Bangkok is not an option there. So when the Versys was announced, I began to have a little hope.

Yesterday I went to Mityon in Pattaya and took a look. They let me test ride it for a VERY short distance, but is was far enough to determine that it fit me quite nicely. Good relaxed riding position, gobs of torque, all the stuff that has already been written. I was also able to stand flat footed comfortably. So I bought one. They are telling me 20-30 day for delivery. Price is 302,270 including registration and first class insurance. So now I have an agonizing wait to look forward to.

May I ask a favor from someone that has a Versys already? Can you measure the diameter of the holes in the front brake disc please? I want to buy a disc lock, and I want to be sure the shank fits through the holes.

That's all for now. Cheers!
Steve Albrecht
Ban Phe, Rayong

 

[ThePedroDB]

Thanks @whitehead, much appreciated! Glad you are enjoying yours too!!

@salbrecht, inner ring of holes are 15mm diameter and outer ring (where brake disc & centre meet) are 19mm diameter. Congrats on your purchase! I've had a Phantom as day to day transport over the last few years. Great little bike but vive la difference! Poor little thing struggled to keep up with the V at 5000 rpm on the way home yesterday. Must treat her a bit kinder...

Cheers

P

 

[nikster]

While I am waiting for my Ortlieb bags, I had to make do with a bungee net and my backpack - but the end result wasn't half bad, it's almost as if the backpack and bungee net were made for the Versys. Check it out:

The seat is much (much) wider than on the ER-6n - I'd tried fitting this rather large backpack on the Er-6n before, not a chance. The net was always too big for the ER-6n - on the Versys, it's perfect. I bought this in the USA, it's a little bit bigger than the Thai ones from the corner store, and it has large plastic hooks instead of the wire hooks. The hooks snap on to the rear frame, just the right size.

ERRRR... David is there a way to fix this forum so it *resizes* photos instead of cutting them off?

To see the whole picture, make your browser window *wide*.

 

[thaicbr]

Nickster. said ERRRR... David is there a way to fix this forum so it *resizes* photos instead of cutting them off?

I think there must be because Mbox's forum "the TigerSachsclub.com" Uses the same PH software and that resize's

 

[ThePedroDB]

All this talk of customisation and KTMs got me to thinking. How would a V look in KTM SMR livery? Well a bit of 'Photoshopping' later and here we have one possible outcome. It's a bit rough & ready but I think you get the idea.

..and then I thought KTM would definitely have more Orange esp. the frame. So, here's version two. Decide for yourself..

They'd probably have big "KAWA" decals somewhere too but I think I'll stop there.

Enjoy!

P

 

[Rhodie]

nikster wrote:

It's a cracker in black... Nice One Nikster :thumbup:

 

[TonyBKK]

chiangsaen.peter wrote: Hi
the Versys is on sale already. Price; 285'000 B. in black and darkred and delivery about one months! Great!

Oh dear... Does that mean I have to give mine back? :wink:

 

[ThePedroDB]

BT023 which will replace the BT021 I now have and love. Sounds great, wants!

Hi @nikster, yes, the BT023 really does sound good. I asked about them when I was picking my bike up and Kawa Surratthani looked a bit clueless. So, I hope you get a better response when you go looking for them.

There were big smiles all round when I asked about Pirelli MT60's though. :clap: So, that's where my money's going next.

Cheers

P

 

[nikster]

ThePedroDB wrote:

BT023 which will replace the BT021 I now have and love. Sounds great, wants!

Hi @nikster, yes, the BT023 really does sound good. I asked about them when I was picking my bike up and Kawa Surratthani looked a bit clueless. So, I hope you get a better response when you go looking for them.

There were big smiles all round when I asked about Pirelli MT60's though. :clap: So, that's where my money's going next.

Cheers

P

I figure they'll be available here by the time I've worn down my BT021s. In hindsight salvaging these from the ER-6n was a good deal, saved me 9k Baht..

 

[TonyBKK]

ThePedroDB wrote: Have no fear, Pedro is here!

I scanned my own copy of the Versys test and published it as a PDF for you all to download. Get it here!

Enjoy !!!

P

Pedro! You da MAN!
Thanks so much for sharing the article with us- great read! :happy5:
T

 

[TonyBKK]

ThePedroDB wrote:

BT023 which will replace the BT021 I now have and love. Sounds great, wants!

Hi @nikster, yes, the BT023 really does sound good. I asked about them when I was picking my bike up and Kawa Surratthani looked a bit clueless. So, I hope you get a better response when you go looking for them.

There were big smiles all round when I asked about Pirelli MT60's though. :clap: So, that's where my money's going next.

Cheers

P

"bakelite" :lol-sign:
Yeah! The Pirelli MT60RS's are flippin awesome tires! (Though to be honest, if most of your riding is on pavement they will not last very long...)

I've got one more track day left in my Diablo Supercorsas then I'll be throwing some MT60's on these wheels.

Hoping to make it to Laos next month where these tires should be just the thing!
Ride On!
Tony

 

[ThePedroDB]

Pedro! You da MAN!

Thanks so much for sharing the article with us- great read!

Tony,
you are most welcome! Glad you enjoyed it.
:thumbup:

My copy of the mag is getting a bit dog-eared after 6 months of (almost) daily reading - so it's probably a good thing to have an eCopy backup. I also had a bit of fun with the associated web page too. Bonus!!

Yeah! The Pirelli MT60RS's are flippin awesome tires! (Though to be honest, if most of your riding is on pavement they will not last very long...)

I expect the majority of my miles will be pavement - if you can consider sand ridden Samui roads as 'pavement' (LOL!). What sort of miles were you getting from a rear tyre? I'm pretty sure I ran a set of these (or very similar Pirellis..) on my KTM 640 SM in London for 4K miles and they still looked pretty fresh at the end of that time.

Cheers

P

 

[Jurgen]

ThePedroDB wrote: All this talk of customisation and KTMs got me to thinking. How would a V look in KTM SMR livery? Well a bit of 'Photoshopping' later and here we have one possible outcome. It's a bit rough & ready but I think you get the idea.

..and then I thought KTM would definitely have more Orange esp. the frame. So, here's version two. Decide for yourself..

They'd probably have big "KAWA" decals somewhere too but I think I'll stop there.

Enjoy!

P

Got my bike delivered, ten days ago and well in time, by Kawa CNX, but could not photoshop it. It's now out for a white wash. Thank you for giving me an idea of how it will look like. I did not want to change too much from my bellowed ER6 :happy2:

I also ordered scorpions which should be better on roads under demolition ... but I am just back from Laos with Diablo Rosso on the ER6, and did not suffer too much!

 

[ThePedroDB]

@jurgen, many congrats on your recent delivery! Absolutely delighted for you!!

Glad my Photoshop efforts were of use to you. I know I promised that I wouldn't mess about with the decals etc. but I couldn't resist. Here's it is - full KTM SMR style with the big lettering decals included;

Please post some pics of your baby when she's had her new paint job. I look forward to seeing them.

Regards

P

 

[Jurgen]

ThePedroDB wrote: @jurgen, many congrats on your recent delivery! Absolutely delighted for you!!

Glad my Photoshop efforts were of use to you. I know I promised that I wouldn't mess about with the decals etc. but I couldn't resist. Here's it is - full KTM SMR style with the big lettering decals included;

Please post some pics of your baby when she's had her new paint job. I look forward to seeing them.

Regards

P

funny look! I did not go so far, should be the original script ... airbrushed. Will post a picture but it takes at least two weeks for the work to be done.

 

[Jurgen]

TonyBKK wrote: [quote quote=nikster]

I also talked Nop about the possibility of spraying the bike another color, like yellow. He said many people had asked about green or yellow, and in his opinion a custom after market paint job isn't going to be nearly as good as the factory one. Speaking from experience there as they'd done custom paint jobs for some customers.

Tony
You are certainly right for the colour Tony. I was not afraid to white wash it, just 5 small plastic pieces (probably worth about 5000 THB in case of a failure). I ordered the "Kawa" and "Versys" names to be airbrushed (no black "Versys" name sticker yet) and bought 2 small black "ABS" stickers for 100 THB. I have seen Harley paintings done buy that "artist" and it should be OK.

Delivery for painting is two weeks right now.

 

[nikster]

Jürgen please post pictures when you get the white panels!! Thinking about white myself as I really like it on the Ninja and ER6n.

 

[KZ]

I'm not a big fan of white for a MC but in this case it works. It also makes the silver radiator shroud blend in. That thing is kind of an eyesore, I wonder how the bike would look without it. Black is supposed to make things smaller and makes it blend in with the engine and mudgard.

I prefer the second look with the big KAWA on the fairing - how about a Paris-Dakar look? An adventure look wouldn't hurt on this bike!

 

[Hoghead]

Mine is the red colour and I just painted all the silver plastic bits flat black.
Looks a lot better and not so cheesy.

If there was an easier way to post a pic I would do so, but could not be bothered with Photobucket - GT-Rider needs a better way

 

[Ian Bungy]

Hi KZ, Hog Head has Painted His Radiator Shroud, Head Light Surround & the Side Frame Covers Matt Black and What a Difference! Makes the Bike look a lot less Cheap and Blends in Perfect! The Standard Silver paint made it look very Cheap & Nasty

 

[nikster]

David maybe time to get some off the shelf forum software? There's lots of free stuff out there... EDIT: Ok looks more like the wild west out there.. maybe not soooo easy

Here's are Hogheads pix - lookin' good!

Now trying ImageShack, Photobucket is too big of a pain.

 

[KZ]

Definitely an improvement!

Now the wine red has to go!

 

[ThePedroDB]

@Hoghead,
love what you've done to your V! It looks 'the business'. I was thinking similar but was going to try gunmetal grey metallic rather than black - might have to rethink now.

Is your rim tape (I'm assuming it's tape, I guess you could've had it airbrushed...) Kawasaki fitted or did you get it elsewhere? Really suits it. Want!!!

Regards

P

 

[Hoghead]

rim tape and I had it done in CM for 200 B per wheel. it is reflective as well

What is so special about slip on mufflers anyway?
From what I have seen of the various offerings there is little science involved and I wonder why they are so expensive. I can see the price if there are significant development costs, however they look like a simple core type muffler, and I do not see how this justifies 20,000 B. Complete with a tuned head pipe, yes but 18 - 20K for a packed can is taking the piss.

 

[Jurgen]

Hello Hoghead, wich shop did the work in Chiangmai?

Jurgen