Kawasaki KLE?

[mr.z]

Has anyone had one?

As far as i can tell there is a 400 (import?) and 500 and a couple of revisons... there is a 91 on ebay with no bids at £850

What are they like for relyability and comfort e.t.c.? this is the sort of style bike i'd like, not sure about the single front disk but its probably as good or better than i'm used to anyway...

Mine is getting near to needing a rebuild which will cost arround the same ammount as another cx i'm on the look out for an engine but if i dont find a goodun i'll be breaking it for ebay floging.

Will part be easy enough to get for a kle? or are they a bit on the rare side, i don't want to be importing special break pads from japan or sillyness like that...

good/bad?
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[iCraig]

Well the KLE500 uses the EX500 engine found in the GPZ500S and ER-5 but in more of a dual purpose guise.

Reliability is about the same as a GPZ, and engine parts are easily interchangable and so are probably many of the other parts.

Infact the KLE500 has been reintroduced this year by Kawasaki, and was imported officially too before then.

Also the 400 probably uses the same twin engine used in the grey GPZ400S.

[Kickstart]

Hi

The KLE uses a slightly detuned version of the GPZ500 engine (presume it is the same one as the ER5). Bodywork might not be that easy to source 2nd hand, but general parts should not be difficult.

By the way, the ZZR400 used a totally unrelated 4 cylinder engine.

All the best

Keith
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[mr.z]

Ahhhh that makes sense...

Do you think it has the same gearbox (on the 400, same as the zzr?) /yep a mate had a zzr400, thought it was a 4???

70% of my rideing is country lanes 10% in town 10% b roads 10% motorway... i'd like to do some "light" offroading, and seeing as i can't really afford to have tow bikes i thought this might fit the bill..
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>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[Kickstart]

Hi

Well, my FZ750 managed some light off roading, but not intentionally. The KLE might be marginally better, but not much. It should work well everywhere except motorways where the riding position might be a touch windy.

Suspect the gearbox on the ZZR is unrelated to the KLE engine. The GPZ500 / ER5 / KLE / etc engine is quite unusual these days as it uses chain primary drive, and thus the engine spins round a different way to normal.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing