[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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"On that? You're nuts!" - My cousin's boyfriend

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