V649HP-Kawasaki's new gravel runner

Amen to that!

It's a whole new way to look at the world.

right now i'm looking at a rat bike in pieces, i better get my artisanal butt in gear, stick it back together.

The reason i fit the side bags as low as possible was to ensure a low center of gravity. I could have designed it much more tighter which i will ensure this time.

Any reason to mount the luggage high JD?

i like the idea of not carrying too much weight up high on a moto, but since we both carry that big roll top duffle without incident, there are some other factors to consider. the higher mounting position keeps the bags away from your feet and lower legs, and keeps them farther away from water, mud, rocks, road debris, and any other hazards that lurk down there. believe me, they're present, i've managed to find most of them.

then there the aesthetics. poorly selected, mounted, and positioned luggage has ruined the appearance of many an otherwise good looking moto. too large or too low mounted luggage makes the moto look ass end heavy, too wide, and the moto looks big hipped and ungainly. any combination of those issues, man, then you've got problems.

i like this photo by my friend, Doug Graham, the motophoto dude. it's not that you're going to be on a road like this, although you might, but you will encounter water like this sooner or later, even if sticking to pavement. with your old mounts, your Wolfman bags would be almost underwater...not mine.

that rear fender had to go before it cracked and fell off. when i took the assembly apart and looked it over, there was no hope, long term and rough roads, of holding the thing together even with new seat covers on both sides.

new fender, relocate the signals, new license plate bracket with light, and a few other mods too. i noticed that one Wolfman bracket was slightly bent after falling on that side several times, so i'll add a cross brace while i have everything apart.

i thought i might find some hard mounting points under all the plastic, nope, in typical fashion for these bikes, the mounting is all plastic to plastic. won't work for me.

there is a small locator pin in the right area on the rear underside of the subframe, and i started by threading both sides to M6x1.



the M6 die in the conventional die holder doesn't have room to start or turn, so you have to improvise a little to thread these pins, still easy to accomplish.

i planned on using the OEM taillight in the stock location, so any new mounting points had to work around it, and there's not much room, considering the seat covers too.

there are frame jig pins about 30mm long welded on each side of the subframe tubes which are not used in the bike assembly and are bent out of the way. i couldn't see a way to use these, except that the segment welded to the tube made a good place to weld on a new mount.

as for a new mount, i could have started from scratch, heck, why do that when i have a perfectly good Toyota truck door hinge that will work perfectly. it's a stamped steel part, light gauge, and with a nice rolled edge that produces a strong section.

cut it in half...



the angle changed a few degrees...



then rewelded and cleaned up.

once these small pieces are clearanced to fit their respective sides and the subframed cleaned, the mounts are welded in place. take some care to make sure the mounts are uniform side to side.





these mounts don't interfere with anything else on the bike besides the fender, so if i ever wanted to reinstall the OEM tail, i could just cut these off and reinstall the original parts.

JD,
I am getting the SW Mowtech crash guards from twisted throttle...
http://www.twistedthrottle.com/sw-motech-crashbars-engine-guards-kawasaki-versys-650-07

Do you really recommend the Mowtech skid plates...
http://www.twistedthrottle.com/sw-motech-aluminum-engine-guard-skidplate-kawasaki-versys-650-07

I could get something fabricated. Something similar to the skidplate in the pic above.

Regarding the mounting in the picture. If there is an impact from below, doesn't the skid plate mount (just before the exhaust muffler) transmit all of that to the engine?

good choice on the Motech bars, the best.

my shop built gravel guard is fine for my bike because of all the ground clearance, but i would recommend the Motech gravel guard for your bike.

the lugs used for the belly fairings on these ptwin motors have been the subject of much discussion. with the Versys suspended bike, i would come home from a trip with scratches on the underside of the guard, but now that the ground clearance has been substantially increased, not a scratch. besides the mounts you can see, the guard has a pad at the rear that would contact the exhaust, limiting movement.

i was going to build a new guard last winter, but the weather was so mild that i ended up riding instead. the guard has done it's job over lots of miles, but any new one would have even more coverage for the front of the motor...or maybe i'll get a Motech.

i needed a mount for a modular design on the new tail, everything would be hung from a base plate, had to be solid, unlike those little tail tidy kits. i had one of those in the parts bin that came with one of the donor bikes, functional, but not what i wanted.

so i started here...



the plate has mounting studs going both directions, plus SS threaded anchors at the corners that line up with the new mounting points welded to the frame. the plate is sized to fit the indent in the OEM fender liner.

the studs are all welded in place, and it's much easier to keep everything straight if you thread the holes in the plate first, screw in the stud, then weld.

again, there's not much room back there if you're using the OEM tail light and seat covers, takes some planning.

then a small valence added to close the gap under the tail light...

I felt like reading through this thread again...
No bed side books before hitting the bed... its actually the gravel runner thread since some time...

JD,
You've got to add your kawsakiversys build thread into your signature. Now i'm finding it tough to stop reading through your previous build and sleep! I can co-relate so much to that build...

Since i never intend to put up that fairing back on my ER6F..... i am sure i will have to shave off the fairing mounts to accommodate the SW Mowtechs comfortably..... correct?

Your balance of mixing up the build thread with the actual trip you enjoyed with that bike is super.

Am i the only one to have missed this thread?
http://www.kawasakiversys.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5480

here's a good looking ER6F that was built by some friends. OEM suspension with some finely crafted custom fabrication. they ran the 130/80 front tire setup, and the bike performs well on pavement and graded gravel. a light weight woman rider, they wanted to maintain the standard ride height, and the bike flies with her on board.



on this bike, the tabs for the expansion tank and air sensor were removed, and the fairing mount grommets on the engine mount brackets were clipped off also to mount the Motechs.

the Motech bars designed to fit the Versys have the left rear mount designed to fit the Versys linked shifter, rather than the direct mounted conventional shifter found on the ER6 motos. you can modify the Motech bracket, modify the ER6 shifter, or switch over to the Versys footrest/shifter mounts, in which case you would need the complete assembly, plus the matching right side brake assembly.

i've finished up posting on the Versys forum, so from now on, all ride report and build information is only posted on ADV. there is some good info on the Versys moto over there, but the barrage of advertising was irritating, and it became too much trouble to do both. it got so bad that their server software tried to attach advertising to every photo i included with a post. bad news, the heck with them, ADV is the place to be anyway.

side plates were added as the attachment points for the signal mounts. this piece could have been designed to incorporate the signal mount and welded in place, but in keeping with my modular concept, i wanted a bolt on signal mount. the mounts for the front signals follow this concept too. tabs were added for the front base plate mounts. these are the recycled ears from the truck door hinge and work just fine.

the base plate was cleaned up, blasted, and primed. time to check the fit of the signal mounts, clearanced them a bit, and they fit fine...



the mounts bolt to the base plate, and i like the signals in tight.

I have always wanted the linked shifter as opposed to the one i have on the ER6F.
The complete change to a versys gear shifting will cost me close to 300 dollars (both the shifter and the brake pedal assemblies).

How ever,
JD, the SW Mowtechs have another crash cage for the ER6N (with the direct gear shifter). Don't you think this would be the choice for a hassle free upgrade in protection.
I am sure the clamps for the full fairing need to go, but atleast i would not have to change the entire shifting mechanism?

http://www.twistedthrottle.com/sw-motech-crashbars-engine-guards-kawasaki-ninja-er6n-09

I don't know why they cost 30 dollars less though.

Motech redesigned the left rear mount, so the shifter would have enough range in upward movement to engage a gear. even with the Versys mount, all you had to do was clearance the mount or cut and reweld the shifter...all moot since these new bars are available.

the other advantage to the versys footrest mount is that it puts the footrest in a move favorable position for DS riding where you need to stand on the pegs, sometimes frequently all day, depending on road.

the Wolfman pannier mounts needed to be repainted after a season of use, plus i had added a tab for a crossbrace...and custom super vortex deer and moose boomers for riding after dark, should keep Lady Gaga at least a county away too.



all the parts get sprayed with urethane, so it's good to get everything ready so you can spray it all at the same time.

Wondered when you'd figure that out

Welcome to ADV

thanks, but man, have you noticed that there's some weird stuff going on in here?