[bikerzindia]

My Dream Bike:

Since my childhood like any kid, I always dreamt of owning a superbike. Finally my dream came true last year when I checked out all the bikes of almost all the brands available from the Ducati, Harley, Triumph, Benelli and finally I purchased a Kawasaki Versys 650 as touring was what my requirement from the bike was. I purchased it from Popular Motors Mekhri Circle Bangalore and took delivery on 4 August 2016 two days prior to my birthday. The Bike is registered in the name of my firm Pradhaan Enterprises and the registration number of the bike is KA01HR8182.

Dream Ride on My Dream Bike:

After purchasing the Versys supposedly a tourer , I started my All Indian State Capitals and Union Territories tour on 11 Sep 2016. I started my tour from Bangalore and covered the eastern side of India and entered the North East on about 18 Sep 2016.

Dream turns Nightmare:

On 22 Sep 2016, while on way from Aizwal the capital of Mizoram to Silchar (Assam), the clutch failed and I met with an accident. The accident was caused by sudden declutching of the bike on a bad patch near Kwang Pui (Mizoram) with about 9200 kms on the odometer. I was then helped by Mr. Mona & his boys who drive a transport vehicle. They tried to fix the gear lever and footrest as the clamp which holds both had broken off.

But even after it was fixed, the bike would switch off as soon as the gear was engaged. They therefore helped & towed my bike to the nearest village. I then called the Road Side Assistance (Orange Assist) & the bike was then towed from Kwang Pui Mizoram to Silchar (Assam) to the KTM/Kawasaki Service Center. The technician there Mr. Hifzul had a check on the clutch assembly and told me that the clutch assembly had got fried as there was no proper supply of oil to the clutch assembly. I asked if this could be repaired and I was told that it would be better if I shipped my bike to the mainland because it would take extra days to get the spares shipped to the North East India. Here I was in touch with Mr. Angshuman Goswami & Technician of Silchar KTM Mr. Hifzul.

I later booked my bike to Delhi by Railways (on my own expense) as it is the capital and expected to have a better service. A friend of mine Mr. Gaurav Choudhary received the bike in Delhi and got it transported to the supposedly biggest and best service center M/s Bagga Auto Link Kirtinagar on while I continued my ride with a borrowed Bullet from a friend. I was in constant touch with the KTM/Kawasaki ASM of Delhi Mr. Kasim Baig, Mr. Petse Sparkson from Popular Motors Bangalore from where I purchased my bike and ASM of Bangalore Mr. Chandrashekar and also people from M/s Bagga Auto Link.

Nightmare turns worse:

To my utter dismay, when I reached Delhi Service Center M/S Bagga Auto on 7 Oct 2016, my bike was standing in a corner in the Service center untouched between many other KTM Dukes. When I asked the incharge Mr. Mahendar, he told me they had made indent for the parts and were waiting for the parts to arrive. I asked them, if they had investigated what was wrong and seen if they need to order any more parts, they said they could not open the clutch assembly without parts in hand. I asked them how could they get to know what parts to order without seeing what was wrong, they did not have an answer. Finally after a lot of my pleading, they finally agreed to check what was wrong. The technician there struggled for almost 3.5-4 hours but in vain to open the clutch assembly.

As I could not waste more than a day there, I continued my ride and completed riding all 29 state capitals and 5 union Territories and completed it on 20 Oct 2016, with my bike still laying at M/s Bagga Auto link Kirtinagar. My demand here was that I wanted the clutch assembly to be replaced under warranty as if had failed in less than 2 months and at just 9200 on the odometer and without any investigation, Mr. Kasim Baig's stand was that KTM/Kawasaki will not change it under warranty and that I will have to pay for it. Meanwhile I was trying constantly to get in touch with Mr. Kasim Baig but he kept on ignoring my calls and whatsapp messages, so finally had to find out number of his higher ups and through a friend and a versys owner from Gujarat Mr. Divyesh Sejpal, finally got connected to Mr. Mihir Kashyap Head of Northern Division and he then confirmed that the clutch assembly will be changed under warranty and I would have to pay for the Accidental Damages and then get it reimbursed from my insurance company even though the accident was a result of mechanical failure.

I again had to travel to Delhi (on my own expense) to bring my bike back and finally got the bike on 18 November 2016 after about 45 days of the bike laying in the service station. I asked what the issue was and why this thing happened and the technician as well as the incharge at M/s Bagga Auto Link Kirtinagar did not reveal it to me on record but told me during their investigation, they had found an issue with one of the components and only because of that they had changed it under warranty, when I asked him for more details, he refused to. I had also asked for the investigation report to be shared with me which they refused to do. I then rode the bike from Delhi to Bangalore and meanwhile I wasn't very
happy with the performance of the bike post the replacement of the clutch assembly.

I was following up with Mr. Mohit from M/s Bagga Auto Link to submit my bill and Payment confirmation to the New India Assurance surveyor but in vain. Finally I had to request a friend and Versys owner Mr. Ishan to collect the same from Mr. Mohit and personally hand it over to the surveyor. Finally I received the reimbursement from the insurance company on 9 Feb 2017.

The Horror continues:

Once I reached Bangalore I was quite busy with my pending works and did only a couple of Weekend Breakfast rides. Since I wasn't very happy with the performance, I decided to get the clutch assembly opened and checked if everything was fine. So with reference of a fellow Versys owner Mr. Sandeep took the bike on 10 Dec 2016 to the KTM/Kawasaki Service Center. As the technician Mr. Manjunath was quite busy, he took test ride of the bike and told me to get the bike on 14 Dec 2016 as he was busy with other pre booked pending bikes and that I could ride the bike without any issues. As pre decided I took the bike on 14 Dec 2016 to the service center again and Mr. Manjunath checked the bike and tried to fix the issues. I however insisted the clutch assembly be checked for which he told me that they did not have stock of the packing and that they would indent it and get the same after which he could open the clutch assembly to check. He also reiterated that there was no issue with the clutch plates or assembly. During this time the odometer reading was about 12,200 (approx). Meanwhile I was using my bike only for weekend breakfast rides. Finally about 12 days later I got a call from the technician at Indiranagar Bangalore saying that the packing has arrived so on 28 Dec 2016, I took the bike to the KTM/Kawasaki Indiranagar service station. Current odometer reading on the bike is 12,700. The technician then opened the clutch assembly and told me that the clutch plates, the clutch Hub, wheel hub and a few other parts of the clutch assembly were worn out unnaturally. I asked him what the reason could be and he did not have a satisfactory explanation. I then spoke to the Incharge Mr. Anil the next day and he said the details have been given to Mr. Chandrashekhar ASM Bangalore.

I also spoke to Mr. Petse Sparkson from Popular Motors from where I had purchased the bike and he said that he would put in a word to Mr. Chandrashekar and that he could not do much as the bike wasn't in their service station. I requested him to provide me email id of Mr. Chandrashekhar. I had to follow it up for more than once and all I ended up was getting a wrong mail id of Mr. Chandrashekhar.

I on 30 Dec 2016 spoke to Mr. Chandrashekhar regarding the issue and he said he would check and get back to me by 02 Jan 2017. I again sent him a whatsapp message on 31 Dec 2016 asking him to share his mail id for which till now I haven't got a reply. I also tried calling Mr. Chandrashekar quite a few times but he too like his colleague Mr. Kasim Baig isn't responding to calls or Whatsapp Messages seems more like a company protocol or training given by the company.

I do understand that machines can have problems and that is common but I am extremely unhappy with the kind of response I have got from the companies involved here M/s Bajaj Auto Ltd., M/s India Kawasaki Motors Pvt. Ltd. and their employees because none of them want to take up the issue and sort this out. The first time I had issue, I had spoken to call centers of both Bajaj Auto and Kawasaki and also sent a mail to M/s India Kawasaki Motors and received a reply from them saying it has been forwarded to concerned company M/s Bajaj Auto Ltd, but till date I haven't heard from M/s Bajaj Auto Ltd, nor any follow up call from M/s India Kawasaki Motors Pvt. Ltd.

After investing about 8 lakhs on the bike and over a lakh on the accessories the problems I have been facing not just machine wise but also service wise and response wise is extremely poor and not expected from any reputable brand be it M/s Bajaj Auto Ltd or M/s India Kawasaki Motors.

I demanded a thorough investigation from a certified & experienced technical team, the report be shared with me, the issue solved and the bike be certified that it would not have the same issue again because I did not want to be riding a ticking bomb as I have earlier had a crash because of this problem. Was I as a customer/Owner of a bike asking for too much from the company?

I sent the first mail on 4 Jan 2017, second mail on 11 Jan 2017 and the final mail on 7 Feb 2017. I am still waiting for a response from them.

In my final mail, since I had so many horrendous instances with Kawasaki & Bajaj, I have mailed them seeking for a refund because of below points:

1) The malfunction in the bike which caused my accident in Mizoram which luckily I survived.

2) The time taken by the Authorized Service Center M/s Bagga Auto Link Kirtinagar in Delhi & their so called Trained Technician to (So called) investigate issues , source the spare parts and put the bike in so called running condition.

3) As soon as I took re delivery of the bike after about 40 odd days of it laying in M/s Bagga Auto Link, I took a test ride and told the technician that somehow the bike did not feel as before, but he said its all fixed and as good as before which wasn't the case.

4) As soon as I reached Bangalore, I discussed this with fellow Versys riders and told them that I did not feel comfortable riding the bike, they all said that it was in my mind and that the Kawasaki guys are know for their Prompt service and Quality. I believed them and continued riding my bike trusting the supposedly best quality of product and service of Kawasaki.

5) But then the problems again started to occur with gear shifting and hardness in clutch for which I pro-activly took the bike to their authorized service center M/s Khivraj Motors in Indiranagar Bangalore. Here I asked the technician to open the clutch assembly and check the installation done by M/s Bagga Auto Link, the technician cited non availability of spares as the reason for his inability to open the clutch assembly. He did some adjustments and said that the bike would run fine and in case I still had doubts then he would call me as soon as the packing would arrive for which I need to make an order. I asked him to do the same as I did not want to ride a machine which would endanger my and life of my family as well as other road users.

6) After the packing arrived, I received a call from the technician and when I took my bike I found the same problem had recurred withing 3,000 kms of it being investigated and problem being solved by their authorized service station M/s Bagga Auto Link Kirtinagar New Delhi.

7) The bike has ever since (28 December 2016 )been laying in the Khivraj Motors Indiranagar Service Center and I have not had any updates nor a proper response from any of the involved parties Namely:

a) Mr. Petse Sparkson from Popular Motors Mekhri Circle from where I bought the bike,
b) Mr. Chandrashekhar ASM Bajaj/KTM
c) Mr. Ashwith Shetty from M/s India Kawasaki Motors
d) Mr. Majeed from Khivraj Motors where my bike is laying now for almost 40 days.
8) Also the non transparency maintained by them over sharing the issues with the bike with me.

I had purchased the bike to use the bike and enjoy riding around India but the same has now become a headache and torture thanks to the Kawasaki Quality and Service and supply of Spares. Also I would not like to endanger my life by riding a technically unsound machine.

I have also forwarded the mails to Mr. Yamashita Yutaka the MD of India Kawasaki Motors on 8 Feb 2017 expecting that at least he would respond back with promptness. Till date even that mail is laying unanswered.

I would also make a petition against companies like these who sell bikes & cars in India without making proper availability of spare parts or trained technicians for the same holding customers to ransom after investing huge amount of hard money.

This is just the beginning, I still have a long way to go before I make them pay back for the faulty machine, the shoddy job by untrained technicians, poor or absolutely zero Customer centric approach 'Chalta Hai' attitude of the companies involved and their thought that 'we can get away with anything'.

I would like you all to share this with maximum people so that no other people suffer what I have gone through and also this reached the deaf ears and blind eyes of the companies involved and also those companies who are setting shop in India to sell crappy products with inferior parts as well as absolutely no service or spares networks and zero customer service.

Thanks,

Pradosh Hattikudur

[bikerzindia]

Recurring Issue with respect to clutch assembly in Kawasaki versys 650.pdf

[bblost]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line.

[Jaggu]

Sorry to hear about your ordeal Pradosh. The Versys 650 is supposed to be a niggle free tourer, and this somehow seems to be a manufacturing issue or another failing part leading to repeated failure of clutch assembly.

Do you have any picture of the clutch plates or other failed parts, apart from the one posted above?

I really can't understand why manufacturer's have such bad customer care process in place? The premium bikes are far lesser in number and reported issues would be so small, still nobody seem to have figured out an efficient / effective way to respond to customer complaints!

Hope this thread gets Kawasaki India's attention and they respond to you positively.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Sorry to hear about your ordeal Pradosh. The Versys 650 is supposed to be a niggle free tourer, and this somehow seems to be a manufacturing issue or another failing part leading to repeated failure of clutch assembly.

Pradosh is one best owners of the machine in India, who had done good long tours doing full justice to the touring capabilities of this machine.

Sorry part is that he would have done a lot more had the machine been reliable. There are others who have done more kms without issues, so it looks like this bike might have a manufacturing issue that needs attention.

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Hope this thread gets Kawasaki India's attention and they respond to you positively.

Unfortunately, to add to his misery - Kawasaki has chosen this exact timing to quit from the earlier Bajaj setup to their own independant one.

While I hope that means a better future for Kawasaki owners, I do fear this transition period is adding to his woes with transfer of responsibilities and ownership between different centers.

That said, the full ownership of this issue needs to be taken by Kawasaki India itself, rather than waiting for Bajaj to rectify what looks like an issue from their Delhi centre. Hope this thread will catch their attention fast, as it did in the case of the SNK dealership issue.

[AtheK]

Hard luck Pradosh, i really hope sense prevails with kawasaki and they either fix your bike to your satisfaction or replace the bike.

I am also in the market for a bike and was looking at N300, had even called Khivra Kawasaki who told me 2017 model would be reaching by mid year, so i had decided to wait.

Hearing your story and also the earlier one with SNK, i presume i am better off without a kawasaki and rather invest in TVS akula, atleast i would not have to struggle so bad for spare parts.

[The Brutailer]

Really pathetic. Kawasaki has become the Skoda of motorcycles. One horror story after another. They make equally good bikes like Skoda makes cars but both their servicing is more or less the same.

If Kawasaki doesn't change it's ways (which I hope they are by segregating with Bajaj) they'll have to quit the Indian market coz their VFM formula won't work if the ASS is this bad.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by The Brutailer

If Kawasaki doesn't change it's ways (which I hope they are by segregating with Bajaj)

I believe this is the reason. Ever since the KTM deal became a grand success, the treatment given to Kawasaki by Bajaj has been step-motherly at best.

The coverage would be less, as is the case with most such niche players. But atleast dedicated service centers should equate to trained mechanics and availability of atleast the common spares.

[cjt2012]

Its disheartening to hear your ordeal, ideally major manufacturers will not want issues like this to snowball, my opinion here would be that since you are determined to see this issue through to its logical conclusion, I would advice you to lodge a case in the consumer forum, once they take up the issue the manufacturer will be pressured to investigate the issue and if it is a problem with the design or if it affects other bikes in the batch a re call may be initiated. Companies like Honda (as are other Japanese companies)are pretty serious about product safety, I think the issue here is that the local dealers and asc Technicians do not have the experience and knowledge to do investigative work, it needs to go to a senior technician who has good knowledge and experience.
I must also add here that I have ridden with a few versys owners and all of them are very satisfied with the quality and performance of the bike ( however none of them have actually taken it for extensively Long ride like the one you have embarked on and also not just after taking deliver of the bike)so this may be a one off issue , but still requires a thorough investigation .
Additionally just for my information , was a proper running in carried out ? And was there an oil change done with the proper grade of oil after the running in period?

[marcussantiago]

It is sad stories like these that make intermediate bikers (like me) reconsider investing the mammoth amounts of money into an exotic superbike. This, of course, has a "chilling effect" where potential customers are scared off, and an already tiny market shrinks even further :(

[bikerzindia]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Sorry to hear about your ordeal Pradosh. The Versys 650 is supposed to be a niggle free tourer, and this somehow seems to be a manufacturing issue or another failing part leading to repeated failure of clutch assembly.

Do you have any picture of the clutch plates or other failed parts, apart from the one posted above?

I really can't understand why manufacturer's have such bad customer care process in place? The premium bikes are far lesser in number and reported issues would be so small, still nobody seem to have figured out an efficient / effective way to respond to customer complaints!

Hope this thread gets Kawasaki India's attention and they respond to you positively.

Somehow after riding it for about 12,700 kms on most of the terrains around India would beg to differ. Some of the parts used are of questionable quality like alloys being the most common. I know and can vouch that most in fact over 50% of the owners have rim bends on their Versys, others being broken T joints, leaking Shock absorbers and not to mention there were also a few cases of the front wheel being fixed wrong which hampered the functioning of ABS.

Originally Posted by AtheK

Hard luck Pradosh, i really hope sense prevails with kawasaki and they either fix your bike to your satisfaction or replace the bike.

I am also in the market for a bike and was looking at N300, had even called Khivra Kawasaki who told me 2017 model would be reaching by mid year, so i had decided to wait.

Hearing your story and also the earlier one with SNK, i presume i am better off without a kawasaki and rather invest in TVS akula, atleast i would not have to struggle so bad for spare parts.

My only advice will be check the service network before you buy any bike. With the break up, Kawasaki I think is going to be only in major metros. Also if you are going to spend over 2 or 3 lakhs, invest on a bike that is not CKD (Built/ sold under Partnership)

Originally Posted by cjt2012

Its disheartening to hear your ordeal, ideally major manufacturers will not want issues like this to snowball, my opinion here would be that since you are determined to see this issue through to its logical conclusion, I would advice you to lodge a case in the consumer forum, once they take up the issue the manufacturer will be pressured to investigate the issue and if it is a problem with the design or if it affects other bikes in the batch a re call may be initiated. Companies like Honda (as are other Japanese companies)are pretty serious about product safety, I think the issue here is that the local dealers and asc Technicians do not have the experience and knowledge to do investigative work, it needs to go to a senior technician who has good knowledge and experience.
I must also add here that I have ridden with a few versys owners and all of them are very satisfied with the quality and performance of the bike ( however none of them have actually taken it for extensively Long ride like the one you have embarked on and also not just after taking deliver of the bike)so this may be a one off issue , but still requires a thorough investigation .
Additionally just for my information , was a proper running in carried out ? And was there an oil change done with the proper grade of oil after the running in period?

I have spoken even to the technical person from IKM Mr. Ashwith Shetty, who flatly refused saying we have not yet broken partnership with Bajaj and only they can fix your bike and we are in no way responsible for the models below 650 cc. He said this even after I told him that the whole world knows about their break up.

I completely agree that machines can have problems but these problems should be discussed with owners and transparency maintained rather than saying 'You do not have right to ask questions as long as we are fixing your bike under warranty'. And a mail going unanswered for 45 days, and calls and whatsapp messages being ignored, can anyone explain this kind of a customer service?

I got my first oil change done at 1149 kms and had already clocked 3200 kms on the odometer before I started my tour. the next oil change was supposed to happen at 12,000 kms.

And while I am typing this I got a news that one other Versys owner has a problem with the Throttle Assembly. (The odometer on his bike is about 12,000+

[cjt2012]

Like I said in my earlier post, I think a legal proceeding with the consumer court seems to be a way ahead considering that the bike is still lying in the ASC and you are not receiving any help from the senior management at all.

As you said CKD bikes assembled in India will indeed have more issues than CBU, but in an Indian cost conscious market every rupee counts so most manufacturers opt for the cheaper option so they can pass on the benefit to the consumer; which then leads to this situation you are currently facing.

It is also a known fact that many manufacturers do tend to dump their sub standard / defective inventory in India ( a classic case was that of Porsche, which had some of its high end cars catching fire). This could also be one of the reasons that you have some of your fellow Versys riders having quality control issues as you mentioned ( broken T joints etc) . Alloys do tend to get damaged quiet frequently owing to our countries roads which are far from perfect.

Do you think you could strengthen your case if a few more aggrieved Versys owners sign up on a campaign against manufacturing defects/ quality control issues? Just a thought.

[Mortis]

Another horrible after sales service incident. I hope it gets solved to your satisfaction soon.

Just out of curiosity, you took the bike for a long tour just a month after delivery. Did you follow the correct run in procedure ? Did you get the first, second and so on services done during your trip ? Did you check with the SC that did these services if everything is OK ?

No questioning your competency but I guess this information is semi important in your case and you havent given details on this

[rbp]

This is an horror story, hope Kawasaki sorts it out.

Originally Posted by bikerzindia

I got my first oil change done at 1149 kms and had already clocked 3200 kms on the odometer before I started my tour. the next oil change was supposed to happen at 12,000 kms.

Just curious, AFAIK the first oil change is at 800 kms right? and next oil change every 6k kms. Didn't you change the oil after the first oil change at 1149 kms?

[bikerzindia]

Originally Posted by Mortis

Another horrible after sales service incident. I hope it gets solved to your satisfaction soon.

Just out of curiosity, you took the bike for a long tour just a month after delivery. Did you follow the correct run in procedure ? Did you get the first, second and so on services done during your trip ? Did you check with the SC that did these services if everything is OK ?

No questioning your competency but I guess this information is semi important in your case and you havent given details on this

The first service was to be around 1000 kms +/-. The second service was at 6000 kms post first service or 7200 kms and at that time I was in Assam and the service stations were closed that weekend. I was planning to get the service done once I reached Assam again after visiting Tripura and Mizoram but issue occured while I was on way from Mizoram. Oil change intervals for Versys 650 is 12,000 kms as per manual. Yes the running in was done and the odometer reading was 3,200 kms when I started my ride.

I bought the tourer to tour and so set off on my dream ride. Finally I had to depend on a Bull to complete my dream ride.