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Photo by Carl Parker, Always curious Tibetans, Tibet, China

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Photo by Carl Parker,
Always curious Tibetans,
Tibet, China



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  #1  
Old 8 Sep 2011
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KLE500 Rebuild

Decided to strip my KLE down and rebuild since winters have started to get the better of it.

Before







After powdercoat



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  #2  
Old 9 Sep 2011
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Congrats for the beautiful frame color.
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  #3  
Old 12 Sep 2011
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I love these sort of threads, more pictures and descriptive please
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  #4  
Old 12 Sep 2011
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Thanks for the comments.
Don't have much time at the minute so its going to be a bit slow hopefully be able to hit it hard after this weekend. So far few parts not shown have been cleaned and painted. And swingarm now has new bearings.
To do:
Clean and paint few more parts
Put in new headstock bearings
Rebuild brake calipers
Tidy up accessory wiring
Touch up paint on engine

Additions to be added at some point:
Braided front brake hose
Uprated rear shock
Uprated fork springs
Stainless respoke on front wheel
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  #5  
Old 13 Sep 2011
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That looks fantastic!
I've been thinking about stripping mine down and doing the same. Any top tips for things to look out for ?
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  #6  
Old 18 Sep 2011
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Progress front and rear suspension done. Although thinking that i might take the forks out again and spray them to match the swingarm, the silver just seems too bright by comparison.


Top tips:
Make sure to attach the swingarm rubber before fitting the swingarm.
Take note of the orientaion of the rear shock when removing. I put mine back in and found the swingarm was hitting the spring, rotated it 180deg about its axis and it bolted right up.
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  #7  
Old 21 Nov 2011
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inspirational!

I've been inspired... I've now got a KLE in kit form, 1001 rusty or oily pieces. I'm hoping to send the frame for blasting and powdercoating next week, but I'm not sure I'll go for as brave a colour scheme as yourself !!
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  #8  
Old 21 Nov 2011
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In hindsight in terms of durability i think a standard flat colour would be a better choice as the colour i have chosen is 2 stage powdercoating (silver base coat and transparent red top coat) and is easily damaged as the top coat can't really key in to the smooth base coat it just chips off or cracks with a small amount of pressure
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  #9  
Old 26 Nov 2011
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All finished and MOT'ed







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  #10  
Old 27 Nov 2011
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Some better pictures




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  #11  
Old 27 Nov 2011
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That is one good looking KLE I really like that red frame and handelbars. Can you please tell me the dimensions of the bars? I have nooticed you mounted high fron fender(which looks good on any KLE ), what cought my eye was the engine protection. Can you tell me anything about it(material, measurements, fitting,...)? Been thinking of this kind a protection for my KLE too.

Thanks, Ghosty!
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->Kawasaki KLE 500 '05 riding it, like I stole it
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