[jkdas]

This wasn't expected! Congrats! The biker reminds me of 'Night Fury' character!

Q: you could have waited for the new bonnies ( yes you had a 8 lac limit...still).

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by dkaile

May I suggest this high quality 3.1A Waterproof power port from Ali Express - http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-...901527525.html and its less than 1k.

Thanks for the link. I have never shopped at Ali Express. How does it work? I know they do free shipping but, does it attract any duties?

Also what is their timelines for delivery from your personal experience?

I see quite a few nice accessories for the bike including a cool Kawasaki jacket for 5K

Originally Posted by shan_ned

mobike008,
There is no need for having the gear indicator. Once you get used to riding your bike for a couple of months or so, you will figure out the gear level on your own. I too felt the need for gear indicators in the first few weeks, but as time passed by, I was able to figure it out on my own.

Just for your information, here is the speed per 1000 rpm for each gear.
1st gear: 6.5 kmph
2nd gear: 10.7 kmph
3rd gear: 13.7 kmph
4th gear: 16.5 kmph
5th gear: 19.0 kmph
6th gear: 21.5 kmph

The above figures will give some hints in figuring out the gear level. At least I can figure out the 4th/5th/6th gear easily.

Shan, thanks for sharing these figures. If I understand correctly all kmph listed above is only for 1000RPM? Correct?

And, I agree with you. Once you ride more, you get to know which gear you are in. As mentioned before, I upshift quickly to 3rd and enjoy the bike from 3rd-6th gear as I personally think this is where the real fun is. Actually, it's between 3rd gear to 5th gear !!!

Did you test ride the Versys 650? Keen to know your comparison report. Please do soon

Originally Posted by Jaggu

And bent alloys, your bike has easy adjustments for rear shock use that insted of lowering air pressure. Worth it.

Jaggu, I know it's appraisal time and your working hard...But, I think your comment is contrary to what Gthang recommended. He also said NOT to ride with lower air pressure

And, your comment also says the same thing

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Totally agree about the range game!! Specially in the summer months you will not know how soon you can get dehydrated and start feeling light headed. But to Avi's credit, i think he was only guesstimating in terms of comfort how far he can ride this bike compared to the other bikes that he had owned in the past and never meant to push outside of the comfort limits of fatigue that hits the rider. Will let Avi comment further though.

Abhi, You are correct. I guestimated that we can comfortably ride 250kms non-stop (if it's smooth highways) on Versys 650. But, I agree with you, Jaggu and others that range game is plain stupidity. I go with the Triumph ad "For the Ride".....and these records or over the top boasting points don't matter to me

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

Congrats Avi on getting another awesome beast in your garage. I have been itching for a while to upgrade from the D390 and the V650 was the perfect bike both in terms of power and price point. However the saddle height is what spoiled the party. However will take your suggestion and check YT for videos for tips for short riders.

Hey Ani! Thanks and wonderful to see you here. Congrats on your Skoda RS too...moved the focus completely from trucks to sedans eh...LOL!

For your short stature, it might be tough to manage this tall bike. But, there are plenty of folks who are short they ride these tall bikes. Only thing is the bike need to hit you where it matters....Buy it, will meet you mid-way at Ananthapur for lunch !!!

Originally Posted by VW2010

On long distance commutes with group we follow a simple rule. Ride an hour but break for 15 minutes atleast. It's only time we use as a parameter. The early morning start means the first stretch is usually the longest with target as breakfast spot. Usually post breakfast split is also on the higher side for a nice long lunch break.

Post lunch it's mandatory 1 hr breaks. And by 7 things have to come to a stop. If I ride alone I like night rides. Group rides are strictly in day light only.

Let me highlight a few anecdotes here when I owned the Bonnie. Made a few trips to Bangalore on it. As you know Hyderabad-Bangalore is 600+ kms and I used to do this in 6 hours flat including stop for water, lunch etc

Infact, one of the ride we started from Bangalore at 6pm and I was home in Hyderabad at midnight. Again 6 hours flat for 600kms even during night time and this included a stop for dinner too

And, we all were just cruising at a relaxed pace !!

You will need fewer stops on roads like Hyd-Bangalore. But, if it's other 2 lane bad roads these stops increase.

Overall, it all depends on road condition, seat comfort and rider fitness

Originally Posted by Urban_Nomad

Hey Avi bhai - Blipping or Rev-matching is best described in this awesome video by Kieth Code. I would also recommend watching the complete "Twist of the Wrist" video whenever you get a chance. This video is an excerpt from the same

Hey Karan. Where do you come up with such lovely videos? Thanks dude! Very nice for folks wanting to learn new stuff

Originally Posted by pawan_pullarwar

ok, so coming weekend I am going to test ride and decide weather to sell my Bonneville or keep it .

How is the ride in a city traffic compare to Bonneville? I guess for highway cruising and long touring it is definitely way better than Bonneville? I am planning to do North east ride in coming months, where most of the roads are broken, I am guessing Versys will perform better than Bonneville.

Hey Pawan. Nice to see you here

If I recall correctly, you sold the Ninja 650 and bought the Bonnie. Now your considering the Versys 650 which has an engine similar to Ninja 650

I will highly anticipate your feedback after a detailed test ride of Versys 650 as you will have a 360 degree view of these machines

To answer your query :

Versys is a hoot to ride in thin traffic. you can be that hooligan that our parents are scared of...LOL! Please make a note of this aspect when you ride the V650. It feels lighter than Bonnie and as mentioned in my previous posts is highly flickable and you can dart in and out of traffic like a black missile ejected from Agni (incidentally all research for it was done in DRDO in Hyderabad)

Would love to hear a comparison report of Bonnie vs Versy650 and Ninja 650 vs. Versys 650.

I think what you will miss in Versys 650 is the infectious torque of Bonnie !!!

Originally Posted by jkdas

This wasn't expected! Congrats! The biker reminds me of 'Night Fury' character!Q: you could have waited for the new bonnies ( yes you had a 8 lac limit...still).

JK, I enjoyed the Bonnie for 11000kms. Time to enjoy newer pastures !!!

I would love to have a Bonnie too in my garage. Sigh! Maybe someday

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by mobike008

I have never shopped at Ali Express. How does it work? I know they do free shipping but, does it attract any duties?

Also what is their timelines for delivery from your personal experience?

It's just like shopping on any other website like ebay. You will need a credit card. It is converted and billed in rupees. Anything below a 100$ has not attracted any duties for me till date. The Postman delivers it in around 15~25 days. Am quite happy. Many of these Chinese sellers are OE suppliers to these big brands like Dianese etc. and I found their quality remarkably same (including all original labels) at a fraction of the cost. e.g. a 7" LED Daymaker headlight for the Harley arrived to me @ less than 7k without any duties charged, when the showroom sells it for around 30k and quality is remarkably good. Hope you get the drift.

[downsouth]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Hey Chetan. Thanks dude. Please bear with these tourers. They cannot keep up with you pocket rockets. And, lets ride next weekend when your back in town

yeah it is the same infamous bike but ridden sedately by the new owner now. Looks like I will out of action for a few weeks, I will try and catch up for an early morning ride pretty soon.

In the meanwhile I highly recommend you to fix lamar lip since you plan to tour extensively. I guess they do not have it for the latest gen Versys drop in an email those guys are pretty helpful.

http://www.laminarlip.com/versys.php

Cheers

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Jaggu, I know it's appraisal time and your working hard...But, I think your comment is contrary to what Gthang recommended. He also said NOT to ride with lower air pressure

And, your comment also says the same thing

eh

1- no, it is not for us (appraisal time)

2- which part of my comment you felt was contradicting to gthang? I added to his comment, and said that "in your bike you have choices to keep the choppy ride under control, without compromising on air pressure".

Sharing air pressure tip which i learned, am sure many might have better methods.

- Buy an electronic tyre pressure gauge, one should get it as low as 700-800 bucks from amazon and ebay. Take readings first thing in the morning and correct the pressure if you have a portable compressor at home.

- If not ride till the place where you fill up, take a reading of pressure before you fill up, you will see there is an increase. (Performance oriented tyres typically pick up 2-3 psi with a 2 km ride during day before stabilizing there).

- Now while topping up, add this 2-3 psi to the pressure you are pumping in ie if the psi reading increased from 38 to 40 psi after running till the fill up point, and your recommended psi is 42; pump in 44 psi. Next day morning take the psi reading once again, it would be almost on dot to the recommended cold psi. Even if it is slightly higher, you can always reduce so always pump in a lil more the previous night

ps: i have done this with only 4-5 kms run and filling up air, not sure if this would work after longer or more aggressive rides.

[shan_ned]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Shan, thanks for sharing these figures. If I understand correctly all kmph listed above is only for 1000RPM? Correct?

And, I agree with you. Once you ride more, you get to know which gear you are in. As mentioned before, I upshift quickly to 3rd and enjoy the bike from 3rd-6th gear as I personally think this is where the real fun is. Actually, it's between 3rd gear to 5th gear !!!

Did you test ride the Versys 650? Keen to know your comparison report. Please do soon

Yes, the figures are mentioned for 1000RPM.

I am yet to do a test ride for V650, but I am quite sure V650 is a far better one in all aspects. Still, I am planning for a test ride just for a comparison (though I don't have any plan for moving away from N650). For me, the one deal breaker for V650 is the ABS. Few of us are obsessed with the sport fairing and other stuff, but I feel the Indian motorcycle market is maturing fast enough and I am sure majority of the new customers will opt for the practicality offered by V650 when given an opportunity to choose between the Versys and the Ninja.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by dkaile

It's just like shopping on any other website like ebay. You will need a credit card. It is converted and billed in rupees. Anything below a 100$ has not attracted any duties for me till date. The Postman delivers it in around 15~25 days. Am quite happy. Many of these Chinese sellers are OE suppliers to these big brands like Dianese etc. and I found their quality remarkably same (including all original labels) at a fraction of the cost. e.g. a 7" LED Daymaker headlight for the Harley arrived to me @ less than 7k without any duties charged, when the showroom sells it for around 30k and quality is remarkably good. Hope you get the drift.

Awesome. I normally pick up stuff when I travel abroad and have never used any websites that ship to India. So this input is good, thanks!

Will try a few low cost items first to see how it works out

Originally Posted by downsouth

In the meanwhile I highly recommend you to fix lamar lip since you plan to tour extensively. I guess they do not have it for the latest gen Versys drop in an email those guys are pretty helpful.

Thanks for the link. I don't think I will need it just yet. Current shield is a good 60mm tall and provides quite decent protection. Will take a call after my first long ride

Originally Posted by Jaggu

- Buy an electronic tyre pressure gauge, one should get it as low as 700-800 bucks from amazon and ebay. Take readings first thing in the morning and correct the pressure if you have a portable compressor at home.

- If not ride till the place where you fill up, take a reading of pressure before you fill up, you will see there is an increase. (Performance oriented tyres typically pick up 2-3 psi with a 2 km ride during day before stabilizing there).

- Now while topping up, add this 2-3 psi to the pressure you are pumping in ie if the psi reading increased from 38 to 40 psi after running till the fill up point, and your recommended psi is 42; pump in 44 psi. Next day morning take the psi reading once again, it would be almost on dot to the recommended cold psi. Even if it is slightly higher, you can always reduce so always pump in a lil more the previous night

Jaggu, that's a fantastic input. But, you are late. I did my first air-pressure check this morning

I rode for almost 30kms before checking the pressure and decided to stick to single rider specs of 34psi (Front) 36psi (rear)

I always check the existing psi before I top-up

Guess what? Front showed 33psi and Rear showed 35psi

So I just added 1psi each to both front and rear and the bike seemed to behave differently. It's a little more taut and slightly hard ( Not the same soft cushiony ride as before)

So I'm wondering how it will be if I top up with 42 psi....or if the readings are wrong?

Have to play around with PSI a bit more

Originally Posted by shan_ned

I am yet to do a test ride for V650, but I am quite sure V650 is a far better one in all aspects. Still, I am planning for a test ride just for a comparison (though I don't have any plan for moving away from N650). For me, the one deal breaker for V650 is the ABS. Few of us are obsessed with the sport fairing and other stuff, but I feel the Indian motorcycle market is maturing fast enough and I am sure majority of the new customers will opt for the practicality offered by V650 when given an opportunity to choose between the Versys and the Ninja.

Look forward to your comparison report of N650 vs. V650. It would be really interesting. Please share soon

Having an ABS in Versys 650 is a deal-breaker? Did I read this comment correctly? Or you meant something else?

[shan_ned]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Having an ABS in Versys 650 is a deal-breaker? Did I read this comment correctly? Or you meant something else?

My apologies for the confusion. What I meant was the absence of ABS in Ninja 650 is one main item which can potentially make new customers to opt Versys over Ninja.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by shan_ned

My apologies for the confusion. What I meant was the absence of ABS in Ninja 650 is one main item which can potentially make new customers to opt Versys over Ninja.

Ah! That's ok. Apart from the most important feature (ABS), you missed out on following too which apparently is better on Versys 650

1. Brand new suspension (Rear and Front) with adjustable pre-loaders

2. Re-tuned engine to deliver better low end torque

3. Seating comfort should be better as well

Would love if you can do a detailed test ride and share your thoughts of the differences

I bumped into "Damien" during a brief ride this morning



Today re-fueled the bike for the 2nd time. First time, was around 22.50kmpl and this time the fuel efficiency astonished me

Dark Knight consumed 13.10 Litres after covering 340kms which is 26kmpl .....Out of 340kms, roughly 210 was for the Vikarabad ride and rest was in-city riding

Fuel was filled even after auto-cut ( maybe 0.20 liters or so). But, I normally follow auto-cut method

[VW2010]

Anything above 18-19 kmpl is a boon. The reason I say is my will be with me forever bullet 500 gives 19 kmpl.

I enjoyed the 390 because it was so high

The verses and Ninja are two different segment. But lots of potential Ninja buyers will choose the versys for its versatility. I guess a versatile ninja is hence aptly named versys.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Today re-fueled the bike for the 2nd time. First time, was around 22.50kmpl and this time the fuel efficiency astonished me

Dark Knight consumed 13.10 Litres after covering 340kms which is 26kmpl .....Out of 340kms, roughly 210 was for the Vikarabad ride and rest was in-city riding

My D390 gives 23KMPL on the best day in the city. If I ride hard, the FE actually improves slightly. However on the highway, riding all day at 100kmph, it returns 30-31kmpl.

So you are definitely in a blessed territory. And the FE is only going to improve as the engine is run-in and settles down

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by VW2010

Anything above 18-19 kmpl is a boon. The reason I say is my will be with me forever bullet 500 gives 19 Kmpl

My bull also used to give between 20kmpl-22kmpl. Infact, it never crossed these figures ever in my ownership period.

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

My D390 gives 23KMPL on the best day in the city. If I ride hard, the FE actually improves slightly. However on the highway, riding all day at 100kmph, it returns 30-31kmpl.

So you are definitely in a blessed territory. And the FE is only going to improve as the engine is run-in and settles down

Agree. Reason I was astonished is because it's just a 700kms old engine. So it's only going uphill from here

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Guess what? Front showed 33psi and Rear showed 35psi

So I just added 1psi each to both front and rear and the bike seemed to behave differently. It's a little more taut and slightly hard ( Not the same soft cushiony ride as before)

So I'm wondering how it will be if I top up with 42 psi....or if the readings are wrong?

Thumb rule start with highest psi and then proceed downwards, do not make a judgement without riding for say 80-100 kms, coz more than the bike you need to get adjusted.

I never took air pressure so seriously till i picked up the street, the handling turns very painful below a certain threshold of psi on the bike and so radically at it. Though it felt little choppy to keep the correct air pressure, realized that with my weight (on the upper side of 80 kg) best ride and handling was indeed with the stock recommended setting when cold. The choppiness was only at moderate speeds and would become more comfy as speeds go up.

Same thing was confirmed on another bonnie also.

[Sting]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Same thing was confirmed on another bonnie also.

I've experienced the best handling at the co. recommended 41R/33F on the Bonnie in about 9k of usage. My wife and I ride together and along with luggage the weight nears 190kgs.

Strangely, even on a solo ride the 41/33 seems best. I always prefer to start at the co. recommended psi and then play with it to judge the ideal setting. Needless to say, the entire exercise is subjective and feel based.

I'm guessing for non road use the chain play and tyre pressure would have to be modulated.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Thumb rule start with highest psi and then proceed downwards, do not make a judgement without riding for say 80-100 kms, coz more than the bike you need to get adjusted.

Highest psi is with pillion but, as you know we rarely ride with pillions so you mean start with 42 psi for rear?

Originally Posted by Jaggu

I never took air pressure so seriously till i picked up the street, the handling turns very painful below a certain threshold of psi on the bike and so radically at it. Though it felt little choppy to keep the correct air pressure, realized that with my weight (on the upper side of 80 kg) best ride and handling was indeed with the stock recommended setting when cold. The choppiness was only at moderate speeds and would become more comfy as speeds go up.

I was always serious about air pressure. Infact, I'm a bit paranoid about it and I ensure tyre, air health regularly and check pressure in my car once a week ( I know it's an overkill)

Originally Posted by Sting

I've experienced the best handling at the co. recommended 41R/33F on the Bonnie in about 9k of usage. My wife and I ride together and along with luggage the weight nears 190kgs.

Strangely, even on a solo ride the 41/33 seems best. I always prefer to start at the co. recommended psi and then play with it to judge the ideal setting. Needless to say, the entire exercise is subjective and feel based.

Wow! If I recall correctly, I never used anything above 34 when I used to have the Bonnie. And, I normally used to practice same pressure for both wheels. Won't 41 make the bike really bouncy?

I need to now start playing around with rear shock pre-load adjuster and see what setting makes the bike handle even better and which setting makes me feel like I'm riding on a sofa

P.S: Black Knight handles like nuts in light traffic conditions. It's flickability is making me fall deeper in love !!!