I just got back last night from the first road trip I've taken on my 2013 Kawasaki Versys 650. I bought it two years ago, and have been mainly using it to commute to work when the weather is good, and for short local trips.

I rode Monday from my home outside of Windsor Ontario, to Charleston WV to visit family. That leg took 8.5 hours. Then Tuesday I went on a group ride to Huntington to have lunch at Hillbilly Hot Dogs, then back to Charleston via Point Pleasant. Yesterday's leg was from Charleston, back to Huntington, then to Portsmouth Ohio and back up US23 to Toledo, then up I75 to Detroit then home across the Ambassador Bridge. That was eleven hours with stops.

Several motorcycle-related  things that stuck out:

1) I have an understandable distrust of left-turners as I approach them. Furthering this distrust was my observation that it seemed that, of female left-turners, fully two-thirds of them had a phone glued to her ear while waiting to turn. This figure should scare the piss out of anyone who rides.

2) Even with a hi-viz riding jacket, helmet and dry-bag strapped to my seat, I might as well have been invisible to a couple of knuckleheads in cars. I75 south at I275 near Monroe Michigan, the left lane ends for construction. Traffic was stop and go. Dumbass in a Honda goes to merge left into my lane, while we are moving at a slow walking speed. I literally could have kicked or punched his side window, next to his face, and he didn't notice the big fluorescent yellow guy on the bike two feet to his left.

3) Foam earplugs help cut down on wind and engine noise, and I'm sure they greatly prevented fatigue. My ride from the bridge home was without plugs, and that 30 miles was the most tiring point of the whole trip.

4) When an insect, such as a big juicy butterfly, chooses you to kill themselves against, the remains of their body invariably splatter your faceshield directly over one of your eyes.

5) Riding safely sometimes seems to mean that you must violate the speed limit. My driver's instructor from 35+ years ago drilled into us the absolute necessity to stay out of packs of cars on the highway. People truly are like sheep and love to congregate in big clumps of vehicles. This is even more important  on a motorcycle. To get away from packs of cars, and away from riding behind semis where a prudent following distance to avoid debris always seems to get filled in, sometimes requires you run 5 to 15 above the speed limit for a while to get into a clear area by yourself. That seemed to be my biggest wish on this trip, that people just stay as far the hell away from me as possible.

All in all it was a lot of fun, unfortunately the 650 is not big enough to install racks and bags and then bring my wife along.

good times, right?  My wife and I did 2250 miles in 6 days. much awesomeness.

Most of your observations are correct, especially about visibility.  I tell new riders the car drivers CAN see you, they are TRYING to hit you.  Act accordingly.

As for the Versys 650 not be able to do panniers and the wife, not true at all, unless you and the wife exceed the weight limit for the bike.  While the engine is huge, many many years worth of motorcycles were traveled on, and still are, with smaller engines and worse transmissions.

Rev it a little higher, you'll find that torque.

My wife and I did many weekend trips on a Honda Hawk 650. It did great with a little luggage. I would want to do 500 mile days like that but 200 miles days were just fine.

Yep, definitely was a good time, just to get out alone and decompress for sure.

Before I decide if the Versys is too small, I'll try a different seat first. The bike itself has more than enough get up and go, rolling on the throttle at 80 mph and 6K rpm still provided plenty of power. Just the seat with the two of us is rather cramped, I'm not a small guy, 6' and 245. Fortunately my wife is petite, or there'd be no room . I'm sure there's a decent aftermarket seat out there.

 
You're wearing hi-viz, which is great, but also employ the lane-zig-zag and think about auxillairy lights to break up the single-point-of-light phenomona.




Zig-zagging in your lane will break up your profile, bypassing the human eye's tendency to look through a single object and notice the unnatural movement against traffic & the background.




Google SMIDSY techniques, there's a lot of science about it. Also, doing the zig-zag when you see a potential left-turner or someone encroaching on your lane mentally prepares you for them going, and the reaction you'll need to brake or swerve to an "out".


 

You were in my neck of the woods for a lot of that, know the area and those roads very well. Good times!! Next time you're down this way gimme a yell!

I don't know of a seat that will give more room. seat concepts is probably a slightly larger, flatter pilot seat.
They are also good for comfort. for comfort only I like Spencer at greatdaytoride.com He does good work with the OEM seat , while seat concepts replaces the foam.

 
Russell Day-Long is the answer if you want supreme comfort and more room. Spendy, but the best touring seat there is.

I'm seriously considering doing a rider only Russell. $500 is a tough pill, and I strongly dislike, bordering on hate, the added height.  I like to sit in my bike, more than on.

I hated the added 2" seat height the Russell  gave to my Strom.

Russell makes good stuff.

You don't wanna do a 1200mi weekend on a stock R1 seat.

Ask me how I know!

Truth.  Dallas to Hartford CT to Twin cities MN to Dallas. In 8 days. On a CBR. I was 19.  No fucking way I could do that now.

Will do!

Nice..I just did a 780'ish ride two weeks ago on my Versys...Portland to Astoria and the entire Oregon Coast in one day, overnight at Brookings Oregon, thru the Northern Redwoods the next day, and home...The Versys is a very capable adventure/tour bike....





Heading out again later this week for another two-day ride...

And regarding cagers who pull out...SMIDSY...Sorry Mate, I Didn't See Ya...
It's been posted, bob and weave....Look big...use your lane...

Good luck

I rode a Kawasaki Versys roundtrip Kansas City to the Arctic Circle in 2010. Just under 10k miles in 21 days.
I had Givi Panniers on Hepco Becker mounts. Worked out well and duplicates what Kawasaki now offers.
Corbin saddle sucked. I'm 6' 250 lbs and I found the Versys cramped. I never rode two up, but don't think that bike is the one for it. Especially if you put on a topcase.

I sold the bike shortly after that trip.

Sounds like fun but I like the safety of a cage.
You motorcycle guys are crazy to be out on the roads without one.

All left turning drivers are fairly likely to zip a leg off (happened here recently) or kill you (happened here twice recently).  In 100 percent of these cases, the driver says:

"I didn't see them" and people are like "Oh, of course you poor thing.  You're emotionally damaged for life.  Here's a failure to yield ticket, a 200 dollar fine and a scolding."

My own solution was to simply slow the F down to something safer... like 15-20 mph tops and be ready for the move into my lane.  Now I've really reduced the hazard by driving a half ton pickup exclusively.

You're right about ear plugs.  Required gear if tinnitus and hearing aids aren't something you want to contend with for 20-30 years.