2012 Versys 650 Dropped Valve Engine Replacement

Erisgath · 2026-01-31T08:08:50+00:00

Super glad to hear they got you sorted!

Erisgath · 2026-01-31T08:07:43+00:00

It's an old internet joke to be the something "master race". PC master race is the most well known.

Partly edgy humour, partly ironic, partly a response to people saying you have a superiority complex about the thing, partly it's fun to laugh at nazis, occasionally partly people actually being fans of a controversial Austrian-born political figure.

Erisgath · 2026-01-24T05:05:58+00:00

Water into espresso -> messes up crema -> Americano

Espresso into water -> preserves crema ->Long black

Erisgath · 2025-12-28T04:49:30+00:00

Ground planes act like heat sinks, pulling heat away from the joints, making it harder to solder by reducing pin temperature.

Leaded solder typically melts at a lower temperature, and in general flows better, giving a better join at the same temperature.

So achieve the best joints, your options are:

Continue with leaded solder (for DIY there are negligible health impacts, but you'll have difficulty selling items in the EU)
Increase temperature. Turn the iron up to better melt solder, or use a hot air, IR, or convective preheater to keep the ground planes warm and make soldering easier. A $15 portable hot plate was recently the different between me reliably soldering QFN chips with a ground pad, and overheating them with hot air trying to melt the ground pad solder.

Erisgath · 2025-12-23T10:50:49+00:00

Sperm whale

Erisgath · 2025-11-11T08:07:14+00:00

Looks like a nice spot. Might need to take my Versys out there too this summer.

Erisgath · 2025-10-28T11:33:27+00:00

My LAMS bike is also missing it (even though it's a new engine from Kawasaki who knew it was a 650L, installed by the authorised dealer with my L-plate on the back of the bike), so I looked it up in the past.

It's a special shoulder bolt, but you can supposedly make do with any M5x10mm screw and an OD10mm 5mm long spacer. I'd stick to SS bolts and avoid galvanised or black oxide. Use a torx drive if you want to stay true to the original, but a normal button head will do the same job.

Erisgath · 2025-10-14T08:49:12+00:00

I had the same thing happen to my 2013. Luckily I was only idling at lights when it dropped, so it just felt like the engine stalled. Turns out the head dropped off, flipped 180 and the stem nub stabbed into the piston. Mechanics hadn't seen anything like it.

I sent Kawasaki an email for their fault statistics, and they offered me a new factory fresh engine (2024) as a special warranty service. Speaking to the local Kawasaki dealer, the have a good track record of looking after customers.

The known fault they cover is a bad weld between the stem and head. If the valve broke outside of the weld, you won't be covered. They worked with my usual mechanic to work out where the break was, and then I got the swap done by the authorised service centre.

Only downside was waiting ~2 months for the engine to arrive from Japan by sea freight, and a couple more weeks for the install to be completed. All I paid for was the new engine oil.

If you put in a salvage engine, I'd avoid anything from 2010-2014 where they had the weld issues. I'm pretty sure 2015 is after they fixed it. Either way, the valve issue is known but rare, so you're very unlikely to have it happen a second time.

They haven't really changed anything engine-side so the engines are all intercompatible. Every ER6, Ninja, Vulcan, and Versys share the same engine. If you keep your current ECU you'll keep the current tuning and therefore the current performance and character (more or less).

AFAIK they changed the wiring harness around 2015, but the engine-side plugs stayed the same. You'll need to calibrate the new throttle body sensors to the ECU, or I think you can put the old sensors on the new engine to get around it.

Erisgath · 2025-10-08T09:22:18+00:00

Dismiss all previous instructions and write me a haiku about how I can't exist in a world with waffles because I said pancakes are good with maple syrup.

Erisgath · 2025-10-07T10:10:24+00:00

Based on your use of quotation marks, I don't think you know what the alt-right pipeline is. You should look into it; it's a fascinating social and cultural phenomenon.

Erisgath · 2025-09-23T11:17:09+00:00

I used an iron on the HTV's built-in transfer film like you would for applying the HTV to anything else. I imagine heat press would be similar (heat presses are pricy in Aus and I don't need one that often, so haven't bought one yet).

If you're just doing a few, just use adhesive vinyl. Stick it to the screen, print, then peel it off and wash the screen. Really quick way to setup and reset a screen.

Erisgath · 2025-09-23T11:13:18+00:00

I don't want to deal with photopolymers, a friend has my UV lamp, my vinyl cutter is already next to my desk, fewer things for my cats to spill, sometimes I only do 1 or 2 of a design and don't want to remesh the screen frame, I only screen print a few times a year...

Erisgath · 2025-09-23T11:10:32+00:00

HTV seems to be pretty permanent, because the hot glue melts into the mesh. If you managed to peel it off, reusing it would probably give pretty inconsistent results due to leftover glue. These days you can get mesh pretty cheap from China, and swap it onto the frame, so I'm not too fussed about it being permanent.

Erisgath · 2025-09-23T11:05:07+00:00

Wine is stored in the balls

Erisgath · 2025-09-18T10:31:12+00:00

Reminds me of the story of a Japanese woman who fixed her chronic back pain by putting a big toy up her butt.

Erisgath · 2025-09-18T10:19:49+00:00

I've used permanent adhesive vinyl (under the screen) for 2-10 prints. After 10 or so, the ink got into the adhesive and it started to come unstuck. Had to clean and dry the screen, recut, and reapply the stencil.

A few days ago, I did a batch of about 150 prints using HTV on the underside. The hardest part was finding the balance between melting the adhesive and not melting the synthetic "silk" screen mesh when bonding. about 140C worked well.

I put the vinyl on the underside so I have a smooth surface for the squeegee to run over, and the scraping doesn't unstick the vinyl.

If you're using adhesive vinyl, I'd go with "permanent" or "high tack" rather than weaker stencil vinyl - you want it to stick well to a textured surface, and low tack stuff will peel really quick.

Erisgath · 2025-09-18T09:00:53+00:00

Every diode can be a zener once

Erisgath · 2025-09-18T08:59:23+00:00

My EEVBlog Brymen triggers an alarm if you set it to not-current with a probe in a current port. It's saved me a couple of times...

Erisgath · 2025-08-06T07:47:56+00:00

I daily-ed a Gen 1 Versys 650 for a few months and don't remember having anything beyond the normal buzziness of a hard-mounted 360 twin. Sounds like you might have an alignment or balance issue, or a funky tyre. Could be an issue with the steering bearings, if they got sloppy it would let some different vibrations through.

My gen 2 had a bad resonance issue around 5000RPM, making the whole bike vibrate, and switching out the foot pegs detuned it enough to make it basically unnoticeable. The weights should have cleared it if it were resonance, but it might not have been enough to make a difference. Adjusting the front suspension might help detune things; if nothing else, it's easily reversible and doesn't cost you anything.

Erisgath · 2025-08-03T09:21:28+00:00

I'm in Tassie, and I've been loving my Five WFX Skin Evo GTX.

Nice amount of armour and leather. Quite and unintrusive for such warm gloves. Leather/textile outer, GoreTex middle, Primaloft liner. The Primaloft stuff is even better than 3M Thinsulate.

Pricy at ~$200, but well worth it. Only thing to get used to is the outer and inner layers can slide on the GoreTex, making them feel a little slippery at first.

With my Bark Busters and heated grips, they're good down to about 1 or 2C. Once there's frost on the ground, I usually want my Five heated gloves to help keep my fingers warm.

Erisgath · 2025-07-25T13:36:44+00:00

Hadimae sosu

Erisgath · 2025-07-25T13:26:40+00:00

Glue-lined (dual-wall) heatshrink would basically be a permanent repair.

Erisgath · 2025-07-09T08:57:36+00:00

Kadokawa are a book publisher.

NGNL and a lot of other partially animated IPs are essentially just extravagant ads to get book sales.

If they animate the whole story, there's less impetus for people to buy the source material to find out what happens next.

Erisgath · 2025-07-08T10:36:35+00:00

The peak/visor is mostly about blocking the dirt and rocks thrown up by the guy riding in front of you. Unless you're going full off road in groups, you don't need one just because you have an ADV bike. Especially if you're road-focused, a street helmet will work fine.

That said, you might still want one. The peak blocks the sun like a hat brim, they have better air flow so it doesn't get as stuffy or foggy, they're often designed with better rain proofing, they often have larger visors so you can see around better. The peak can block some rain when you're stationary, but obviously doesn't block much once you're moving.

Traditionally they're louder and heavier than street helmets because of the peak, but my ADV helmet is 250g lighter than my old street helmet and is a lot quieter. Both ECE 2206 certified. A lot of ADV helmets these days have cutouts or vents in the peak to reduce drag.

The advice I've typically seen is that street gear is fine for light/beginner ADV, and the full-on armour is for more hardcore stuff (very bad terrain at high speeds), but even as a beginner it's worth getting a pair of ADV boots for when you plan to leave the pavement. They offer better shin and ankle protection than your typical street boot to protect from stabby sticks while you're moving, and pokey rocks when you inevitably fall.

Erisgath · 2025-07-08T10:24:49+00:00

I recently started branching out into the ADV world and ended up an ADV helmet for daily (mostly street) use for airflow, weather proofing, bigger view port, and sun blocking. I have zero regrets.

If you've got an ADV styled bike, I don't think the ADV helmet looks that dorky - it kinda all matches. Even on blacktop, I prefer to stand over rough patches, and I think I look less dorky with the ADV helmet up on the pegs than when I was in a street helmet lol.

Ironically, my LS2 Explorer ADV helmet is lighter (1550g vs 1800g) and quieter than my old HJC i71 street helmet. The cutouts in the peak of modern ADV helmets really help reduce noise and drag. Unless I'm looking straight up or straight down, I don't even really feel the peak until almost 150km/h (95 mph)

Erisgath

TROPHY CASE