Motorcycle Explorer April 2015 Issue 5 | Page 158

2014 2015 Out with the old and in with the new! I ’m a big fan of the middleweights in the dual sport game and while I felt the 2014 Verseys just lacked something the chaps at Kawasaki may well have just pulled off a cracker here. I ended up getting the Suzuki VStrom 650 back in 2012 because? Yeah it was as ‘petty’ as that big Cyclops looking light system just made it all look a bit ‘alien’ for me. While the twin lights of the WeeStrom smiled and twinkled. Not the most professional admission I’ve ever made on screen but the truth is that many of us go for looks in a bike. We are not professional racers looking for every scrap of performance but more a feeling, something you can connect with ... as well as having the ability to put a cheeky grin on the face. Getting astride the 2015 Versys you get the same feeling of comfort and height as you always did and the engine purrs into life. The 650 engine has had a few more bhp slapped on but nothing to shout about or that makes a massive difference to the ride for me but more is always nice, the middleweights have always been able to hold up with the big boys and girls on the back roads. Plus if you can ride and ride well then you get far more out of any machine with training than you will by adding power. You can cruise at 80mph all day long (in a country that’s enlightened enough to know that 70mph is just not enough on a motorway) and it does so with plenty in the bag should you need it to get out of a pickle with the liquid cooled 4 stroke parallel twin sat ready to play.