Kawasaki’s New Versys 1100 Is Here, But Not That Much Changed

The Versys has long been a staple not just in Kawasaki’s model range, but in the adventure-touring segment as a whole. It’s living proof that Kawasaki has been adamant on treading its own path throughout the years, refusing to be influenced by the moves of its competitors.

While Yamaha, Suzuki, and Honda—as well as nearly every single other manufacturer in the market—have developed liter-class, off-road-capable adventure bikes, Kawasaki has stubbornly stuck to the Versys’ tried and tested recipe. Focusing on on-road comfort and performance is exactly what has made the Versys so loved the world over, and for 2025, Kawasaki is clearly continuing on this path.

You see, not too long ago, we reported that Kawasaki had plans of rolling out a bigger, better Versys. And indeed, this is exactly what Team Green has done over in Europe, with the launch of the new Versys 1100. And just like it did with the outgoing Versys 1000, the Versys 1100 will be sold in multiple variants, each with unique features they bring to the table.

Overall, the new Versys isn’t all too different from the old Versys. In fact, you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart if they parked next to each other. So, what did Kawasaki do to make the Versys 1100 “better” than the Versys 1000?

Well, for starters, Kawasaki reworked the engine by giving it an additional 56 cubes of displacement. So yes, the new Versys 1100 is as close to a true 1100 as can be, with an actual displacement of 1,099cc as against its predecessor’s 1,043cc. The increase in displacement comes from a longer stroke, which resulted in two things: a bump in peak power, and more torque at the lower end of the rev range.

Accompanying the increased stroke is a higher compression ratio too, rising to 11.8:1 from 10.3:1. This is something that hits two birds with one stone in Kawasaki’s book. This gives the engine more power all while giving the engine a bit more efficiency, as it allows the engine to squeeze out more power from the combustion process thanks to improved thermal efficiency.

As such, on paper, the 1,099cc four-banger dishes out 133 horsepower and 83 pound-feet of torque. Granted, it’s nowhere near the ballpark of the big adventure-tourers like the S 1000 XR and Multistrada V4 which produce around 170 ponies. But hey, it’s a substantial improvement from the outgoing model’s 118 horsepower and 75 pound-feet of torque figures.

But improved performance isn’t all the new Versys 1100 promises to bring to the table. If you take a look at Kawasaki’s official website, you’ll see a whole bunch of fancy-sounding acronyms on the Versys 1100 Specs and Features tab. Stuff like KTRC, KCMF, KECS, and IMU may all sound like meaningless jargon to some, but to Kawasaki, they’re all a pretty big deal.

Of course, you get your traction control, electronic suspension, and cornering management, all made spatially aware by an Inertial Measurement Unit. Now, I’ll leave you to figure out what those acronyms mean, but in essence, this means that the Versys 1100—like the Versys 1000 before it—can fine tune ABS and traction control as you navigate corners, doing its best to keep you rubber side down at all times. Plus, its electronic suspension also self-adjusts at a moment’s notice depending on road conditions.

So there you have it, an upgraded Versys for the 2025 model year. And while it’s by no means the all-new off-road ready adventure bike a lot of you may have been hoping for from Team Green, it certainly paves the way for the rest of Kawasaki’s liter-class street bikes. Perhaps sooner than later, a Ninja 1100 SX will make its way to Team Green’s lineup, too.

But what do you think? Is Kawasaki missing out by keeping the Versys as it has been all these years? Is it time for Kawasaki to step out of its comfort zone and come up with something that could disrupt the market? Or is it doing the right thing by sticking to what it knows works and has worked for decades? Share your thoughts in the comments.