Greetings to everyone from Finland.

I bought the bike last spring and ended up modifying it a bit:

First of all the engine was replaced with a gpz unit since the transmission broke from the original one (flywheel...). During the summer I modified the airbox http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1130747.jpg and retuned the carbs. Then the winter came.

The suspension is pretty crappy and wilbers shocks cost a lot... So I took the measurements of the old shock and started looking for a replacement. I found a possible candidate from a Honda XR600R. Only problem was, that the piggy bag reservoir hit the rear swingarm. So I took the shock apart and sawed the reservoir off.

http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1592649.jpg The date is wrong.
http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1592652.jpg And the date is still off.

I fitted a hose in between the two parts and got it serviced.

http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1690474.jpg

And in it went. It's a tight fit, but it works.

http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1690475.jpg

The reservoir went in behind the battery. With a little heat I molded the rear fender to accept the reservoir.

The front I equipped with progressive Wilbers springs. I also made 4 mm shorter dog bones to the rear. A little more ground clearance and a bit steeper front sounds good to me.

http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1690476.jpg

The KLE with the front end off. Notice my pneumatically operated bike stand.

http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1690477.jpg

As everyone knows, the exhaust system isn't that good... Very unequal length primaries with a a weird collector. I looked up the laser exhaust and it was almost as bad. At least they had fixed the collector, but the pipes were still way off.

So I made my own idea of a decent exhaust. I got the end can from a Hayabusa, it's a Yoshimura RS-3. I built the exhaust so, that it's still possible to use the original belly pan. It's not ready yet, and it still needs a little work to get it the way I want it.

A few more pictures of the thing:
http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1690481.jpg

http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1690485.jpg

Silencer flange: http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1690484.jpg

http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1690480.jpg

After the snow melts and I get the carbs retuned I'm thinking of getting the bike dynoed. I'm wondering whether to open the engine or not. I might modify the the head a bit and raise compression, but I'm not sure if I have the time since I don't wan't miss any riding time

nice lookin bike, kle great bike and i like what you did with the exhaust. old one is not best and prone to damage.

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I spent 90% of my money on women and drink. The rest I wasted

Nice one! Good lookin pipe

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http://ranfog.co.uk

Thanks. I think that it's impossible to make a pipe worse than the original...

The KLE indeed is a great bike, especially after I fix those few downsides. I just love the versatility. Few pics taken last summer:

http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1130751.jpg
http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1130799.jpg
http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1130801.jpg
http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1130802.jpg
http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1130803.jpg
http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1130804.jpg

Looking forward to spring

i am jealous of thoes pics, wouldnt mind having some where like that close buy to go out on a bike

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I spent 90% of my money on women and drink. The rest I wasted

Found these which may be of intrest to you

ex 500, gpz 500, gpx 500, factory pro, carburetor, shift, ignition, prodk05.html, products ex500, gpz500, 97-99

Tuning 500 KLE

Kawasaki EX 500 Twin (87-92) Performance profile to increase

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http://ranfog.co.uk

Thanks for the links. Two first ones I've red before, but the last one was new. Stock cams should be 290 (?) adv degrees with 7,1 mm of lift. I don't know how much that is with 1,27 mm lift (0,050"). My guess is, that those cams in the link are somewhere around 300-320 adv. I don't think I'll upgrade the cams, afterall it's an enduro bike and a healthy bottom end pull is nice to have. Big cams can also cause rocker wear and 9,65 mm of lift is on the limit for stock valve springs.

What I'm thinking of doing is to modify the intake on the head for more flow speed. That should boost the bottom end as well as the top. The EX head actually flows too much. Another good thing would be a smarter ignition system, it would save fuel but not affect maximum power. There is no point in tuning the EX a lot, since reliability falls sharply after 70 hp If I decide to modify the head, I should get around 65 hp, at least I hope so, and thats enough for me.

Tell me Stefa,when you put the gpz engine in what changes,if any,did you make to the final drive gearing,did you put a smaller rear sprocket on? Ive just put some gpz cams in mine and was wondering if ill need to alter the gearing much. ive not yet fired her up yet so i dont know how much differance the cams have made.

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http://ranfog.co.uk

You don't have to modify the gearing because of the cams. I was running stock gearing for a while, then I dropped a tooth off the front sprocket and now I bought two teeth bigger rear sprocket. I favor shorter gearing since top speed is pretty much irrelevant, but better acceleration down low is fun. Fuel consumption stayed the same after I dropped a tooth from the front. If I remember correctly the engine revved about 200-300 rpm more in the same speed as it did before the sprocket change.

"If you're doing well over 100 kph, the road is too wide"

Thanks for that,still not fired her up yet as im waiting for exhaust gaskets,and ive got a little water leak that needs sorting. Im not to intrested in top speed,much prefer a grunty engine.

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http://ranfog.co.uk

Got the exhaust finished, or at least almost. I added an extra curve on the left side primary to get the lengths to match and moved the tail pipe closer to the frame. Hopefully this way it won't burn my heel or pants so easily. Still have to weld a nut for a lambda sensor as well as a 1/8" threads on both primaries close to the head for EGT sensors. Probably unnecessary, but I'm curious. After that a sandblast and a paint job and the bike is ready for tuning. Now it makes loud bangs when the throttle is let of from about 7 krpm So the exhaust seems to flow better Haven't tried it yet with any load on, since there's still a lot of ice and snow almost everywhere...

The rest of the engine will remain stock for now, I just don't have the time to open it up. Probably next winter.

http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1784538.jpg

http://kuva1.kuvablogi.com/iso/img1784539.jpg

I have already fired her up and the sound is pretty loud. I did run the bike indoors, so it probably won't sound that bad for real, but I still think that it's a bit too loud. I did build a few different kinds of noise killers, but I wasn't happy with the results. The noise killers did loose the low sounds quite effectively, but left a higher "screaming" sound. That's just the other way round that I want it. Does anyone have any ideas how to loose that screaming sound? I have an idea to build a noise killer at the end of the tailpipe rather than to the end of the muffler. Hopefully a large exhaust can end diameter will keep the low sound, but if I get the desing right, I'll be able to loose the higher sounds

It's been a while... Haven't done a lot. During last summer I was heavily overemployed and I've spent most of my freetime with cars this winter, so I haven't opened the engine. Anyway I got an idea to try the kle on an ice track! I bought a set of special tires. Haven't mounted them yet, but I will in a few days Those require a high mudguard as well, I think it's a polisport one for some Yamaha that I bought. Maybe a video will be avalable at some point

I did mount some panniers last spring. I mostly ride alone, so I mounted them as low and front as I nicely could. I also made a set of footpegs, about 30 mm lower than the original. Sadly I don't seem to have a decent pic. Filthy one. The first "800 C" paint didn't last very long in the primaries. The second one has withstood the temperature way better. I was running on Mitas E-09 tires for half a summer, I can warmly recommend if they are available. Cheap and good, about 100 e per set here in Finland!

Have a nice spring you all and keep on riding!

Y am from Argentina and own a kle 500 92 travel once a year with a friend who also has a kle.We have done some modifications on the bikes,Y will post some soon.
Good journies.

bike looks good can i have a few more pics of the panniers+rack please and are they pellican cases if so what size?

cheers

Does anyone have pics from his mods? Links don't work :-S

Thanks!

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->Honda XL125V Varadero '08 sold
->Kawasaki KLE 500 '05 riding it, like I stole it