Test fleet: Kawasaki Versys 650 GT

This month it's a case of 'two's company' for our Bert (who counts as a crowd all on his own). Will the 'little' Versys version cut it?

In the last decade or so I've slowed down as a rider and a person and ditched the one-piece leathers and knee-sliders for textiles and the odd bit of two-up riding and touring as well as commuting.

Now, with a nagging better-half who always wants to get on the back of whatever I've got in the garage, a bike needs to cut the mustard two-up. So, let's see how the Versys copes.

First, an easy test: meet Genevieve Brooking. This is my god-daughter. Off-spring of my friends Dave Brooking and Jayne Cunningham, she's been brought up in a biking household and often goes out on the back of her dad's machines - including a Kawasaki ZX-10 from the late 1980s, a Honda VFR750 from the 1990s, and even a 2008 Suzuki GSX-R1000 with go-faster Yoshimura bits...

She's now eight and gave her feelings on the Versys when I took her for a ride - how did it compare to daddy's bikes? She said: "This is my favourite bike to ride ever! I like how I can sit comfortably on the seat and I can wave at my friends when I go past them." Genevieve fitted snugly around both panniers with her legs and with feet firmly on the pillion pegs there's also not a massive noticeable difference with her on board, but then she's small...time to go from aged eight to aged 45 and go from around 26 kilos to around 62 kilos with Rebeca Romero Cavero on the back, who loves riding on the back of my 2002 BMW R1150 RT.

Tale of the tape...