light, dry and manouverable - lane splitting will be
a cakewalk, and motorway sections hold no fear at
all. But the beauty of the wee Versys is its ability
to transform into a proper lightweight adventure
bike. This is the bike you pull out of the garage on
a spring Saturday morning, whizz down to score a
coffee, gas up, and head for the coast. Onto the
twisting, winding dirt tracks and out on to the
beach for a blat, back over the pine roads, before
a brisk wee trot home amongst the motorway
denizens, a flash over with the hose, and then back
in the garage ready for what ever Sunday holds.
Given a thrashing this little twin responds. And it
grows on you day by day. I have had bikes that sit
and glower at you beside the front door, sort of
daring you to get aboard and buckle up, but the
Versys is like a constant invitation to ‘come out
and play’ - it’s non-threatening, but very able.
At 175kg it’s fairly light, and stopping power is
good with single discs front and rear, and traction
in the loose is pretty fine. I had to work hard to get
the ABS to fire up noticeably. That 19-inch front
wheel carves beautifully, and imparts confidence.
The six-speed ‘box is smart, but after a while at the
speed limit the vibration can tell on you a trifle,
and I found myself longing for an overdrive.
At 3.7 gallons or 17 litres in the tank, you can
KIWI RIDER 61