[onaversys]

Those colors on versys - look fantastic. Where did you get them done?

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Haroon

Thanks for sharing the wonderful pics Avi. The V blends so well in all those backgrounds

Thanks Haroon. If not for your lovely advice I would NOT be owning a Versys today

Originally Posted by idpsharma

Avi & myself had a blissful short ride (230 kms up & down) this morning on our lovely machines - Versys 650...The Stallion/Mile Cruncher & Z800...The Beast.

Hey DP! Thanks for sharing the lovely pictures and write up. Yeah, it was a fun ride spoilt by the petrol bunk fellas

Originally Posted by hyd_traveller

Nice.
Did you guys top up your machines with fuel before going? Or en-route? Or after return?
Was fuel available with old notes? Or did you carry small currency?
Did the fuel attendant show the 0? Or was it 00? Or was it 0000?

Bajaj Saab you are incorrigible...LOL!....Ok let me share the story here

Last saturday as DP mentioned we enjoyed a lovely short ride and on return I decided to tank up even though there was a last bar which means another 70 odd kms can be done

Filled up the tank and only 12 liters came through & INR 900.48 was bill amount. I presented my debit card and he offered me to type the password which I did without looking at the amount on the screen. Transaction went through successfully and then DP filled up his tank and he too paid through a card.

I returned to my V and got astride and then there was a "TING" sound from my phone which was on the holder. It was a text message of the transaction made. I normally dont see it as I know the amount that I just swiped. But, fortunately, I happened to glance at it and was shocked out of my wits

Petrol bunk attended swiped my card for INR 90000.48

This dough was debited too and there was no way to reverse/void the transaction as DP made an immediate transaction after me

I got the bunk owner out of his deep sleep (it was around 9:30am) and made his rush to the bunk and he swore at the attendant and said couldn't you have just typed 900 instead of 900.48 due to decimal the whole issue happened

Owner was an awesome guy and very polite and he wrote out a letter to me on letter pad and I called in my bank to dispute the transaction and got to know this money will be reversed in 2 weeks (Had it been credit card it can be reversed immediately. God knows why this policy)

Anyways,a lesson learnt to confirm the amount before typing password. I'm going to enjoy a cashless 2 weeks due to the fault of that attendant..LOL!

[unk9ja]

Originally Posted by onaversys

Those colors on versys - look fantastic. Where did you get them done?

Since you are newbie, I cannot PM you. Please send me a test mail on kumblauday@gmail.com, we can take it forward offline.

[mobike008]

Wohooooooo!!! Finally after a long & much awaited wait Shark Speed R finally arrived on Saturday but, due to a hectic weekend schedule I could open the box only this morning

Some immediate observations

Weight : Feels much lighter than the MT Blade and quality of helmet is superb

Fit : I tried it out worriedly thinking it might not fit properly. But, it fits nice and snug (MT Blade is slightly looser than this one) and cheek pads pressing in feels really good

Features : Vents at front and back which you can open and close. It also has an internal visor that can be operated from the thick button on top of the helmet on left hand side. Unique position for it to be placed

Spectacles : Best part was when I slide in my specs it went in like a well oiled slider....No need to push the spectacles inside the helmet after wearing it. Really good feature

Will test this helmet out over the weekend and report back with how it performs (Comparing to MT Blade)







Can you see the tag for easy spectacles insertion?







Got these free along with helmet. I think it's an extra visor, chin guard and those rubber things for specs to slide in easily

[Red Liner]

Thats a fog free insert you get with the lid. Just snap it on the little bolt like things on the inside of the existing visor. Should work a treat.

Congrats man.

[Dust_Harl]

Versys 650 is truly a VERSATILE machine.

Imagine getting up early in the morning well before sunrise and riding all the way to Bangalore from Pune, meet a fellow Versys 650 rider for lunch and return to Pune by late evening. Sounds crazy? Yes it is. That’s how our fellow Versys 650 riders made best use of his versatile bike. While our rider picked up this trial and enjoyed the every bit of the ride he earned himself a place and membership in the club that is dedicated for safe, long-distance motorcycle riding and certification. Yes it’s “Iron Butt Association (IBA)”.

IBA hosts several rides, the most notable being the 11-day, 11,000+ mile Iron Butt Rally, the Saddle Sore 1000- a 24 hour 1,000 mile ride, the Bun Burner 1500 - 1500 miles in 36 hours, the Bun Burner Gold- 1,500 miles in 24 hours to name a few.
Gururaj Rao (Guru) from Pune rather wanted to look back and say, "I can't believe I did that!" than say, "I wish I did that." and this put him up on this quest on Saturday Dec the 3rd and he completed the Saddle Sore 1000 challenge at ease with quite a bit of time to spare.

The million dollar question from everyone in our Versys India Riders (VIR) group was “how is your back and butt after the ride?” Must say the speed and enthusiasm at which he was replying to the WhatsApp messages indicated that the combination of the versatile machine and the rider had made this ride seem very simple. Seemed like any other normal day for him but for his inner feeling that thumped his chest and said “Oh boy! You did it”. You would not believe, he was all set for a breakfast ride with Mumbai – Pune group next day morning indicating how strenuous the Saddle Sore 1000 was on him or his ride.

Just like any other big road trip, Guru started his ride preparation by gathering all the required details on the route, Dos / Don’ts and other critical information from fellow riders who frequent that route and he did spend enough time on VIR and other groups on due diligence. While all this research is just 20% of the effort it is always the combination of the weather, motorcycle and most importantly, the attitude, on the big ride day that makes the difference in completing the ride at ease.

Few things he planned to ensure he earned a saddle sore are:
1. Choose a safe route – Chose Pune- Kolhapur- Belgaum- Tumkur- Bangalore and back to Pune as this is a four lane highway for most part of the distance and it approximately 800 kms to Bangalore so that he can plan his return as soon as he meets a fellow rider here in the outskirts of Bangalore for lunch.
2. Got an eye witness at the start of the ride as mandated by IBA
3. Planned well to collect and track receipts and also made a clear list of places where he will probably refuel depending on the mileage
4. Got an end witness to validate his completion
5. Most importantly registered and installed an online location tracker to let your near and dear ones know where exactly you are at all times so that someone keeps tracking your route, progress and current location.

While few other fellow VIR riders like Chetan from Bangalore have achieved this milestone, every such ride and quest is an experience of life time and the rider can definitely tell this story to his grandchildren as years pass on how he overcame many obstacles and achieved this epic feet. Yes of course Guru can proudly claim “been there and done” and he is a select few to have complete Saddle Sore 1000 and 21000 KMS on his Versys.

Many Congratulation Gururaj Rao and wishing you many more miles with a smile and safe ride with the versatile machine that we all call as VERSYS 650.

Few pics from Guru on his ride for a virtual experience of his Saddle Sore 1000 ride.













Ride Safe and God Speed my fellow Riders.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Thats a fog free insert you get with the lid. Just snap it on the little bolt like things on the inside of the existing visor. Should work a treat.Congrats man.

Thanks Ramana! I tried but, unable to fix it. It's slight golden tint. Do I need to uninstall existing clear visor and install this fog insert and then put it back on helmet?

Originally Posted by Dust_Harl

Gururaj Rao (Guru) from Pune rather wanted to look back and say, "I can't believe I did that!" than say, "I wish I did that." and this put him up on this quest on Saturday Dec the 3rd and he completed the Saddle Sore 1000 challenge at ease with quite a bit of time to spare.

Guru is the kiddo of our group and he has done something phenomenal like the Saddle Sore is a proud moment for all of us V owners

I was even more taken aback to see that his current odometer reading is ~22,000kms and all of this under 9 months

Is that kid riding even in his sleep? LOL !!!

Bottom line the V is ensuring we are all on the road for the maximum number of time...Hope this does not cause major unrest for all of us on the home-front

It's time now to get serious about the All India VIR meet and I am sure where it's held is immaterial as V owners rub their hands in glee if location chosen is farthest from their home !!!

[mobike008]

Don't laugh at me

Nope, I'm not planning to open a helmet store nor rent them out to make money as purchasing 2 helmets in 2 weeks is NOT a sign of a sane mind. Is it?

YES! I succumbed to another helmet and this time it's none other than the lovely "Bell RS-1 Speed Hi-Viz" which is their top-line helmet which is SNELL & DOT rated

The decision was easy primarily due to a mouth watering price of a helmet that otherwise retails for $400 in USA and INR 35K in India

Thanks to BHP'ian Onaversys to carry it back with him (He got one Bell RS-1 for himself too)....

When he lands back he would be a sight to behold ; One helmet in each hand and custom guy gaping at him in amazement and wondering what to do? Slap a huge fine on him OR let the poor soul who enjoys his motorcycle rides go?

Karthik, Heck we don't get such deals every other day do we? LOL

P.S : Now i have a yellow helmet to go with my yellow jacket..Haha!

[v12]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Don't laugh at me

Nope, I'm not planning to open a helmet store nor rent them out to make money as purchasing 2 helmets in 2 weeks is NOT a sign of a sane mind. Is it?

Hmmmm....& neither am I and thanks to you, I think I am starting to get insane.

YES! I succumbed to another helmet and this time it's none other than the lovely "Bell RS-1 Speed Hi-Viz" which is their top-line helmet which is SNELL & DOT rated

The decision was easy primarily due to a mouth watering price of a helmet that otherwise retails for $400 in USA and INR 35K in India

Same as above for me - except I went in for the Bell RS-1 Topo helmet. Although this time I went in for a larger size (XL) just to be a bit comfortable .... I am sure it will be slightly loose - but then can always use a balaclava inside. I actually liked the Snow Camo color - but that was out of stock. So got the Desert Camo. Here are pics of both :

Desert Camo


Snow Camo

[mobike008]

Kadem Dam Ride (Dec 10th, 2016)

2016 is ending rapidly and I realized that this is the ONLY weekend that I can ride and next one ride can happen only in 2017. So, I decided to sign off 2016 by planning a slightly longer ride so at least it lingers in the mind till we are back in town and ready for next ride

Most of my regular pals were not available and I rode with a new friend that I met during a recent camping trip who joined me on his Bonnie. It was on his recommendation we took this route. He mentioned this was his favorite route which involved about 450kms of 4 lane highways, 150kms of dense forest reserve and about 50kms of nice 2-lane roads which weren't good nor bad. And, about 30kms of bad patches which involved lot of road construction so we rode through stones, gravel and dusty conditions.

But, I enjoyed foot-peg riding through those bad patches (first time with a pillion) and it was super fun learning how to modulate the speed while standing on the bike. Lean forward and ensure the front tyre doesn't loose grip but, maintain a decent clip to get the complete off-road experience

We headed off from home at 6:30am and to the meeting point where I met Rajneesh (Bonnie) at 7:00am in the city and filled petrol and checked air-pressure (checking air-pressure is my routine and very particular about this activity).

I used 40PSI (Rear) and 36 (PSI) due to top-case and pillion rider (though my wifey is feather weight..unlike me) and found the pressure on higher side and slightly bouncy/harsh through the ride.

I was using 5 clicks on the suspension (normally I use position 3 which is most comfortable for me) which ensured the additional load was compensated for and we experience a better ride and handling

We headed off towards Nagpur highway and guess what even though I was in my riding gear it was bone chilling cold and after about 100kms I suddenly felt a cramp in my left foot and had to signal Raj to stop for a few mins to stretch. I was wearing a thin sock inside which didn't help the situation. I should have worn a thicker wollen sock. Anyways, within 5 mins we resumed the ride and it was super chilly till almost 10:00am.

In between around 9:00am, we stopped and enjoyed a couple of home-made Vada Pav (didn't came out too well as it was hurriedly prepared due to lack of time) and here I made another mistake of chomping off many green chilies which showed its color later in the ride around 2:00pm I had severe acidity issue and it was so bad that I had to stop at a local village medicine/general store to buy an antacid which worked magic and within 5 minutes was back to normal. Lesson learnt during travel never consume something that you cannot digest as this phenomena happened in the past too but, I didn't recall till it happened yesterday again. Iam digressing so lets get back to the actual story..

We rode through some amazing dense forest reserve with very very minimal traffic to reach Kadem Dam which was breathtakingly beautiful and reminded me of dam outside of Pollachi (Tamil Nadu) that we visited last December.

This location is about 325kms way from Hyderabad. We spent a good 30 minutes soaking in the sun and enjoying the view and then visited the Haritha Resort in Kadem Dam to enjoy a hot cup of coffee and headed out from there around noon.

This route is actually a loop as highlighted in the map in the pictures below outline and we continued on this loop through many kms of thick forest which actually was scary at one point as there was not a single soul on the road in that dense forest area except plenty of monkeys to give us company. A break-down would have left us stranded with little or no help around.

We continued the ride of nearly 120kms till we came out on main NH7 4-lane highway around 2:00pm and rode for nearly 70kms with tummy dangerously growling to reach "Singh is Kingh" a sardarji dhaba at 3:00pm where we stopped to enjoy a rustic meal of tandoori rotis, egg bhurji (scrambed eggs) and Dal Tadka (Tempered Lentils)

After this hot and sumptuous meal, we bid goodbye to Raj and head out at 4:00pm as I wanted to keep a brisk pace to reach home (260kms away) as I had another engagement in the evening. And, after a good highway run we finally reached home around 7:30pm out of which 1.45 hours was dedicated to cross over city traffic to reach home which was in other side of town from this highway.

Yet again, had a close incident on the highway when a "hero honda splendor" (Yes, I could read the sign on the bike because we missed him by that close) with a pillion was crossing from left towards the median and this was right after a sweeping turn (dont know why they decide to do this dangerous crossovers near the corners) and I had to literally jam my brakes and I cannot sing any more praises of the V braking system. It stops in a straight line and there is literally no drama. ABS worked like a charm with a slight juddering feel which is not as pronounced as you feel in a car.

Very impressed with it's braking !!!

We covered 701kms door-to door and this ride left me completed satiated and I can now relax until New year when the next long ride will come up

Sharing a few pictures of this memorable ride yesterday

P.S : Click to see larger images of each picture. All taken with iPhone 6+

[idpsharma]

@Avi, Congrats on new helmet, oh which one? one for Shark Speed & one for Bell RS1.

I am sure the Kadem ride would have been a great one, can make out from those fantastic pics. I missed to be part of this ride on my Z. No worries, will join future rides for sure.

[v12]

Nice pics Avi! The home made vada pav looks yummy!! Had a few questions :

• How did the Coocase fare in this ride? Was there any rattle or did the mounts become lose?
• How was the rear seat comfort? And how is it to get in and off the bike for your wife?
• Regarding the panniers - there are a lot of options available in the market - Shad, Givi, OE Kawasaki LT panniers etc. Are they all a direct fit on the side mounts? Or do you gave to modify / make brackets / additional mounts to fit them?
• One of the best demo that I have always seen the Triumph guys giving their customers is climbing onto the bike using the footpegs with the side stand down. Is that possible on the Versys too? And is it possible for the pillion to climb on with the side stand down? Can the stand take the weight of rider and pillion? - not that I am going to try it hehehhe

[Naztone]

Firstly a big thank you to mobike0008 and onaversys - reading both your write ups has given me the guts to book a Versys myself.

I do have a request: if you can give pointers on what to check for during delivery.

In my case have found the KTM showroom staff to be good at giving jazz but not that technically sound - both times I saw the display bike there was condensation pooling below the gearbox and a drop of coolant on the floor 😯
I think the display bike is probably going to be delivered to me

[v12]

Congrats Naztone- they wouldn't give you the display bike. But if you are still worried about it , check the VIN number of the display bike before you take delivery. The other option is you can ask them that you want to select the bike from their godown for PDI.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by v12

Nice pics Avi! The home made vada pav looks yummy!! Had a few questions :

Actually it was nice but, it could have been better if Pav was soft which was not the case as it had become quite cold


Why so many questions? Don't tell me you are considering selling your Z and buying a V?

Originally Posted by v12

[*]How did the Coocase fare in this ride? Was there any rattle or did the mounts become lose?

I have done many long rides with Coocase and it works perfectly fine. No rattle, no dislodging of the case at any point. It's rather simple and takes a whole of 10 seconds to affix and remove it from the rack on the back.

Coocase advises maximum speed of 120kmph with it affixed but, I have done much higher speeds which I would refrain from quoting here and when I glanced back the coocase was still where it was supposed to be..LOL!

Originally Posted by v12

[*]How was the rear seat comfort? And how is it to get in and off the bike for your wife?

My wife loves the rear seat comfort more than Bonnie (but, then naturally) and she would get up and stand on the foot-pegs after maybe every 75kms to give some rest to the backside.

I would climb first and she would put her left foot on the left side foot-peg and raise up holding my shoulder and slides in her right leg over the seat. Initially she had some trouble but, I taught her this simple motion and she now has practiced it and gets onboard and off-board with ease

Originally Posted by v12

[*]Regarding the panniers - there are a lot of options available in the market - Shad, Givi, OE Kawasaki LT panniers etc. Are they all a direct fit on the side mounts? Or do you gave to modify / make brackets / additional mounts to fit them?

Any branded side panniers you buy. They come with brackets of their own.

You will have to fit the brackets to the side bars and then load the panniers on them. All these are more or less direct fit as it's made specifically for Versys (650/1000)

Btw, all these branded panniers (side + top) cost roughly 80K-100K

Originally Posted by v12

[*]One of the best demo that I have always seen the Triumph guys giving their customers is climbing onto the bike using the footpegs with the side stand down. Is that possible on the Versys too? And is it possible for the pillion to climb on with the side stand down? Can the stand take the weight of rider and pillion? - not that I am going to try it hehehhe[/list]

Dont expect any demo from Kawasaki. They are horrible in terms of customer service and dont stand a candle in front of the Triumph guys who will do anything to sell you a bike

To answer your question. My wife mounted on versys with it on side stand ON plenty of times and I have mounted the V after she got on. This is another we have practiced and perfected it also

But, we both never mounted with side stand on and I would not recommend also

Originally Posted by Naztone

Firstly a big thank you to mobike0008 and onaversys - reading both your write ups has given me the guts to book a Versys myself.

Congratulations and glad to know that my thread helped in your decision.

You will be happy to know that Mumbai is the most happening city for V owners as If i'm not wrong its the city with largest V owners in India and when they go for rides its a sight to behold with 10/15/20 V owners together

Originally Posted by Naztone

I do have a request: if you can give pointers on what to check for during delivery.

It's like any other normal bike and a detailed PDI is not really required. Just check for the following :

1. Scratches
2. Leakages
3. This is important. Check for ABS light to come on and go off after you start riding. A few V owners found it ON continuously and can you believe what the problem was? KTM folks fixed the front wheel reverse. So ensure this is not the case with your bike

Originally Posted by Naztone

In my case have found the KTM showroom staff to be good at giving jazz but not that technically sound - both times I saw the display bike there was condensation pooling below the gearbox and a drop of coolant on the floor.I think the display bike is probably going to be delivered to me

Yes. I too got very good service from the KTM folks but, like you rightly said they are clueless with regards to V in terms of parts/service queries etc

So when is delivery of your V? Congrats again and ride safe !!!