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Which Bike? Comments and Questions on what is the best bike for YOU, for YOUR trip. Note that we believe that ANY bike will do, so please remember that it's all down to PERSONAL OPINION. Technical Questions for all brands go in their own forum.
Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 22 Jun 2006
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Smile My new KLE500

[I've just posted this somewhere else, but it may be more relevant here]

I've recently purchased a brand new '06 KLE500 and I'm extremely impressed with it. Alright, I'm not a very experienced biker and it is only the second bike I've ever owned, but don't take my word for it - my father who has 30 odd years of biking experience liked it too and he competes in trials competitions and lives and breathes classic Triumphs.

So far I've clocked up 1400 miles in 6 or 7 weeks which included my daily 2 mile commute and a trip from London around Dartmoor and I can confidently say it handles traffic, motorways and rough trails with relative ease. It can cruise at 90mph although the windblast gets quite tiring over 70mph. The screen doesn't do much over 60mph and seems to direct the wind directly into your face so goggles or a full face helmet are advisable. The front brake is woeful and I've managed to knacker the front pads in only 800 miles around London, although I can't help really hammering them anyway. The more sensible amongst you might be able to resist that particular temptation and I can still get another 1000 or so miles out of the current pads.

The major problem with this bike from a design point of view is its lack of identity. It can't decide whether it's a commuter bike or a trailie which in some ways is in its favour as it seems to handle both with relative ease although surpasses in neither category. The new model is down on power on previous versions due to tighter emissions regulations, however it still has plenty of usable grunt, especially around the 5,000 rpm mark. Two-up is a bit of a hassle (especially with the high exhaust), but 30-40kg of luggage shouldn't be too much of a problem. A big issue for me is the lack of a centre stand. This means I'll probably get a scott-oiler and an old rug to make servicing easier as there seems to be no obvious place to fit a centre stand as it has a large bash-plate and the exhaust ports run right under the bottom of the frame. I still haven't worked out how to service many aspects of the bike yet, but pads and oil seem easy enough. Stock tyres are Dunlop Trailmax which seem OK and have the benefit of being tubed type which made my first puncture easy enough to repair. This puncture occured due to me filtering too much and leaving the rear tyre over inflated. The reason the rear tyre was over inflated is that I couldn't work out how the hell I was going to get an air jack into the valve due to the tiny rims, chunky rear disc and sprocket. It does require some thought, but is possible.

Being so tall, the bike is a bugger to get on and initally feels very heavy. To coin the cliche, all that weight disappears once it's moving. No, really, it does, this bike handles like a 125 once in first gear and the high riding position is easy to get used to. It does feel a little twitchy off road, but this stabilises at speed or with a generous amount of rear brake. I tried it following 4x4 tracks, but it should handle smoother surfaces better and isn't too heavy to pick up again, unlike a R1150GS for example. Unfortunately, all that lack of weight is deceptive, and I had a couple of hairy moments when I forgot that I was riding a 190kg motorcycle and not a 10 kg bicycle and needed a fair amount of upper body strength not to drop it.

To conclude, if you want a bike that really will do everything, then this is the one. Although it doesn't excel in any one area, it really does have all bases covered and has a good reputation for reliability. If any indication were needed, try finding a secondhand model.

PS: It needs a much bigger tank. Current range for mine is around 100 miles before I hit the enourmous reserve. A little more thought was needed there.

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Current Bikes - Kawasaki KLE500 '05 (May 06)
Previous Bikes - Hyosung GF125 (Oct 05 to May 06)
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  #2  
Old 29 May 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaqhama
I'm going to look at larger tank options.
There are no larger tank options for KLE 500, the only way
is to make bigger tank by yourself.
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  #3  
Old 29 May 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnteK
There are no larger tank options for KLE 500, the only way
is to make bigger tank by yourself.
like me: http://web.vip.hr/nikola.mrakovcic.vip/bike/bike.htm
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  #4  
Old 24 Nov 2006
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Kle 500

I see some Kle 500s around touring long distances.
But don't know the details of gas tank,etc.
It's 2 cylinders and am sure must be very comfortable to ride by lacking of vibration. Though my preference is something else.
Regards,
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  #5  
Old 24 Nov 2006
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well the engine is used in the ex500 gpz500 gpz500s el500 and the kle500
but more people use the engine...http://www.rallytwin.com/
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  #6  
Old 14 May 2007
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Unhappy F650

Quote:
Originally Posted by lukerobyn View Post
hi all
due to the lack of availability of the new kle500 and the price people seem to want for the older second hand kle's I'm swinging towards spending a bit more on a f650.
However I am still keeping my eye on any kle's that come up for sale just in case something good turns up, I'm still a bit tempted by the reduced worry of taking a cheaper bike.
Would be very interested also to here how your trip goes on the kle Blacjack
Hi All,another newbie to the forum, just ordered a new kle for commuting and fun, and noticed the coment from luke, now i'm not anti bmw but my son had a lovely condition and maintained f650 and wanted to sell it on to finace another machine, but, 2-300mles before it's third service the engine bluw up the bmw mechanic said that the valve clearances are very critical and MUST be done at the service intervals or you get this trouble:confused1: so instead of a selling price of about 2-2.5k ukpounds he got £200
so just letting you know lads....
lookin forward to gettin my kle it'll look nice parked beside my TDM900 in the garage
TDMalcolm
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  #7  
Old 22 Aug 2005
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Just seen a new KLE500 in M&P accessories(swansea) for £3499 all in.Had a good look around it,quite basic but seems reasonably well built to me.

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