Why ride a little 650?

Hello everyone, or at least the 3 of you that are reading this. I know its been a month since my last blog post but I have actually been doing a bit of riding and attended a couple events so that’s my excuse anyways. But that brings me to my topic on this post. Why do I ride a little 650cc motorcycle? I mean my 07 Versys 650 isn’t that fast compared to a lot of bikes, it definitely isn’t winning any show and shines with her looks, she gets marginal gas mileage and her parallel twin doesn’t even make enough noise to win a loudness contest with your neighbors lawnmower at 8am on a Sunday. And honestly most riders wouldn’t even take a bike like her off the pavement since she isn’t “equipped” for real adv riding. So why do I love my ugly duckling Versys? Let’s take a couple steps back to my last few weeks of riding and find out.

So the last few weeks the Versys has been parked since for one reason or another I have been riding my Victory Vegas a lot lately. Note about my Vegas, she is big, bad, lean and mean. Oh and did I mention loud! I didn’t realize how long it had actually been since I had taken the Versys out until I went to start her up the other day and the battery was dead. After a quick boost she fired to life, just as tame and underwhelming as ever. After I let her run for a couple minutes I fired some packages into the saddlebags and hopped aboard for a quick rip out to Cremona to mail off some merch and some prizes to Ridin’ Alberta members. The first think I noticed is how light she was to get off the stand, like a feather compared to the 2oo lb heavier Vegas. And then I squeezed in the clutch and felt like I had reached for it and missed it came in so fast and with almost no pressure. I throttled up and let the clutch out and quickly rode down the driveway, in 2nd, standing up doing 35kmph. Something I can’t do on my big cruiser, the standing or that speed on the loose gravel. I stood on my pegs enjoying the ride out to the pavement and once on the hardtop quickly hammered through the gears while reaching 8 or 9k on the tach before each shift. The bike was so nimble and light under me that I was feeling a little adrenaline kick in by the time I shifted into high gear. I felt as if I wasn’t even touching the ground at some points, more like flying. Maybe not exactly a jet fighter but definitely a magic carpet. I mean you just think about moving and she is already going that direction. And when I returned home happy that I had done my errands and had rekindled my love with my dear old Versys I was smiling from ear to ear, for no other reason but for the joy this little 650 brings me every time I ride her. So when someone asks you why you ride a little 650 there is no need to try to explain, since if they are asking you then they probably won’t get it anyways and are too set in their big v-twin ways to try something different. Just smile and walk away, we don’t want everyone running out and buying up all the good small displacement bikes anyways. Let’s keep it our little secret. 650’s are just plain fun, the smile says it all.