My new KLE500 (updated)

[stinkwheel]

Well, you’ve probably heard me wittering on about getting a KLE500 to replace my MZ baghira that was stolen. Finally agreed the payout for the MZ of £1,900 so I decided I would get a new bike at the weekend.

Scanning the internet, I found one in a dealers at Huddersfield, 10 year old but only 6,900 miles on the clock. Asking price was £1,500 which to me seemed reasonable for a bike with such a low mileage so I called them up to hold onto it for me and booked a train down on the Saturday.

Got there to pick it up and found it wasn’t exactly as described in that they had said it was “A very, very tidy bike” and when I asked about its condition was assured that it looks like a bike that has sat in a garage doing nothing for the last ten years. Straight away I found it had some scratching on a couple of panels and a fair sized dent in the tank. The collector box was also starting to show signs of corrosion. So cue angry Scotsman routine “I just came four hours on the train…not as described” etc. and got £100 knocked off the asking price. Signed the documents and off I went on it.

Not what I would call "Very, very tidy" so I'll have a hundred quid off please
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/kle4.jpg

Mates were having a party up in Edinburgh so conscious of my handwritten 1 month warranty, I decided this would be a good ‘shakedown’. Up the M1 first. First thing I noticed was the brakes are appalling, now they are the same brakes that are fitted on my GPZ500s so I know they should be better than this. Just a case of them never having been touched in the last ten years. The rear brake is almost non-existent, unfortunately it has the truly awful single pot caliper that kawasaki used on loads of bikes so a mental note to give them a good overhaul ASAP along with some decent pads and braided lines.

Surprisingly comfortable on the motorway, the bike will sit at 90mph quite comfortably, anything faster and the wind gets a bit intrusive. The twin cylinder engine makes a lot more sense at road speeds than the KLR650 single with which this bike shares many cycle parts, none of the feeling that you are flogging it and no really intrusive vibrations coming through the seat and pegs. There was a bit of an annoying high frequency ‘buzz’ coming through the bars which started making my fingers go numb after about 150 miles, I intend to fit some solid bark-busters to the bike anyway so the added mass should damp this out. The bike has plastic brush guards fitted anyway which do a good job of keeping the wind off your hands but they won’t save the levers if you drop it.

Got onto the Jedburgh road after Newcastle which is a good twisty one to try out the handling. I was let down a bit because the bike still has its original front tyre on which is 10 years old and badly worn from underconfident cornering, leaving a point on it but also two fat ridges of rubber round the edges which made the thing feel very wishy-washy if you pushed it down hard into a corner. Other than that the whole outfit feels very light and well balanced. The 36” desert bars mean you can make it respond to your steering input and you sit down in the middle of the bike rather than on top of it. Riding with a straight back and a big enough frame to cope with my 6’2” means fatigue was minimal, even the seat is wide and squidgy enough to stave off a numb bum.

Big, but not too big to throw about
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/kle1.jpg

The tank range is a bit of a concern, On the motorway I hit reserve after only 95 miles, it has a fancy ‘flick out and turn’ reserve switch which seems very robust but it is difficult to work with gloves on. I think the fuel consumption would be improved by fitting a road biased tyre in place of the full-knob rear that is on it although I may have to look into getting a bigger tank for it if I want to do some touring. They made a version of the KLR called a Tengi which has a big tank on that should fit so I will look into getting one of these at the breakers.

Arrived in Edinburgh with a smile on my face, I really did enjoy riding it and there is a lot of potential for me to customise it to suit what I want.

Looking over the bike there is some pretty dire styling on it. It is a rather nice metallic green colour but the overall thing that screams out at you is “PURPLE!”. I am stuck with the purple saddle but the purple gaiters and disc brake enclosures can come off which should tone it down a bit. The previous owner hasn’t helped by fitting purple anodized valve caps and tax-disc holder, these too will be coming off. It also has fake ram-air scoops and ducting in the small nose fairing that just disappear under the tank, I think I will leave it on as the headlamp looks surprisingly effective for a crosser. The instrument panel is pretty clean in its layout with funky domed warning lamps in the style of a 1960’s computer. Nice big speedo with a smaller rev counter to one side of it. Can’t help thinking a temperature gauge would be a useful addition rather than just a warning light, I know how hot these 500 twins can get in slow moving traffic and it would be nice to keep an eye on things.

Front end looks surprisingly modern, the light should be adequate too. The bash plate is pretty solid but some extra protection for the water pump would be a good idea
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/kle2.jpg

On my way home I gave my mate a shot on it while I rode his Tiger 900. To be honest, the KLE was the better bike to ride down the A7 to Galashiels. They both top-out at about the same 115-120mph and whilst the Tiger is a huge wave of torque, the KLE seems a lot nimbler. In a race down a road like that, I reckon the KLE would win.

The power delivery surprised me, whilst it is down 10bhp on the GPZ500, there is a nice fat burst of power all through the mid-range which starts running out about 2,000 revs below the 11k red-line. It makes the bike a lot more tractable and removes the need for changing down a couple of gears to overtake at 50-60mph, you just stick it in top and can make steady progress just using your right hand.

Overall I am very pleased with the bike as a package, I also think some decent rubber would turn it into a proper hooligan tool. As such I am actively looking into fitting a set of 17” cast wheels to the bike. My spare GPZ rear should bolt straight in, unfortunately the disc is on the wrong side for the front but I reckon I can find something else in the kawasaki range that will fit in (ER5?). I am also going to fit some progressive fork springs and I will need some slightly longer dog-bones in the unitrak to compensate for lowering the front by 2”. Other mods are going to include a small crash bar over the water pump housing and a couple of side-racks to complement the existing rear luggage rack, I’ll just knock these up myself using my welder.

A 17" cast wheel and some work on the brakes should nail this to the road. The bin is the only suitable place fo this purple plastic disc guard.
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/kle5.jpg

Lastly I need to look at the exhaust. It has to go and soon or it will rot away. Laser make a full stainless system for the bike so one of these is the way forwards. I am just undecided now whether to go for the ‘road’ or ‘sports’ one. If I fit the sports one the bike will be getting the full dyno-jet/power commander/K&N job done on it. I know the motor will take the extra power in a reliable fashion and my style of riding will take a bit more top-end but I don’t want to destroy the lazy mid-range tractability of the package. Decisions, decisions.

A stainless pipe would finish this off nicely
https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/kle3.jpg

My mate Chris summed it up, bearing in mind he put 70k miles on kawasakis well renowned KLR650 dirt bike over a period of two years in Australia by saying “I have no idea why kawasaki didn’t sell thousands of these things.”. Ah well, there is no accounting for fashion I suppose, and kawasaki obviously think there is a market for them as they have just launched a re-vamped KLE500 after a five year gap in production.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Josh|RD125LC]

Oooooh looks very nice. Good one on knocking him down, a dent in the tank, I wouldn't call that tidy myself either. Make sure you keep this one in your sight! What security you getting/got for it?
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Honda MBX50 | Yamaha RD125LC | Suzuki RG125F Lucky Strike | Suzuki GSF600S
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[stinkwheel]

Main thing is it is now in a locked brick garage and chained to my Suzuki T500 which has seized brakes and weighs around 400lb. Should keep the casual thief away. Not much you can do about the determined thief although the lockup is handily overlooked by our local insomniac curtain twitching old lady who is always looking for an excuse to phone the police about something.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Josh|RD125LC]

[Robby]

For the front wheel problem, is there much to stop you just turning the gpz front wheel round and fitting it like that?

[stinkwheel]

Yes and no. It would look a bit odd because the 'spokes' are curved.

The wheel from my older GPZ would go in nicely but it is a 16" which is a bit self defeating.

I'm not sure, but I also think the speedo drive gear would make it go backwards?
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[iCraig]

Get a wheel from the later twin disc'd GPZ, and remove the RH disc.

Or get the master cylinder and upgrade the brakes to twin discs aswell!

[colin1]

nice review or whatever u'd like to call it
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[mchaggis]

Certainly one to consider then. I think it'd tick all the boxes.

Be it a CB500, GPz, KLR, MZ Skorpion, KLE or GSX-F, I'll get something eventually.
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[Nath]

How does it compare to the MZ? More top speed? From the size of your insurance payout the bikes are of similar value?
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Hard livin', hard luck.

[stinkwheel]

The rolling chassis is nothing like as trick or well built as the MZ. The MZ came with stainless or powder-coated everything and fancy off-the -shelf cycle parts, a lot better put together.

The payout was a lot less than a good example of the bike would be worth but I ride them all year and ride them hard, as such it was in a shit state cosmetically.

The KLE is definatley faster than the MZ but the MZ had a lot more torque. I don't think I will be able to ride like quite so much of a twat round the back roads on the KLE as it doesn't have 12" of multi-adjustable suspension on each end with floating disc brakes and big fat sticky rubber. This will be compensated for by the ability to cover distance at speed in comfort.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[stinkwheel]

Right, I've been fiddling.

I took the wheels off my old GPZ500s and tried them in.

The rear wheel fitted right in there, no modifications neccessary. The only problem is that the calliper mount holds the calliper at the 12 o' clock position rather than the standard 3 o' clock. This means that the brake line is a tad too short for comfort, I was going to replace it anyway so this isn't too much of an issue. I have left the GPZ sprocket on which has effectively geared the bike up and put 5mph on the comfortable cruising speed (maybe a slightly higher top speed too). This has left the chain at the maximum adjustment so I'll need to knock a couple of links out.

Front wheel is not quite so straightforward. I have flipped the front wheel from the GPZ500s round and had a spacer made. This has lined the disc up BUT:

The standard disc is 10mm bigger than the GPZ one so the pads don't bite the disc fully.

I cocked-up my measurements so the wheel isn't in square and the width is a bit too big, springing the fork legs apart a bit.

I dropped the bike off with my local 'handy with machine tools' guy today. He has the choice of the GPZ wheel or an ER5 wheel (which is the right way round for this bike). Ideally, he will be able to machine down the speedo drive and take some metal off my spacer to square the wheel up between the forks. Once that is done, he will make a spacer to move the calliper down and in a bit so it lines up with the disc properly.

This leaves me the option of re-fitting the standard wheels in a short time if I want to try something a bit more adventurous than tarmac riding. Not sure if I will drop the back-end, it has tucked the front in a lot, but on the road I might be able to get away with it. Just need to test it out and see if it behaves through corners. Not difficult to make some new dog-bones if not.

I have my exhaust on order. Started with a 6 week lead time, got a call the other day that it will now be November before I see it. Laser have me over a barrel really because they are the only people that make a full stainless system for this bike

Really wanted the zorst on because then I can make my racks to suit.

Here is a piccy of it sat on the new wheels. They are gunmetal in colour, just a bit mucky for the moment. They are both coming out again so I can give them a clean up then.

https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/kle1.jpg https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/newwheels.jpg
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[colin1]

Nice idea of having two sets of wheels for on/offroad.

I have seen some motocross/supermoto bikes on ebay that come with both and it sounds a good idea. Almost like having two bikes in one package.
____________________
colin1 is officially faster than god

[bish777]

ahhh much nicer.
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GSXR1100J

[mistergixer]

Looks a bit TDR250-esque, but i like it. Given me some ideas......
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[Nath]

Are you going to replace those purple gators? They're hideous!
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Hard livin', hard luck.

[Claud 14.7 to 1]

What is a dog-bone?

You know you could have just saved up for a bit and got another MZ? Plus you wouldn't have had to touch that.

Enjoy the new bike.

[stinkwheel]

[map]

Funny how little mods on their own can add up to a bike looking rather different. Good work

Have you given any thought to how you'll increase the fuel capacity?
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[stinkwheel]