Project ER 5

Phil_G · Traffic Copper Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Karma :

Hiya,

For those of you who have been in chat the past few evenings, you will have had to tollerate a barrage of questions from me asking what to look at when buying a bike!

Well, Ive borne all your advice in mind, and gone out and bought the bike I had in mind.

Its a 1997 Kawasaki Er 500 a-1, with 55,000 miles. Its been bought as a cheap first bike to enjoy and learn the basics of riding on. Whilst the mileage is a little high, as it only stood me for £400, I dont think ive done too badly!

The engine is stock, but it came with the following:

Powerbronze fairing
Givi Pannier Rack and top box platform set up (no boxes Sad

)
Scottoiler
sub 100 mile old Bridgestone Battlax BT045 Rear tyre
7 Months MOT

ITs not perfect - both the fairing sides have cracks in from overtightening, and one is a little scuffed, but at £400 youre not ever going to get a minter and neither will it lap the TT at record pace or shatter windows with a sonic boom, but it will do me for now, and felt plenty quick enough when I rode it on private land.

Thanks for reading and here are the gratuitous pics:

veeeffarr · Super Spammer Joined: 22 Jul 2004 Karma :

Hi mate,

That's awesome!

Strangely enough I'm looking at a 500cc bike, high mileage, powerbronze fairing, for £400 Razz

Phil_G · Traffic Copper Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Karma :

wise choice Razz

I love having an older car/bike - less worry with parking them up in a town centre and less to lose if theyre written off Very Happy

phantomtek · Lil Joe Tek Joined: 20 May 2005 Karma :

Welcome to the ER-5 crew, that fairing is the nicest variation I've seen so far but I'm still not going to invest in one just yet. Could come in handy though Thinking

Lovely bike though and looks like you have got a good deal, nice rear tyre compared to the stock Dunlop Arrowmax which are shite in my opinion. Bearing in mind the fairing and Scottoiler alone cost near enough £200 you haven't done too badly!

Just wait for Craig- to come along and list the problems that are common with the A model such as the rectifier etc. but at that mileage I would suppose the earlier problems will have been and gone, we did write this about the bike if you would like a read?

Anyhow nice bike and have fun. Thumbs Up

Phil_G · Traffic Copper Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Karma :

taken from web link!

phantomtek · Lil Joe Tek Joined: 20 May 2005 Karma :

Trini · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Karma :

thats a pretty smart er-5! think you got a tidy bike there phil!

Phil_G · Traffic Copper Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Karma :

Gazdaman · I did a trackday!!! Joined: 12 Aug 2004 Karma :

Glad you took the advice, that bike's worth £400 of anyone's money. Fairing doesn't actually look bad either.

That bike's easily worth £400 in parts. And I'd expect that engine to almost do the same again without any major work.

Good buy Thumbs Up

EDIT: Is that a braided front hose?

Gaz

Phil_G · Traffic Copper Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Karma :

BladeMontana · L Plate Warrior Joined: 04 May 2006 Karma :

Gratz Phil, i've just invested in an ER-5 too. 5800miles 98S, silver, little damage to the tank, but other than that perfect nick, only £1200. Anyone know what sort of mileage they are good for before any major work needed?

gerkin · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 29 May 2006 Karma :

if you change the oil and filter at regular intervals the motor will do 100,000 easy!

other than rotting exhausts and rectifiers they are reliable even if the build quality aint as good as say a cb500

check the sprocket carrier bearing as these wear if chain is over tightened

gerkin · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 29 May 2006 Karma :

try the er5 owners forum here
https://clubs.wanadoo.co.uk/group/group.cfm?GID=98130

iCraig · World Chat Champion Joined: 04 Jun 2004 Karma :

colin1 · Captain Safety Joined: 17 Feb 2005 Karma :

ive not seen an er5 with a fairing before. I quite like it.
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colin1 is officially faster than god

gerkin · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 29 May 2006 Karma :

yep ,fair point about the cam chain!

Phil_G · Traffic Copper Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Karma :

Well,

Its been some time since I posted on this topic but I thought i would update it with some recent pics of the bike.

Big thing is I got rid of the fairing. It is badly cracked where its been overtightened and/or flapped about in the wind as the bike is moving. I never was 100% convinced by its looks but I bought the machine as i thought it was good and straight underneath.

It now looks like any other ER5 to be honest, but given its mileage, I am surprised at how well it polishes up. All I can think is the years of wearing the fairing have protected the restof it from the muck etc.

Anyhow - enjoy Smile

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/Phil_G/ER500/DSCF2199.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v26/Phil_G/ER500/DSCF2200a.jpg

I am currently half way through cleaning up the forks too. I wont leave them like they are in the pics as it lets the bike down Sad

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1997 Kawasaki ER 500 A1:- Once again, Its merely crap Smile

Whosthedaddy · Super Spammer Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Karma :

100% better naked Thumbs Up

With some polished downpipes, a lick of paint on the kickstand and maybe polished rims Thinking

it will gleam even more.
____________________
Current : MSX 125 Past : CBR 900RR Monkeybike : c50 LAC : ZXR750 H2 : FZR600 : ZX7R P3 : YW100 : TRX850: Trophy 900 T309 : GSXR 600 L0: Monkeybike : XJ6S Whosthedaddy

TOM M · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Karma :

Phil_G · Traffic Copper Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Karma :

ram_doom · World Chat Champion Joined: 25 Mar 2006 Karma :

Quite liked the oddball fairing it originally had, it does polish up well though!
____________________
TL1000s, KDX200

Phil_G · Traffic Copper Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Karma :

like i say ram - its in need of a lot of plastic welding and then it will all need painting up, and with the cost of passing my test mounting up its not something i can afford to do at present.

I also must admit i didnt like the fairing all that much..

oh well Smile

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1997 Kawasaki ER 500 A1:- Once again, Its merely crap Smile

binge · Emo Kiddy Joined: 02 Jul 2004 Karma :

Could you not fabricate some sort of belly pannel out of the farings you have.

I think Naked bikes with a belly pannel look the absolout Muts Nuts! Thumbs Up

Phil_G · Traffic Copper Joined: 27 Mar 2006 Karma :

-Ali- · Trackday Trickster Joined: 22 Feb 2005 Karma :

what's the rear drum like? It's the only thing on er-5s that puts me off as i'm not sure about 1 on a 500cc bike