That said, today was a quick test ride on the versys 1000. Being a test ride at a dealer the bike was the top spec se with all the toys. Highlights include heated grips, cruise control, 3 rider modes, and quick shifter and blipper.
The dash, like most bikes these days, is quite complex but easy to decipher on the move. There is quite a bit of stuff on there that is not necessary for a bike if it's type.
The preflight breifing took a while, mainly to understand the rider modes and the dash, but eventually off into the madness that is Swindon center.
The first thing that really grabs you about the bike is that it's big, very big. It doesn't feel unmanageably big though. In road mode the throttle is responsive enough round town and the shifter is good at most revs. All in all very pleasant at slow speeds and bring so tall and upright forward visibility is great.
10 mins later and out onto a major dual carriageway. A quick blat and the bike is cruising at 80mph. A few minutes of fiddling and testing out the cruise control and I'm happy that I could munch the miles with ease, the touring screen is huge and deflects ask the wind. Time to get twisty.
Not knowing the area and not having satnav I guessed a junction and headed off the main road. I ended up on a tight, twisty, very technical B road. Perfect. A bit of a battle with the dash and I finally get into sport mode, this makes a big difference. The throttle response is a lot sharper and the suspension feels tighter, time to play.
You know a bike can handle well when you misread a corner and it turns out to be quite a bit tighter than you thought. Well, yep. I found one of those and had a choice of corner or hedge, I went for the corner and was amazed how easily the big kwak danced round it.
After getting back into town and dispatching the traffic like I was filtering on a push bike I was back at the dealer. The dealer then showed me on of the dash features, lean angle! Apparently I managed 40 degrees on my first outing
All in all, a very enjoyable and comfortable ride on a very competent machine. I cements in my mind that this is the style of bike that would suit my needs at the moment. But at £14k without the topbox I need so much, it is unlikely to be this bike.
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