Versys Tail bag

I want a bag for the Versys. It doesn't have to be complicated or large, just a bag that I can put a bottle of water in and rainwear.  It is for small things.  Given that I am fairly decent at sewing, I figured I would make it myself, but the cost of the materials would be more than the bag is worth, so I decided to modify a cheap bag from Amazon.

The bag I got was this one as it seemed about the right size: 

G4Free Tactical Sling Bag Backpack Military Rover Shoulder Sling Pack Molle EDC Small Crossbody Chest Pack

The Rack

Looking at the bag and the rack, I figured that the bag would be a pretty good fit to the rack, and I could use the tie downs on the side of the rack to hold the bag in place.  

Looks about right

So how do we move forward with this to make it fit.

Most of the strap just in lips but there is one part where it is part of the bag.  That we will need to cut, so:

Cut Here

Now get your mum's sewing machine and run some grossgrain ribbon over the cut area like so (see below)

Get your mum to help

The ribbon finishes the edge and will stop it from fraying.  It's a bit rough as I have not done this for a while. So now that we have the bag without its strap, we need to figure out some way to fix it to the rack.  It needs to stay in position firmly and there are a number of ways we can do this.

I am not interested in being able to remove the bag quickly so rather than use hook and loop (Velcro) I will use tri-glides.  These can be obtained from local craft shops or of course from Amazon and other online retailers. I am also going to use some 1" webbing for this next part, and this can also be obtained from almost anywhere.  

The bag came with MOLLE webbing on the side (unlikely to ever be used) and the D rings for connecting the strap, so I decided to repurpose those:

Webbing and the D Ring

By carefully cutting the stitching on the webbing I can create a short length of webbing that will hold a tri-glide instead of a D ring. This will allow me to secure my attachment straps at one end of the bag.  The other side has a strip of webbing bar tacked onto the bag, that passes through the rack loops and under the rack.  This can then be tightened with the tri-glides and the bag is secure.

The 1" webbing and tri-glide.

To prevent the back from sliding around too much, I made a belt that can be used to cinch it down tight to the rack.. The smaller straps will stop it from moving too much but it still lifts at speed and just feels a little unsteady.  The belt will hold it tight to the rack.

1.5" webbing with a 1.5" buckle

Wrapping the belt around the bag and tightening it down provides very solid contact to the rack.  I might play around with a few other ideas but for now this will work.

And here it is in all its glory

The bag is the right size for the rack and usually carries my rain jacket, and a bottle of water.  The belt that I made also cinches down the bag to the rack, with the two smaller straps going through the rack loops stopping the bag from moving around.  I have had this up to ~75mph and it seems to be very solid.

Kawasaki Versys-X Quad lock

One of the things I wanted to throw on the Versys was a Quad Lock for my phone.  I use my phone for Maps and Rever applications.  I use an Apple iPhone 14 Pro so I picked up the phone case and motorcycle mount.  I spent some time messing with the position, but this is what I settled on. 

Unobtrusive

I only have the standard motorcycle mount, but I might add the vibration dampener although the little 300 twin really doesn't make that much vibration.

A better view of the whole assembly

It works really well so far but then I have only put about 100 miles on the bike with it so far, so its early days at the moment but if anything interesting happens, you know I will post it here.

My First Versys-X Mods

One of the nice things about motorcycles is how available customizations and accessories are. It is also the case that most motorcyclists will modify their bikes in one way or another, and I think this is much greater than the number of car drivers that modify.

So I have already started to modify my Versys. I have one modification and one accessory that I have already added to the bike.

My First Accessory

I need my phone with me when I ride for navigation and for music.  So after a dig through Instagram and the web, I decided on a Quad Lock case and mount and I have to say it was easy to fit and looks great.  Rather foolish of me but I did not take pics of the mount, but then I guess you have all seen a phone mount before.

My First Modification

I noticed that when I got the Versys over about 50mph, I started to get a lot of wind noise and buffeting around my helmet. Ducking down behind the screen cleared that up so clearly I needed a taller screen.  After some research I ordered a Puig screen from Revzilla.  The process of changing the screen out is very simple and hardly worth writing about.  The whole process took maybe 10-15 minutes as it is just 4 bolts.

The old screen

The new screen

After fitting the new screen I took the bike for a short ride where, after letting it get warmed up, I took it up to about 75-80mph and the wind noise and buffeting is now much more tolerable.  I need to take it out on the highway and give it run to see how tolerable highway riding will be but my first impression is that it will be just fine.

Versys-X Upgrades

Now that I have ridden the Versys-x 300 a few times, in my quest to get it run in, there are some changes I might like to make.  The Kawasaki Versys-X 300 is an adventure bike, meaning it is a road bike but can also be taken off road; at least to a limited extent.

Some of these changes are driven by the ride and some by what I want to do later in the year.

Road Riding

The first thing I should add is a taller screen. On my ride this evening (2023.05.21) I noticed considerable wind noise above ~45mph. Ducking down behind the small windshield reduced the noise considerably, so I guess I need to get a slightly larger screen.

Puig Touring Windscreen Kawasaki Versys 300

Frankly that is probably all I would change about the bike itself for road use, but I also want to do some basic adventure riding, and that means adding some more parts to the bike.

Off Road Riding

I am not planning anything fancy here but I do now own an Adventure bike so I should take myself on some off-road adventures.  Maybe some logging trails or some dirt/gravel roads.  There are a few around here and I should give them a try.  So what should I add to the bike for this?

Hand Guards

There are a variety of hand guards available but I think I will get the kawasaki hand guards.

Versys®-X 300 ABS Hand Guard Shell Set

Add a Skid Plate & Engine Bars

Some of the gravel roads might have bigger bits of gravel and we don’t want the exhaust to be damaged.

2017 - 2023 Kawasaki Versys-X 300 Skid Plate

Add a Tool kit.

I will need to carry a tool kit and at the moment all I can think that I will need are 8, 10 & 12 mm spanners and a screwdriver.  Might also need a spare spark plug, and maybe a tire changing/repair kit.

Replace the Tires?

The bike came with Trail Winner 100/90-19 M/C on the front and 130/80-17M/C on the back.  These are 70/30 on/off road tires so most likely perfect for what I need.  At this time I see no need to replace them. 

And I think that is all I need to do to the bike to improve my on road experience and help it survive some off road riding.  As I make these changes I will detail each change with a blog post.

Can I catch a break?

So my new Kawasaki still has only ~150 miles on it.  Now you would think that having a new bike, I would be riding it as much as is possible, and I am, but; the weather currently sucks.

Look at this shit!

The weather has been like this for the past few weeks, so my opportunities to ride have been very few.  What makes it even worse is this:

arghhhh

I work from 6am to 3pm.  This means I miss all the sunshine.  I finish work at about the time the storms start. And it has been like this for weeks.  My frustration level is sky high at the moment but what can you do.  I hope this weather breaks sometime over the next week or so, so that we can get back to the Colorado sunshine and some riding!

Up into the Mountains.

Today is memorial day so I get the day off.  After a ride out on the wife's trike for breakfast, I decided to go on a solo ride to add some miles to the Versys-X in order to get it broken in.  I live in northern Colorado and I had noticed some twisty roads near where I live so I figured I would explore them.

Now at the moment I do not have a mount for my phone (I have a Quad lock on order) so I figured out my route using Google maps and off I went.  Of course my memory failed me and I ended up going down roads I had no intention of going down, and missing the roads I was supposed to take.

This ended up with me heading up in elevation as I headed into the mountains, on my way to Nederland, which is sort of out there.  It got a bit cold up in the mountains; as I increased in elevation the temperature dropped. I felt it because I was wearing my summer jacket, which was certainly suitable for my starting location, but was a little breezy for the higher elevations.

The route I took, not the one I planned

Despite taking the wrong route, I had an excellent ride.  The Versys behaved very well, but being in its break in period I did not let the revs get any higher than about 7500rpm peak and 6000rpm continuous.  The bike seemed to be quite happy at these rpms. It really does have some pep when you give it some throttle so I am looking forward to getting out of the break in period.

The view

One advantage of taking the wrong road was of course the views.  Being so close to the mountains and seeing these views as I trundled along was amazing.  And the roads, despite the car traffic were still fun and twisty.  Because this is a new bike, a new bike to me and still in its break in period, I am still in that phase where I am getting to trust the bike. New tires and twisty roads had me a little nervous but after me and the tires got nicely warmed up, we were off to the races.

The overall ride was about an hour and a half and put me at about 55 miles, so the bike is now at about 150 miles.  Just another 450 to go!

My First Big Ride

Now that I have my Versys-X, what next? Do I just go out and enjoy it, or do I blog about it. Well you know I am going to blog about all my bike related activities.  So here goes.

After getting the bike, a few weeks ago, I have taken the odd short trip about town, but I decided it was time to take it for a bit of a run. Now given that the bike is brand new, it came out of the show room with one mile on the odometer, I need to break it in. According to Kawasaki I need to keep the revs below 4000rpm for the first 600 miles.  This is of course laughable because at 4000rpm even in 6th gear you might be doing 40mph and would in danger of being crushed by passing vehicles. 

For most of my short trips I have been keeping the revs no higher than about 6000rpm, and they get varied a lot as I navigate traffic and go up and down through the gears. 

However the long(ish) trip that I took, I did bring the revs up to about 7500rpm, and it seems just fine with that. I did not record the ride this time but I have ordered a quad lock for my phone and might get myself a camera and start to record some of my rides.   This ride was about an hour 20 minutes and covered about 55 miles, getting me almost to 100 miles on the clock!