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-   -   One bike to tame them all! 'Black Panther' - My Kawasaki Versys 650. Edit: Now sold! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/superbikes-imports/183764-one-bike-tame-them-all-black-panther-my-kawasaki-versys-650-edit-now-sold-7.html)

Yes I am asking about the Versys650, because my friends brother owns it and he had 2 crashes. When asked what was the reason - he said the brakes are too spongy and hence when a kid came all of a sudden he could not brake and banged the car parked along side.

Hence, wanted to know from you all who have ridden the bike extensively.

That's the next dream destination, specially after hearing about Pabbas. :D

True. Big mistake not to have been drinking too much of water.

Now with the heavy Versys and all the riding gear, you'd have a tougher situation to manage. I haven't been using the bike for commuting purposes inside the city yet, but certainly not looking forward to it, during these summer conditions.

Thank you.

Two very experienced riders have commented below. As you'd already be knowing, mobike008 is a Versys rider himself and rbp is a N650 rider who has ridden my bike on a few occassions. I'll just add to their views below -

Very True. Front brakes are progressive, and the feel is almost like having drum brakes up front, but with way more stopping power. The abrupt biting power at the touch of the discs are missing on the Versys, but that makes it easy to modulate the brakes at higher speeds.

ABS is brilliant again. Not even a hint of skidding till now, even during panic braking - but on two occasions where I used to rear brake to help during panic braking situations - I did feel the ABS kicking in to keep the rear in control.

I do have one complaint with the braking though - which I'll elaborate at the end of this post -
Very true. Versys brakes are better than the N650, even the ones rbp ownes with upgraded steel braided brake lines.

As mentioned above, I do have one complaint with the braking. The brakes feel progressive at normal highway cruising speeds, but as the speeds climb to not-so-recommended figures, I do feel they feel a bit wooden, as against progressive. Only on two occasions where I had to brake hard from 4 lane highway speeds due to unmarked rumble strips on the highways, I felt that I wasn't really able to judge the amount of pressure required on the pedals for hard braking, which hasn't really been the case during city and normal cruising speeds.

But if he is not very happy with the braking, would suggest to upgrade to EBC full sintered brake pads. Some of the Versys guys are using it and it does offer a better bite as compared to the stock brake pads, while losing little bit of rotor life as the compensation for the added life.

Milestone Update: 5000 kms.

Number of days: 138 days (4 months, 16 days).

Average Usage: 36 kms /day.

Finally an update worth posting, after a short period of inactivity (Thanks to heavy workload and heavy pre-monsoon rains!).

Versys Bangalore Riders (Open whatsapp group for Versys owners) was invited for a ride to "Hum Devanagari", a residential township planned in the village of Gowdasandra, on the KA-AP border. A good Sunday morning breakfast ride plan was formed, and a record number of bikes turned up for the event - 26 bikes! Fun start to the week. clap:

Will just let the pictures do the talking -

Our hosts for the day - https://www.facebook.com/Humdevanagari/


Pic Courtesy - Nishanth N


Pic Courtesy - Pramod R. Nadig


Pic Courtesy - Pramod R. Nadig






Pic Courtesy - Raghuz




One green (and a V1000) to break the monotony of black V650s.


Last, but not least - My Versys 650 parked alongside the V1000.

There were riders with SLR cameras, GoPros etc and the hosts were also filming the action using drones. Hopefully, there would be a few action packed shots to share! :D

Sujai : What an awesome sight! It's simply breathtaking view to see so many black Versys lined up like thatclap:

If I'm not wrong Bangalore is #2 in terms of Versys owners in India after Mumbai as I see every other person buying a Versys is from Mumbai?

Now just imagine what will happen if Versys Bangalore Riders and Mumbai Versys Riders decide to have a meet?

It will be a fest of gigantic "Black Birds" stupid:

Imagine how many heads would have turned, on seeing 26 huge bikes riding in a disciplined line. Almost everyone on the road were looking at the convoy. :D

Thankfully, no one got carried away with all the attention and the ride was completed without any rogue incidents or issues.

True. clap:

Lets do a mumbai bangalore meet then... somewhere in between like Kolhapur MCD

Nice choice. Perfect for Hyderabad guys like Avi as well. The place falls right in between all these cities.

Not familiar with the area though. Any accommodation options to plan any overnight meet?

Yes in Kolhapur you can find many budget rooms and even Oyo rooms available. Hotels there charge something like 1500 per night for two. MC Donald is on the highway itself and is very prominent for anyone to miss.

I had proposed "NAGPUR" about 6 months back and still would recommend that place as it's a nice city and also major reason being it's the epicenter of India

I still think we should stick to Nagpur as its perfect location for the major Versys owners to come for a meet

1. Mumbai-Nagpur : 800kms
2. Hyd-Nagpur : 500kms
3. Bangalore-Nagpur : 1000kms ( All 4-lane highway until Nagpur. Hyderabad guys can join Bangalore folks)
4. Pune-Nagpur : 700kms

Easily doable for all over a weekend (Saturday/Sunday-Overnight)

Distance for Kolhapur just for comparison.

1. Mumbai-Kolhapur: 376 kms
2. Hyderabad-Kolhapur: 542kms
3. Bengaluru-Kolhapur: 611 kms
4. Pune-Kolhapur: 234 kms

In my opinion, if intention is mega-meet, less time should be spent in riding to destination & more time should be spent in meeting and talking with fellow riders.

For the first mega meet, lets stick to a place nearby or else people will anyways drop out looking at the distance they have to travel. Also Mumbai Nagpur is not that great road though its not bad either.

What ever the destination, lets plan the meet - that's more important and people should join in too. @mobike008 - can you kindly take the lead on this again and finalize the venue, dates and all other things. If you need help, I can help you.

Some quality clicks thanks to Versys rider MD Nasir who took the pain of carrying his SLR camera for the ride.

Green?


Or black?


Defenitely black. :D


Multistrada beak anyone?


The King 1000 and the queen green surrounded by a sea of soldiers.




Food was too good and too much! :D




The layout available for sale!

Fine with me. Let's go with the majority. However -

This is true as well. Longer the riding distance, lesser the final count of riders, in most cases.

I hope you understand distance in kms is not the worry at all as Versys can do 1000kms in a day easily if the roads are good

For e.g : Bangalore to Nagpur would be not more than 11-12 hours and it's 1000kms and possible only because it's 4-lane all through until Nagpur

Road conditions leading to Kolhapur is all 2-lane that increases your ride time. In comparison with same distance to Nagpur it will be less ride times (e.g Hyderabad to Kolhapur is 11 hours for 542kms and Nagpur is 500kms and will take just 6.5-7 hours)

Hyderabad to Kolhapur is through deepest parts of Maharashtra ( an area that Iam very familiar and it's all 2-lane rough roads) and most of roads are in terrible conditions especially around Jevargi

Trust me it will be a lot better than Hyd to Kolhapur which is mostly in shambles

Done. I will propose only 1 weekend option in July and we all have to work our other commitment around it. Only a family emergency should keep you away from the meet as it will be just for the weekend.

I dont agree. Issue is not the distance for Versys riders, it's the notice time. More the notice time, it gives people time to think of excuses to back-out:uncontrol

https://youtu.be/R1uuR7WzRIE

Versys rider and BHPian 'bikerzindia' uploaded the above video of the Versys ride from last week.