The Blackbird#

The stablemate of my trusty old 4Runner, the Relic, is a 2018 Kawasaki Versys 650 LT -- the Blackbird. The Versys 650 (the name is a mashup of "versatile system") is Kawasaki's vision of an adventure-touring crossover bike. The Blackbird has 3 main jobs for me: occasional across-the-nation adventuring, transporting me to hiking trailheads of the Rocky Mountain states, and being my object of the art of motorcycle maintenance (more on this below).

Versys 650

Features and add-ons for functionality, touring optimization, and safety:

  • Puig engine guard / crash bar cage
  • T-Rex-Racing center stand
  • Repurposed MTM locking ammo case as rear/tail storage box
  • ST2 Systems smart modules:
    • brake-light strober module
    • self-cancelling turn signal module
  • 48 LED brake, tail, and turn-signal rear light bar
  • Kawasaki 28-liter hard saddlebag set
  • Kawasaki hand guards
  • Rostra cruise control (see post detailing the installation here)
  • Instrument panel additions:
    • USB accessory charging port
    • Voltmeter gauge
  • Seat Concepts comfort-seat upgrade
  • T-Rex-Racing lowering link kit (give a short guy a break)
  • No name highway footpegs (annodized, anti-skid pattern aluminum alloy, mounted to the Puig engine guard)

Current tires:

  • Continental TKC 70 (70/30 on/off road design)
    • Verdict so far: well matched to both my varied mix of road/trail surfaces and my moderate riding style, and I'm pleased with the durability

Consumable product choices:

  • AmsOil 10W40 metric synthetic oil
  • HiFlo oil filters
  • Motul C2 chain lube

The adaptation process#

No motorcycle is perfect for its owner's needs upon purchase. In addition, for technology lovers like myself, much of the joy of motorcycle ownership stems from the time spent maintaining and adapting the bike. So I bought the Blackbird looking forward to the coming shop time of this open-ended project/labor-of-love.

Leaving aside the fun of the routine maintenance and minor mods, here are the adaptation steps I have taken in order:

  • Trimming the stock seat foam to reduce the seat height: the 2018 Versys has a stock seat height of 33.3 inches -- forcing a short guy like me to be on toes only at a stop. I followed online tutorials and tips to shave an inch off the seat height. This accomplished the lowering goal and seemed to leave the seat no less comfortable; however, a seat originally unmatched to long-ride comfort goals is still unmatched after trimming. I lived with this adaptation for about a year, but it was a mere beginning of a quest, as you will see.
  • Installing the Seat Concepts comfort/low seat kit for the Versys. This kit provides a high-quality foam cushion replacement that produces a lower-than-stock seat height, plus an exact-fit carbon-fiber-look and semi-grip replacement seat cover that I had to install. This was a substantial but not-everything-I-dreamed-of improvement for long-ride comfort.
  • Fabricating a tail/rear locking storage box based on an MTM rugged plastic, dry storage ammo case (about 14.6 liters capacity). This box combined with the Kawasaki hard pannier set provides me a substantial base of lockable, dry storage for road trips.
  • Installing cruise control for long road trip pleasantness -- explained in-depth in this post.
  • Actually lowering the bike about an inch closer to the ground: after a couple years I still felt I would love the bike more if more of my foot was on the ground at stops -- especially the short-notice ones made on seldom-maintained forest service roads. I installed the T-Rex Racing lowering link in back and then lowered the front suspension legs 3/4's of an inch.

The above adaptation progression is where the Blackbird is at as of this revision (August 2025). It has been great fun so far, and I regard the Blackbird as an awesome adventuring partner for any route -- major highway to near-forgotten forest service road.
I'm always looking forward to our next adventure.

Versys 650

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