[Red Liner]

Your third service is 12,000 kms and not 15,000 so you are already way above the threshold.

Unless your bike has symptoms of a clogged airbox, like wheezing, stuttering at low rpm, bad idle, or generally poor acceleration, you can ride all you want.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Your third service is 12,000 kms and not 15,000 so you are already way above the threshold.

As per manual, Air Filter to be replaced at 15,000kms..No?

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Unless your bike has symptoms of a clogged airbox, like wheezing, stuttering at low rpm, bad idle, or generally poor acceleration, you can ride all you want.

I have no such symptoms and everything is normal which makes me believe that I can ride it for a few hundred kms more without getting it replaced as Air Filter and a few other essentials will arrive in a couple of weeks

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by mobike008

As per manual, Air Filter to be replaced at 15,000kms..No?



I have no such symptoms and everything is normal which makes me believe that I can ride it for a few hundred kms more without getting it replaced as Air Filter and a few other essentials will arrive in a couple of weeks

12,000. Service intervals are 6000 kms apart always.

Keep riding, should pose no problems. Worse case, remove the air filter and blow compressed air from a distance so as to not tear the element,but gently remove dust .

[Haroon]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Keep riding, should pose no problems. Worse case, remove the air filter and blow compressed air from a distance so as to not tear the element,but gently remove dust .

No issues Avi. I also second Red Liner's suggestion. If its easy to reach the filter, take it out and clean it with some high pressure air and all is well.
Just keep riding

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by Haroon

I also second Red Liner's suggestion. If its easy to reach the filter, take it out and clean it with some high pressure air and all is well.

It's not easy to remove the air filter on the Versys as it is located below the fuel tank and requires quite a bit of fairing and the fuel tank to come off. 12k service is an important one and it should not be skipped under any circumstances. However the Air cleaner element needs to be replaced at 18000 km service, although under Indian dusty conditions I would advice it to be replaced at the 12k service. Also the spark plugs need to be changed at this 12k service and that again is located below the air filter housing. All chassis parts needs proper lubrication at this 12k service also.

Cheers...

[Urban_Nomad]

In case the filter is not available at the SVC, worst case scenario would be install an aftermarket one. Pretty sure K&N makes one

[mobike008]

Thanks guys for your responses

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Keep riding, should pose no problems. Worse case, remove the air filter and blow compressed air from a distance so as to not tear the element,but gently remove dust .

Originally Posted by Haroon

No issues Avi. I also second Red Liner's suggestion. If its easy to reach the filter, take it out and clean it with some high pressure air and all is well. Just keep riding

Originally Posted by dkaile

It's not easy to remove the air filter on the Versys as it is located below the fuel tank and requires quite a bit of fairing and the fuel tank to come off. 12k service is an important one and it should not be skipped under any circumstances.

As Dkaile mentioned, removing filter is not easy as it would require us to remove the fairings below the tank and then access it and it's a fairly cumbersome job for a newbie. But, during the 12K kms service KTM lead mechanic removed and fixed it back in a jiffy (~15 mins) and removed it again to fix a swishy sound that was due to a small rubber valve he replaced. And, he fixed back the fairing second time even faster and didn't fitted it properly (there was quite a gap on left side of fairing) and I had rode to Goa and back in that condition as I noticed it only in Goa

Bottom line, it's easy to remove fairing for an experienced individual and not for a newcomer

My riding is only for pleasure and I dont use the bike for commute so it always sees open roads and no stop and go traffic so it should be fine to ride for some more kms till I get the stock air filter from US

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

In case the filter is not available at the SVC, worst case scenario would be install an aftermarket one. Pretty sure K&N makes one

K&N, BMC and few other make filters for Versys 650 but, they cost a bomb (INR 6500 + Shipping) whereas stock air filter is INR 1600/-

For a air filter replacement interval of 15,000kms it will take 60,000kms for me to get a ROI from the after-market filter not to mention they tend to get clogged faster and would need additional cleaning equipment (added cost)

In an emergency, most certainly will buy the aftermarket but, for now will wait for the stock ones to arrive

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

In case the filter is not available at the SVC, worst case scenario would be install an aftermarket one. Pretty sure K&N makes one

Unfortunately k and n does not make one for the versys. However there are many others including bmc, pipercross, etc.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Thanks guys for your responses
K&N, BMC and few other make filters for Versys 650 but, they cost a bomb (INR 6500 + Shipping) whereas stock air filter is INR 1600/-

Far far more cheaper in the us, if you have someone coming down who can carry an air filter of that size, nothing like it, just buy it. And i mean a bmc or a dna.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Far far more cheaper in the us, if you have someone coming down who can carry an air filter of that size, nothing like it, just buy it. And i mean a bmc or a dna.

Ramana : Getting the stock air filter ordered from US along with brake pads for both front and rear.

I dont want to go after market for air filters as having used them plenty in the past it's a pain to maintain them

[mobike008]

Resisting riding the Versys despite the impending issues highlighted in previous post was just not possible and took it out for a short spin of 125kms

It was a beautiful morning and the cool air nipping into me felt great and made me forget the air-filter issues

Wish Kawasaki didn't make us ride the bike akin to folks in drought prone areas saving water and drinking by the drop

[mobike008]

Dark Knight finally reaches this lovely figure

This has been the most amazing, effortless, enjoyable, thrilling, memorable and last but, not the least, reliable & trouble-free 15,000kms of a motorcycle ownership

Mimicking McDonald's ad line "I'm Lovin' it"

[mobike008]

My Christmas gifts came in 7 months earlier, look what the Santa Claus got me

The drought has finally ended and I reckon it was just waiting for Dark Knight to complete the 15,000kms mark for flood gates to open

Thanks to a good friend and BHPian, finally got the air filter and brake pads sourced from India itself

Now it's peace of mind for another 15K kms (hopefully....)

[kailashnj]

Originally Posted by mobike008

My Christmas gifts came in 7 months earlier, look what the Santa Claus got me

The drought has finally ended and I reckon it was just waiting for Dark Knight to complete the 15,000kms mark for flood gates to open

Thanks to a good friend and BHPian, finally got the air filter and brake pads sourced from India itself

Now it's peace of mind for another 15K kms (hopefully....)

Who was the santa claus here. I might need them too ...

[mobike008]

After several weeks, it was fantastic to have majority of our small group make it for a Saturday ride to Srisailam Highway to a restaurant on the highway owned by a fellow biker. This place is located about 120kms from a city central point and is a fantastic route of smooth tarmac and 2-lane road.

It had rained quite heavily on Friday night and due to which morning was super pleasant and extremely windy. All of us met on time at 6:30am and I was surprised to see a small kid in the group (he's actually 18 years old and nephew of one of Versys rider) on a Duke 200. He was a revelation as he rode maturely and was mostly in the front of the group

We also had BHPian Anurag join in his car (1.6 Scross) with his daughters who loved the drive and enjoyed the drone fun!

We reached the restuarant and everyone enjoyed some nice breakfast and coffee (3 cups for me as I skipped breakfast) and some fun with a drone carried along by friend Haseeb (Speed Tripple) who has 2 drones. Apparently, this one was expensive (1.5 lakhs) and has a mind boggling 7-km range

Then BHPian DPSHarma (Z800) and Haseeb (Speed Tripple) were kind enough to give me their bikes for a quick spin on that mostly empty 2-lane tarmac where I had a good run on these bikes. Have some fly by videos of both rides and Z800 with SC project exhausts was super sweet to hear compared to a rather dull hum from the Tripple. But, both are extremely fast machines and can reach unmentionable speeds at a flick of the wrist.

After riding the above machines, Versys felt like a "Moped" for the first few kilometers..

While we are all chit chatting, Versys, Bonnie and Kiddo on Duke 200 went for some offroading. They only came back an hour later with satiated look on their faces..LOL

We started our journey back towards home and not even 20kms away when we were all close enough, Something fell in front of me (about 50 feet away) from the back of a truck and rolled over to the other side of lane. There was a water tanker coming from other side and he was totally surprised to see something big land up in his lane and he swerved left very hard and went off the road and I was seeing the whole thing in "slow motion". He criss crossed and climbed some sand mounds and got stuck in a place just before a 25 feet drop. Thankfully, tanker was loaded with water otherwise he would have gone over and fell in that 25 feet deep gorge. It was shocking to see the tanker was driven by a 12-13 year old kid and he luckily got away with some minor bruises.

All of us stopped to help the kid but, realized not much damage happened to him and were happy for him. Btw, that object was an old air-cooler that fell on the road from behind the truck

Rode back home without anymore events and was an enjoyable 250kms ride

At the meeting point



18-year old Duke 200 rider



Stop at Airport for folks to fuel up





Breakfast point







Fellow Versys owner and an avid rider who has a blog as well as does city traffic charity events during weekends. He also has many motorcycle basic lessons videos





The lucky water tanker

[idpsharma]

It was fantastic ride indeed with good turn out. Enjoyed every moment of it and ofcourse Avi's FlyBy's. Nice and crisp write up on our ride, but where are your flyby videos?