hi all kle,ers starting to prepare for our first trip on two new kle 500s one for me & one for deb, the bikes seem to be great and have had several short trips out to run them in, is there anything you would change on them or do you think they are good enough as standard,i have read that the klr 650 should have some mounting bolts upgraded and other things changed , any thoughts thanks ash

thinking of motorcross style handelbar guards myself. and a small metal plate under the side peg

Hello there.

Have a look at the technical thread, there are quite a few tips there. I had a bit of a rough trip of 650 kms of offroad work over 2 days, and the 2 mounting bolts of my carrier that sits on the front of the carrier, and runs through the mud guard snapped off. The broken bits were impossible to remove, and I had to drill an 8mm hole through them, and replaced them with high tensile allen cap bolts and nylok nuts. Just remember whatever you change you need to use the tools on your bike, otherwise you end up with something you cannot fix on the road.

Just a note of caution, the long travel on the front fork, and the shorter travel on the back, tend to keep the front wheel on the ground, while the back jumps in the air when you hit a bump at speed. A bit tricky bike to jump.

I found the seat not too comfortable though. Maybe somebody has an idea for you with that.

Otherwise I found the bike very reliable, except for the regulator problem I had. Check the technical thread for that. I fully agrre with luuk on the crashbars for the handlebars as well. Also do not over tighten your levers onto the bars. That way when the fall comes, the levers will just shift, and not brake off.

Good luck with the trip, and send some pics.

Regards

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Pleco

If its stupid, but it works, it aint stupid.

Hi, I have 110kg and I found that front forks pumped at 1,1kPa(prevents fork dive when braking, better front wheel grip when gear loaded on the back) and rear shock set on hardest is excelent for highway (all sort of asphalted roads) . When ride on terrain I choose little softer air pressure in front forks for better front wheel grip.So I guess it depands on terrain you gonna drive on.

I did a 3000 mile trip on mine with no adjustments. I'd recommend softening the seat first and if you're leaving civilisation, take a large gerry can as fuel range hits 150 - 175 miles at best.

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Current Bikes - Kawasaki KLE500 '05 (May 06)
Previous Bikes - Hyosung GF125 (Oct 05 to May 06)