Copyright (c) umgweb.com 1998
After completing and enjoying a summer holiday, working on a Greek island, I decided that the next year I would do something that I had never done before to any extent. To ride solo to Greece through Europe. I considered making the journey on my Honda 400 Superdream which despite what some bikers might tell you was a very reliable and surprisingly nippy motorcycle for its age.
However, I decided it was rather too old and having a small fortune in the bank (with the emphassis on small rather than fortune) a newer machine was what I needed. I was looking for a bike with torque and power, although not necessarily an excess of speed. Something with a comfortable riding position and lots of suspension travel to cope with the rough roads and tracks of Greece.
After days of shopping around, I set my heart on an F reg Kawasaki KLR650, which I bought from a small local motorcycle shop for £1995. The KLR is a quite complex single with watercooling, four valves, DOHCs and a balance shaft but despite this weighs in at a reasonable 350lbs dry.
Well, more things went wrong with this bike in the first fortnight than ever went wrong with the Superdream. First, I noticed that the chain was getting tight then loose with every rotation of the wheel, so first I replaced the chain. The problem initially improved then gradually became the same after a few miles of riding. Then I lashed out on a set of sprockets thinking the originals might be oval.
Still no better. I forked out for new rear wheel bearings, again to no avail. Next came the replacement of the rear cush drive but still, even to this day, I have no idea what's causing it. I just simply keep feeding it new chains and live with it.
I suppose that you should expect a bit of chain wear from a big single, with its strong, potentially destructive power pulses, but getting only a couple of thousand miles out of a chain from a bike that at most develops 50 horses is a bit hard to take. Despite its massive bore power delivery isn't exactly full of torque at low revs - in fact, combined with a clunky gearbox, town riding and slow trail stuff can be decidedly hard work. It doesn't like low revs in top gear at all, with a horrible crunching noise from the transmission. Perhaps my bike had something out of line.
Shortly after, on a trip to London, the bike kept cutting out on the M1 motorway, just as if I was turning the ignition on and off. Being a single cylinder high compression engine the effect of this took me completely by surprise, and as it happened at 70mph almost threw me over the handlebars. Not very nice when a forty ton artic's up your arse! By then I was becoming a little miffed with the machine. I tried fitting a new spark plug, thinking the old one might be breaking down, but no difference resulted. A few days later I received a letter from Kawasaki stating that carb icing was a problem on this model. A complete new, water heated carb was fitted by my local Kawasaki dealer for no charge, thus curing the stalling.
High speed motorway work was possible, as the engine appeared happy enough to push the bike along at 90mph, although the upright riding position meant a bit of pain was induced in shoulder muscles from the windblast if sustained high speed insanity was required. Vibration was present at most revs but the balancer worked well enough to damp the worst of it out.
The trail inspired geometry, dubious tyres (for the road) and long travel suspension meant it wobbled about a bit on fast bends and weaved a little on motorways once above 70mph. However, it never became so bad that I had much thought of backing off. The disc brakes were on the basic side compared to the multi piston stuff on the plastic reptiles, but worked well in most weather given the inherent lack of mass and speed.
The bike had cost me rather more than anticipated, after paying for green card insurance and road tax, I was left with insufficient funds to buy the Krausers I was hoping to fit. I settled for used 15 litre panniers and make-shift brackets. The top box cost £25, expensive for a washing up bowl with a lid, and bolted easily to the standard luggage rack. Nevertheless, I was all set and three weeks away from the big day.
A week later disaster struck. The rear shock decided to give up on me. Every last drop of oil lay in a big pool under the bike. The Kawasaki dealer had great pleasure in telling me that unless I had about £250 to spare, I had better get saving. Without further ado I rushed out and bought a copy of MCN, said a few prayers then started sifting my way through the pages. As you can imagine, these bikes are few and far between on the road, let alone in breakers yards.
As if my prayers had been answered I struck lucky with RS Motorcycle Breakers of Halifax who in exchange for £65 put me in possession of a unit from an accident damaged KLR with only 2000 miles to its credit (or discredit, whichever way you look at it). Now, I could go on to write pages and pages about the journey itself, but to cut short a long story, I did eventually make it to Greece in just over three days without mechanical problems. The KLR also lasted a punishing seven months on the island, requiring regular oil changes, a new set of fork gaiters (pattern, which were cheaper and better than the Kawasaki items), front and rear pads, yet another chain and sprocket set, front wheel bearings, a Trailmax rear tyre and a speedo cable.
Like most of these big single trail bikes, the KLR was not much use for serious off road work, being both too heavy and having too many expensive bits that would become broken if, or rather when, I fell off. However, the Greek Island was lacking in proper roads, having what in the UK would be classed B roads which looked and felt as if they had been attacked by a mad gorilla wielding a high powered pneumatic drill. Here, the KLR, and its like, were absolutely idea, being able to soak up the worst of the pot-holes and willing to be flicked off road at a moments notice to avoid oncoming madmen in speeding, dilapidated vehicles. All good fun!
After all the expense, the KLR rewarded me with a trouble free journey back to the UK except for the clutch cable breaking in Nice, which I repaired in emergency style with a solderless nipple I just happened to be carrying. Incidentally, the shock has recently shed all its oil yet again!
To sum up, then, I enjoyed riding the KLR and relate all the earlier problems to the fact that I may have bought a slightly abused bike in the first place, although two shocks in one year? Other problems are related to the top end with valve demise and camchain failure possible at surprisingly low mileages on earlier bikes. Others have suffered piston and ring breakages when thrashed. Not the toughest engine around, perhaps, but they can be picked up very cheaply, so it's all swings and roundabouts.
Mark Buxton
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What can you do? Your elder brother buys a brand new KLE500 and three weeks later gets a job in Kuwait (yes, he is a bit mad). I soon found where he had hidden the keys and had the big bugger chugging over on full choke. With 720 miles on the clock I was a little worried by the way the engine suddenly soared up to 4000rpm but a quick grab at the choke lever solved that.
The 500cc motor is similar to that in the GPZ500 except that it only knocks out 50hp. I soon found that the vertical twin was in a very soft state of tune, power flowed in from tickover and had much more wallop than high rev power; by 8500rpm it had run out of steam unlike the GPZ which fair flew along between 7000 and 11000rpm.
Why on earth it had a six speed box I don't know. If anything it was worse than the GPZ500, especially at low revs when it tended to seize up unless you blipped the throttle like a madman and slipped the clutch aggressively. Luckily, it could be dumped in third and run along on the throttle in town. Engine smoothness, acceptable on the GPZ, was even better on the KLE, especially at low revs. My first run through heavy traffic was great fun, I felt so superior, sat up above the roof lines of all the cagers, and the machine was so controllable at low speeds that I was able to filter through ridiculously small gaps. It really pissed the cagers off.
As did standing start acceleration. I had a memorable race with a Ford Cosworth Sierra, a bloody huge white whale of a car. Up to 50mph the car didn't have a chance, then he came flying past on the wrong side of the road, causing a bus to snake to a hall, wobbling so much it looked like it was going to fall over. A cop car behind it did a rapid U turn and raced off after the Ford. I didn't stay around to find out the result.
Another useful attribute of the KLE was its long travel suspension which was as good as soaking up small ripples as it was huge potholes. It was a really serene ride over some pretty disgusting roads. Strangely, it was also surprisingly taut over fast roads, with none of the wobbles or wallowing that you might suspect resultant from its trail bike style. A 33 inch seat height will put off those under 5'10'' but I found general comfort levels pretty good.
After my first ride I disconnected the speedo and probably did another 750 miles before receiving a letter from my brother telling me to sell the bike for whatever I could get over £2500 (it had cost £3500 new). I wrote him a letter back pointing out how bad the recession was and saying noone wanted to buy it but I'd take it off his hands for £2250 (which was £50 more than the local dealer offered). His reply can't be printed but the deal was struck.
My only real disappointment with the bike at that point was economy, the engine hard pressed to give 50mpg, more often doing 40 to 45mpg. This was worse than the more powerful GPZ500! Given its low state of tune, it was a pity the out of phase power pulses of the 180 degree crankshaft stopped the use of a single carb, the two 34mm CV Keihins were surely over the top for a 50hp twin.
Mind you, I was not using the KLE as mild runabout, despite its soft state of tune I was thrashing the balls off it in most of its gears, having a real ball blitzing around town and down fast country lanes. A stint of despatch riding put a lot more stress on me than it did on the bike, the roads in London having becoming even crazier than they were a couple of years ago. It wasn't just the car drivers who didn't give a damn, fellow DRs would shove you out of the way if you faltered at a junction. In a month I did about 2000 miles.
I was really thankful for the ease of use, it always started first touch of the button, you could just sling it in second or third and forget about gear changing and the disc front brake, with a two piston caliper, would haul the bike up out of harms way.....or when it didn't the wide bars and light mass meant the Kawasaki could be slung around obstacles rather than crashing into them. The balance of the bike was so good that you could roll gently to a halt and sit there feet up if a bit of Zen like thought was indulged. After a day's despatching this was just as well as I didn't have the energy for such physical exertation as putting my feet down.
Luckily, after a month, a proper job turned up so the KLE could be used just for commuting and joy riding, not that the two were mutually exclusive. I soon found that the bike was absurdly easy and safe to wheelie on, I never knew you could have so much fun on a single wheel! Equal fun could be had doing rear wheel slides, for absurdly there was a single rear disc of huge power fitted. The big 17'' Dunlop Trailmax would slide controllably in the wet or dry, whilst the 21'' front enhanced straight line stability and stayed on line with a tenacity that was confusing for such a trail orientated tyre. When both tyres were worn out with less than 5000 miles on the clock I was impressed enough to fit a second set.
By that mileage rust was eating away at the exhaust and trying to break through the grey frame paint. Considering that the bike had not yet braved an English winter this was a bit of a let down. The O-ring chain was rather impressive, requiring only a couple of adjustments, despite having to suffer constant wheelies and enough neglect to let it gather an outer surface of rust. I gave it a full service in October, easy enough once you get the plastic off - only two carbs and eight valves to adjust.
The plastic handlebar muffs were useful in the winter as they kept the rain and gale off my hands. However, the rest of the plastic was useless, the neat looking fairing screen delivering a veritable deluge of rain and wind to my visor. In its favour, the bike had fork gaiters and plastic shrouds on the discs.
Riding the bike through all weathers soon had it covered in grime and in the cold morning winter air the engine sounded like a right bag of nails until it warmed up, something that seemed to take an age, the temperature gauge rarely getting more than a millimetre past the beginning of the scale. In the six months of commuting it did 4000 miles with perfect reliability, although I did note a gradual decrease in suspension compliance that allowed a bit of wallowing in fast corners. In February I adjusted the preload of the rear shock to maximum and this seemed to sort that problem out.
With just over 9000 miles on the clock I gave her another full service, having previously changed the oil every 1000 miles. I also had to change both sets of pads and knew that very soon it would need a new chain, adjustments having become much more frequent.
When subjected to a jetwash, a days worth of elbow grease and a couple of tubes of Solvol it came up okay. The exhaust rust had reached complete coverage level and I had to touch up the frame paint in several places. Also, some of the fasteners had broken out with the dreaded red rash and the wheel spokes were beyond help. The motor was as punchy as ever, if anything even better as they seem to take 5000 miles to fully loosen up.
Trail bike thingies are beginning to make a lot of sense on our decayed roads. In equiping the KLE500 with proper road mudguards and a far from radical suspension package, Kawasaki have produced a sensible road bike for our times, based on the well proven and presumably cheap to produce 500 twin engine. The plastic bits you either like or loathe; to my mind Kawasaki could go another step still and completely dump all the plastic bits to produce a raw road bike.
Owners of British twins will be appalled by the running costs, although plastic reptile riders forced down market will probably find them a welcome relief. But as with the GPZ500, a little more effort and thought could have produced an even better bike.....don't let that worry you, the British disdain of trailsters will probably mean some wonderful bargains in the used market during this year.
Return to Contents for Kawa trail bikes
I wasn't prepared for the sense of disappointment that hit me the first time I saw it. A green 1986 example - in three and half years and a supposed 10,200 miles it had suffered a level of abuse and neglect more typically heaped upon learner 125s.
A right-hand side crash had broken the clocks and most of the plastic bodywork, dented the tank (bodged with filler) and melted the sidepanel where it had been forced against a hot silencer. The rear guard lower section/number-plate bracket was missing, the remaining top section was heavily scuffed along its bottom edge - indicating some pretty extreme mono-wheeling. Among numerous other minor faults were front pads down to the metal against a scored disc and the neutral light and tacho which only worked when they felt like it.
At least the tyres and chain were serviceable and the silencer a genuine new item (soon to rust). A quick blast proved the KLR to be very comfortable with good acceleration, at least up to 60mph. However, I was more than a little distracted by the tacho needle, which danced around all over the place (due to a wiring fault) as did the broken clocks. A too high idle cancelled out the expected large engine braking, which, together with the dead front brake made slowing down rather difficult. At least the rear drum worked smoothly. Not having been prepared for the state of the bike, I was unsure how much to offer but in the end I paid £700 for it.
I was suddenly feeling pretty pleased with myself, even if my mate had done the bargaining for me. The ride back through urban traffic showed the KLR to be very manoeuvrable thanks mainly to light weight, a commanding riding position and instant power delivery. On the dual carriageway back home I was slowly accelerating, following my friend's car, when at an indicated 95mph the bars started to flap about like mad. With no real acceleration left, shutting the throttle brought it back into line. It never happened again, so I can only imagine that I adapted to it.
Once home, I set about rectifying some of the more annoying faults. £11 for some Dunlopads and adjustment of the tickover restored the KLR's stopping ability. A hacksaw proved useful for removal and reshaping of the right- hand sidepanel and drilling of the back of the clock case enabled it to be secured with a couple of cable ties. The intermittent neutral light and crazy tacho were due to a butchered wiring loom (suggesting attempted theft) and were cured with a couple of block connectors. Two litres of 10/40 and a new filter cost a tenner.
I began to use the KLR mainly for travel between York and Middlesborough each weekend along the B1257 via Hemsley, which is one of the best biking roads I have come across, especially since it carries little traffic. Despite its off-road appearance, the KLR is superb on this type of twisty, bumpy, country road and can be ridden virtually flat out, especially with Avon Gripsters fitted. The good low down torque and engine braking mean the gearbox and brakes can be all but forgotten leaving the rider to concentrate on the road ahead. Quick steering makes the KLR very flickable with the long travel suspension keeping the desired line although its softness can lead to a pitching sensation.
Unfortunately, the handling prowess was soon depleted by the rear shock's decision to lose all its damping. £45 for a used replacement was rather more acceptable than the £315 I was quoted for a new one. While repairing the rear shock I dismantled the rest of the alloy linkages which are an interference (and corrosion) fit around the chromed bushes. This wasn't an easy job although expanding the alloy with boiling water greatly helped matters.
A 130/80-17 Avon Gripster was fitted at the same time for around £50, which after 4000 miles was down from nearly 10mm to about 2mm. While still priding myself on the KLR's restored and improved chassis, a noticeable dimming of the usually good halogen headlight and later lack of enthusiasm from the indicators suggested a charging fault. Assuming the worst - a burnt out generator - I settled for charging the battery for a couple of weekends until a check of the wiring revealed a connection on the rectifier that had disintegrated due to corrosion. A bit of solder and a spade connector sorted that.
The next couple of months and 2000 miles or so passed without incident apart from frequent oil replenishment (a litre every 800 miles) and chain adjustment. The only thing that detracted from my enjoyment of thrashing the KLR along the B1257 was the fact that above 6000rpm (around 90mph in top) the engine sounded like it wanted to self destruct. I was surprised when I had managed 4000 miles without mechanical incident and concluded that the noise of the engine was mainly due to the basic concept of a big single four stroke but gave it an oil change and some Slick 50 just in case. I also had a matching front Avon fitted for a very reasonable £27.50.
70 miles later I fired up the bike to leave a mate's shop - the engine fired up and ticked over as normal but was making the sort of noise which suggested attempting to ride home was not a good idea. Turning over the engine by hand with the kick start produced a loud click every engine rotation so I pushed it the five miles home and started to strip down the top end. Everything seemed fine so, puzzled, I reassembled the motor and again turned it over by hand - the noise had gone. A possible explanation is that the starter motor had jammed (in the course of the strip I had removed it) and a friend said he had heard of a similar case with a Z250. I was therefore relieved that the rebuild costs had been limited to around £14 for the cylinder head and base gaskets, if a little exasperated that it seemed I needn't have bothered in the first place.
I probably enjoyed the KLR the most over the next 1300 miles - with the soft compound Gripsters and improved weather I could explore the KLR's handling still further, while foam earplugs dramatically reduced the intrusion of the engine noise and halted the pain of ringing ears for 20 minutes after journey's end. As a compete novice I tried riding the KLR off road. This was good fun on dry dirt tracks but nigh on impossible through mud with road tyres.
Trying to ride it along one particular muddy uphill section I fell off about ten times in 100 yards, each time stalling the motor. Unable to give the required hefty kick and hold the bike upright simultaneously I had to rely on the electric starter with its temperamental clutch. This would never start the motor cold but could start it warm, sometimes on the first attempt but more usually after several tries accompanied by the noise of clashing and grinding gear teeth.
Either a can of STP or the Slick 50 had led to a misted oil window. Rather than bother to remove the crankcase cover to clean it, I simply added what it had generally previously required (about 200ml) for the 110 mile 'Boro to York thrash and return. This worked fine until I decided to go to the Lakes in the company of a GPz550 and CBR600. I bunged in around 400ml of oil and then spent about 150 miles trying either to keep up on the straight stuff or lose my friends on the back roads. The KLR took me to our chosen campsite but refused to take me home. Instead, it returned the next weekend, neatly packed (with front end and bodywork removed) into dad's Sierra.
The sum total of half a litre of oil in the sump explained the seized open intake valves, nicely bent by my efforts on the kickstart. In my haste to stick in two new valves (a little over £8 each) I neglected to fit new seals. The motor became rather smoky - at least until the camchain tensioner packed in 400 miles later, this time taking out the exhaust valves.
I left it for five months and then purchased two new exhaust valves (£34), four new valve seals (£12), a tensioner (£31) and head gasket (£11). Having fitted that lot, I found a potential buyer before I had the chance to drain out the stale petrol and recharge the battery, who was prepared to accept it as a non runner. However, my pride and also desire to have a last go led to an evening trying to stir it into life. Despite repeated kicking over and bumping, I couldn't get it to fire up so resigned myself to polishing it until the buyer's arrival.
He turned up along with his father (an XL250 owner) who preceded to start it third kick! My immediate reaction was that I wanted to keep it after all, but an unhealthy knocking from the motor and an offer of £30 over what I had originally paid suggested otherwise, so I bade it a fond farewell.
Alan Boulton
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I went 300 miles to buy my Tengai in atrocious weather. I had decided that I had to have one and the 1989 machine with only 4000 miles done seemed ideal over the phone. No misuse off road and immaculate condition were claimed. More or less true, save that the tyres were worn out. Mine for 1800 notes.
The roads were awash with water, the Japanese tyres skidded everywhere and the bike went into serious weaves every time I put more than 50mph on the clock. Protection from the fairing was a lot less than I would have liked, I was soon soaked through. It took about ten hours to get home, near midnight when we growled up to the house. My mind had been so blasted by the weather that it wasn't until later that I realised I did not have to refill the five gallon petrol tank.
The bike looked pretty wrecked the next day. Covered in layers of grime it appeared about ten years old. I was perplexed to find that the bike refused to start up on the electric foot. A lot of coughing and banging. The fairing and tank effectively hide the top end of the engine. After spending about an hour stripping these off, I managed to change the spark plug. Water had somehow got past the radiator and plastic, forming a large puddle around the plug.
The bike came to life after that. The sun was out, so the tyre shop was the first stop. A set of Avon Gripsters were levered on for a reasonable 80 sovs. I would have preferred road tyres but the 21"front wheel precluded that indulgence. The next item on the agenda was a jet-wash. Amazing what a bit of water can do, the bike ended up looking immaculate, as it should, being only ten months old.
The Avons made an immediate improvement in handling, making the bike seem much more reassuring. The Tengai makes about 50 horses at 6500rpm, which translates into a 2500 to 6000rpm spread of power. 50 horses isn't very much for a 650, Triumph managed that for their twins in the sixties. The engine just doesn't want to rev beyond 7000rpm, the power tailing off as the vibes increase from their normal gentle, almost reassuring, thrum.
The engine features balancers, of course, which have the usual effect of making the engine feel like it is fighting against itself. The balancers together with light flywheels makes sure that the Kawasaki has little of the low torque appeal of old British singles. Indeed, below 2500rpm in top the chain leaps around like it is about to fall off and the engine can stutter so badly that the motor goes dead. It'll also do that trick when idling at lights, a time when I'm very thankful for the modern convenience of the electric starter.
Apart from that, the motor had a very friendly nature, you could just stick it in top and slug it out from 2500rpm onwards. Acceleration is a little short on the gut churning, arm wrenching stuff, although wheelies are just a jerk of the arms and throttle away. Cruising speed is in the 80 to 90mph range, where the upright riding position is tolerable as the fairing takes quite a bit of the wind, if not the water, off my chest and neck.
The riding position was even better in town and down country roads. Trail bikes are surprisingly fast through the curves, giving the race reptiles palpitations. Where they lose out is on the suspension. The long travel is great for absorbing pot-holes but does allow the Tengai's 400lbs to wobble about a little. Nothing too frightening, though, and on smooth roads it's as stable as most sport bikes.
Time did little to aid suspension compliance. A poorly designed rear mudguard meant loads of road crud was thrown at the single shock, which was so well hidden that I never bothered to glance at it until all the damping disappeared, leaving me sitting on a buckling pogo-stick. Not particularly charmed by the way the back end tried to jump off the road, I was astonished to find that the shock was covered in inches of crud. Replacement with a nearly new one out of a breaker's for £15 cured the problem, along with a bit of rubber sheet between guard and swinging arm.
Whilst I was at it I pulled the rear suspension and swinging arm bearings apart and filled them with grease. Just as well as they were dry. The front forks were on the soft side to start with, even with a full dose of air. They came fitted with gaiters which was to the good. Their most disconcerting habit was to judder when the front disc was applied in a hurry. This eventually revealed itself as steering head bearings on the way out, but only after about 8000 miles. I thought it was the worn out Gripsters that were causing the wobbles but when their replacement failed to provide a cure and I found a bit of looseness in the forks.
The cut and thrust of town riding was greatly aided by the decent brakes and the amount of leverage provided by the bars. The front brake had its own cover in deference to the ill advised prospect of trail riding. . . but it never faded despite the obvious heat hassles and had no problems working in the wet. The caliper seized up three times and I had to eventually replace it as the rotted surfaces became so rough that the piston movement lacked precision.
The narrow engine also aided filtering through gaps and the tall seat gave a fine view of how far ahead the traffic jam went. Honestly, traffic in major towns moves so slowly you have to wonder why the cagers bother. I can only assume that their life is so rotten at home and so horrible in work that they actually enjoy the solitude of sitting for hours in their cars reading novels or listening to the radio. I never crashed the Kawasaki, which says as much about its stability and flickability as it does about my riding abilities.
Long distance tours were ruined by the seat which in no way could match the 300 mile plus cruising range of the large petrol tank. After about 70 miles it turns rock hard, a fast way of getting a bad dose of piles and doing nasty things to ones marriage prospects. After 500 miles in a day I'm left staggering about clutching my backside like a Picadily bum boy after a heavy night with an Arab tour group. Ouch!
I could get as much as 70mpg out of the mill, more usually around 60mpg. Someone at Kawasaki knows a lot about air flow through four valve heads. . . . one of the few Japanese bikes to match, if not better, the old British bikes of the 1960s. If Kawasaki did well at making such a large thumper efficient, they also did a reasonable job on the rear chain which lasted for at least 10, 000 miles. Nothing to write home about but good going for a single with violent power pulses that tends to rip chains apart.
So, running costs were okay, at least up to 21000 miles when some funny noises started coming from the top end of the engine. The dealer reckoned that the camchain had gone and maybe the camshafts were ruined as well. I laughed in his face when he gave me a quote for fixing the bike! I did the work myself. Sure enough, the camchain and tensioner were worn out and the camshaft lobes were well pitted and scored. I have to admit I had only done 5000 mile oil changes, so this was probably the culprit for the latter problem.
After about a week wandering around breakers I'd bought replacement parts. With some new gaskets the job cost about £80. The engine has now done 33000 miles with no further problems, although a slight fall off in power and increase in vibes suggests that it's about due for a rebore. The starter has also become a bit precarious, whirring away furiously until finally plunging the engine into life. The indicator switch fell apart and the horn fell off, whilst bulbs have always had a certain tendency to explode, doubtless some of the vibes getting through.
Finish is poor now, needing lots of cleaning of surface rust on screws, chrome, exhaust, etc. , to keep up its appearance. I could probably sell the bike for about £1500, which means depreciation has been minimal. I may have to sell the Tengai because its 652cc puts the bike into an extremely expensive insurance bracket whilst it is actually slower than many 250cc race replicas. Most unfair that. The Tengai is still a neat looking bike and a very, very versatile one.
Mike Grey
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I've no interest in off-road riding but like the grunt of a big single and the pseudo trail looks. The KLX seemed to fit the bill, the dealer offered a large wedge in part exchange for my old Superdream and the sun was shining so brightly that I couldn't resist the temptation of a brand new bike. At £3500 list the KLX was reasonably priced, the dealer somehow reckoning my CB400N was worth a £600 discount.
The KLX has a stonking great 651cc DOHC, four valve watercooled engine that develops 45 horses at 6500rpm. It's a development of earlier 600 and 650cc motors that is both more powerful and compact. Starting, with an electric boot and auto-decompressor, was easy enough. The engine chuffed pleasantly through the stainless steel exhaust and the gear driven balancer damped out the primary vibration. Earlier models had more temperamental chain driven balancers.
The first surprise was that even first gear was on the tall side, needing a bit of slip from the light, sensitive clutch. Both the chassis and engine felt very tight, the gearbox harsh with a lot of chain thrashing at low revs in third gear upwards. The second surprise was that despite the 35 inch seat height there was none of the top heavy feel I'd feared. The KLX uses road biased tyres and firm suspension, only weighs 350lbs and feels more firmly planted on the tarmac than many a road bike.
The first 500 miles was limited to 3000rpm, which equated to 45mph in top gear. The change became better as the miles rolled by. In town, the Kawasaki was easier to use than the Superdream, could be ridden through pot-holes without any worries and snapped through gaps in traffic at a furious rate. Here, its trail biased attributes came to the fore, the same characteristics that would make it ideal for riding through difficult off-road sections make it perfect for doing right-angled turns through tiny holes between cars.
The high seat also afforded a brilliant forward view, though obviously those short of leg were at risk of falling over in a heap at the lights. It wasn't as bad as it sounds because both the seat and tank were very narrow, allowing the most to be made of one's inside leg. A consequence of this minimal seat is that the KLX became very painful after a mere 50 miles.
Insulation from road shocks was maintained by the long travel suspension, the upside down front forks being especially impressive in their fluid reaction to bumps. The only problem with the Unitrak back end was that there were no grease nipples on the bearings, promising all kind of hassles down the line.
After the 500 mile service I was all set for some serious abuse. The front wheel always felt planted on the tarmac however hard the throttle was opened. It wasn't the kind of trailie that could easily leap over logs, pavements or roundabouts, or perhaps my road trained techniques were not up to the job. Even riding the bike hard I could not find much wrong with the chassis.
At least in the dry. Wet roads were a different matter, the Dunlop tyres being all too willing to slide from under the bike. They did it, the first time, so rapidly that I almost lost the KLX. I managed to wrench the bars, dab a boot down and skid off the road, ending up facing the wrong direction. Had the bike been heavier or less controllable it would've been tarmac thrashing time.
Even with 1500 miles on the clock the transmission was far from perfect. At low revs the engine would occasionally stall, which was a minor annoyance rather than a major heart surgery job as it only took a dab at the button to get the motor running again. The tall gearing meant that speeds below 35mph couldn't be countenanced in fifth and trying hard to accelerate from that speed caused the chain to go into a dervish dance on the sprockets. It wasn't difficult to ride around these problems but they seemed a bit iffy for a 1993 machine.
At the other end of the spectrum the motor ran out of steam at dead on the ton, but vibration started to intrude after only 75mph, which was a mere 5000 revs. This was fine for town and country lane work but rather limiting on motorway excursions. Not that the riding position encouraged high speeds - 75mph was about the most I could take for more than a few minutes.
With a single disc at each end and not much by way of mass, the brakes were more than up to stopping the KLX. I found them especially good in town on damp roads where their sensitivity (presumably developed for trail work) brought the big thumper to a rapid but safe halt. The last thing I wanted to do was lock up a front wheel shod with a dodgy tyre on wet roads. The tyres, by the way, have yet to show any signs of wearing out.
The frame is a weird and wonderful mixture of different section tubes with a fairly direct connection between the steering head and swinging arm mounts. It doesn't have an ounce of art in its design or execution but does the job of holding everything in line. A bit of paint falling off at some of weld joints was not exactly reassuring, neither was rust breaking out on some of the fasteners after the first month of winter. I couldn't be bothered claiming on the guarantee and got the bike up to scratch myself.
To recompense, reasonably fast riding gave 55 to 60mpg, the flat out stuff still turning in 50mpg. For a mildly tuned engine housed in a light chassis this seems about right. The tank holds over two gallons so there's a range of over 100 mile before frantically searching for a petrol station.
One quirk of a big single is that the engine goes completely dead without any warning when it runs out of fuel. That has left me sitting in the middle of fast flowing traffic with a dead engine that refuses to fire for half a minute. With the clutch pulled in I had to freewheel, horn blaring, to the roadside. After the first time, I always tried to fill up after 70 to 80 miles, just to be on the safe side.
The bike now has 2200 miles on the clock. The chain is about a third worn, needing quite frequent adjustments, the result of the great thudding single cylinder power pulses and the long travel suspension. Apart from those already mentioned, the cosmetics are still as the Kawasaki came out of the showroom, despite being ridden through some very wet and blustery weather.
This showed up a nasty bit of design in the tank/seat interface. Water pours down the steeply angled back of the tank, along the integral seat into my groin. Staggering off the bike after the five mile commute, I look just like I've pissed myself. The water is so well concentrated that it even gets through the waterproofs! On the positive side, the hand-guards give good protection in the wet, though they haven't stopped my fingers freezing off.
Perhaps because the bike is used in town a lot, and the engine never really has a chance to achieve a proper working temperature, there was a lot of white sludge in the sight-glass at about 1800 miles. Flushing out the oil and putting some new Castrol in cleared it up but it made of mockery of the 6000 mile oil changes suggested by Kawasaki. I'll do mine every 1500 miles from now on.
With electronic ignition, auto camchain tensioner and a single carb the only other engine maintenance is checking the four valves every 6000 miles, something my Kawasaki dealer claimed was far too complex for me to attempt (he was a bit miffed when I did the oil change myself, muttering about invalidating the warranty) but if it's out of the guarantee then I'll have a go.
There are quite a few minor faults with the KLX but as a fast town commuter and occasional back lane hustler there's not much to complain of. Over time, I'll make some mods to improve long distance comfort and fit a better set of tyres. I'm impressed enough with the engine and chassis to want to keep the KLX for the next several years.
Larry
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KLE500's are cheap and interesting motorcycles, but not ones that inspire much love or terror and trepidation. Powered by a vertical twin where most trail inspired bikes are big singles and none the worse for it, in my humble opinion - large thumpers needing bloody great balancers to quell the vibes but which also absorb loads of horsepower.
A late '92 model for £1375 in a private deal was a brilliant bargain for a two year old model, some scratches on the fairing and panels keeping the price reasonable. The past owner, one of three, reckoned he'd experienced no more trouble than from his pushbike. I only noticed that the latter was a pre-war job, more rust than paint, on sealing the deal.
The KLE's 500cc motor's derived from that of the well regarded GPZ500, a watercooled DOHC parallel twin with the distinction of having a hyvoid primary chain drive - presumably to appeal to owners of old British twins used to short lived primary chains, although the Kawasaki hyvoid item is long lasting if noisy and giving the transmission a loose feel.
The KLE's detuned from sixty to fifty horses in the search for more low end torque, although it didn't take the radical step of employing a single carb. The 180 degree throw crankshaft probably wouldn't allow that indulgence due to its odd power pulses but at least allows a mere single gear driven balancer. The engine is never entirely liquid smooth but the vibes never reached a level where they intruded. Much better than the big singles and way ahead of the old British twins.
If taking away the GPZ500's top end power wasn't bad enough, the KLE also weighs an extra 20 pounds at 392lbs dry. That's suicide for a bike that may be used off-road and guaranteed to turn off road riders who'll much prefer the GPZ's lower mass and extra power - that's why KLE's are relatively cheap!
It's not all bad, the upright riding stance's wonderfully comfortable up to 80mph, a marked change from most modern bikes. The 33 inch seat height ain't as radical as many trailsters, especially as the first couple of inches of the eight inches of suspension travel (yes, I can boast I've got a full eight inches...) are very soft and compressed under the rider's mass. The rest of the suspension travel worked well, taking out the heaviest of the bumps and holes.
I was impressed by the fork gaiters, keeping the seals nice and clean, although they could also hide the marks showing the legs had been straightened after a crash. I checked mine, once having a pair of GS125 forks snap on me, but they were okay. I was less impressed by the horrible bit of plastic covering the front disc, but this was easily removed and given to next door's ten year old to use as a frisbee.
There was also a rear disc with a more attractive cover but given that the bike was running on wire wheels, with off-road pretensions, I'd expect a rear drum at the very least (even the 125mph GPZ has a rear drum) if not one at the front as well. It's tempting to replace the 21 inch front and 17 inch rear wheels with a set of 19 inch wheels off some sixties Brit with drum brakes.
I hate disc brakes. Oh, I know they are powerful, but that's an accolade that only stands up to reality when they are newish and haven't been subjected to a British winter. The rear brake creaked and occasionally locked up the wheel. The front brake clanged when applied during low speed stops and felt very remote at speed. I pondered whether it was the fluid going off, the brake hose going soft, the pads wearing out or being of an unsuitable type, the sliders corroding or the calipers on the way to seizing up. Or all of the above! I wasn't inclined to rip it all apart in the search for easy answers.
Also doubtful was the combination of a single disc with the long forks, though they were 41mm in diameter. I could feel them twisting up under heavy braking and it was quite easy to make the KLE lurch traumatically. I suppose it was a reasonable trade off between absorbing bumps and not having the added complication of a second disc.
Once the pre-load was turned up to its highest setting, the Uni-trak back end was quite adequate. The block pattern rear tyre, much more road biased than trail, would inch sideways on rough corners. It was nothing I couldn't control from my throne-like position of domination, the wide bars needing hardly any effort.
As mentioned, the power was biased to the lower end of the rev range but the engine still needed 3000 revs up in the taller gears. Not because of any grumpiness on the part of the motor but because it was attached to a bawdy gearbox that caused the final drive to whip around in suicide mode at low revs.
Strangely, heightening the feeling that the KLE was just an exercise in styling, the six speed box off the GPZ was retained despite the wider spread of power and milder nature of the plot. I would've preferred five gears and a much smoother transmission, even if the six-speeder had an acceptable gearchange action.
Another throwback to the fifties was a clutch that dragged so badly from cold that it could stall the motor on the first engagement of the day. Sometimes the gear would go home with a destructive sounding bang but once the clutch was freed up it performed perfectly. Once I'd learnt how to juggled the choke the mill fired up quickly on the electric starter, needing no more than a couple of minutes to warm up.
The easy going nature of the KLE was its best point. Sat comfortably, it didn't really matter if I accelerated in the wrong gear as the torque would pull the motor through, and the mildest muscular effort was all it took to control the old girl. I thought the bike was especially good for whipping through traffic, when the tall seat gave improved vision - I could spot the complete plonkers miles off.
It was a fair match because they could hear me coming, after about six months the baffles were shot and the exhaust was a complete rust bucket. What a load of rubbish! There was also a 2000 to 3500 rev flat spot that made town riding rather awkward. The exhaust wasn't excruciatingly loud so I left it to fall off - due to the usual naff design loads of junk has to be taken off before the headers can be removed. Stupid! The rest of the finish was pretty degenerate, needing loads of Solvol and polishing to keep the corrosion at bay. I kept having flashbacks to the fifties and a similarly wretched Raleigh moped!
I haven't done a high enough mileage (6000 miles on top of the 15000 already done) to wear out any of the consumables that were all newish when I acquired the bike. Fuel consumption was terrible considering I haven't taken the bike above 80mph, around the 40mpg mark, which with not much more than three gallons before reserve doesn't give much of a range. Again, the much faster GPZ's more frugal. Kawasaki really need to work the engine over properly to exact more torque and better economy. At least the motor should, in its detuned state, be tough and long lasting.
There are lots of things wrong with this bike, then, but when the cost is taken into account an entirely different picture emerges. It's worth living with a few faults at these kind of prices.
J.D.
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Glorious is the only way I can describe the noise of this big thumper on an open can. I went along to see this '94 model with only six thou on the clock, the moment I heard her running she was sold. The 'silencer' was stock but gutted, the owner reckoning this minor mod had smoothed out the flow of the 40hp watercooled mill, removed a previous hesitation around four grand. And who was I to disagree with him? Less than a year old, mine for £2675.
I rode home in a state of rare happiness. If the seat was a bit too high the rest of the 350lb machine felt just right. Easy handling, a flood of useful power as soon as I tapped into the throttle, a slick gearchange and what seemed like bags of character after my rather anaemic Honda CB500/4, whose main positive point turned out to be that I sold it for twice what I'd originally paid.
The knobby tyres were surprisingly grippy, only about half worn and despite long travel suspension it didn't have a loose, or hinged in the middle, feel...I was delighted with the emanation of overall quality, making me think of those seventies Kawasaki adverts - Let The Good Times Roll. Though supposedly aimed at serious off-road work, the KLX seems much more suited for modern warfare - riding on the Queen's Highway, to you and me.
I thought it brilliant in town, for instance. Potholes, manhole covers and dead dogs no longer inspired any fear or loathing, the Kawa just rode over them, the long travel suspension soaking up their irregularities. The combination of a disc at either end made sure that any stupid ped's (who must've been deaf not to hear us coming) were easily avoided - and the squeal the brakes made when slammed on made them jump out of their skin. Ho, ho.
Weirdly enough, the Kawasaki wasn't a dead loss out of town. The relaxing beat of its thumper motor meant I was quite happy and contented to cruise along at 70 to 80mph, though the bike would have benefited from taller gearing as I was always trying to boot up out of top. Approaching 80mph also led to some vibration getting through, its balancer system doing a valiant if not perfect job. 80 to 90mph couldn't be held for a long time for fear of something breaking off, if only my fingers. There was a relatively smooth spot between 95 and 100mph, but after that the mirrors tried to shake out of their fittings and my feet were reluctant to stay on the pegs.
Those of a perverse and mechanically insensitive nature might manage to put all of 110mph on the clock but the engine certainly wouldn't be happy about it and it'd take a very long road to wind up to such speeds. The main limitation on performance above 80mph being the sit-in-the-wind-and-suffer riding position. The motor has so much potential that it's a crying shame Kawasaki don't do a more road orientated version.
The aerodynamics were so bad that speed did nasty things to economy. Razzing through town gave a reasonable 55mpg but anything above 70mph got that down to 40mpg; 80mph equalling 35mpg. As well as the aerodynamics there's the power sapping balancer system, though for a 650 thumper, 350lbs isn't an excessive amount of mass - if it didn't have the balancer it would have to carry a lot more chassis bulk to absorb and withstand the vibration. Having said all that, the old British thumpers did 70 to 90mpg, with a similar turn of speed, though unable to match the Kawa's rate of acceleration nor its absolute reliability.
But still, forty years of progress has seen us going backwards in many areas, now that motorcycling is officially a leisure pursuit rather than a practical means of commuting. I was tempted to dismember the airfilter assembly in the hope of improving induction efficiency, maybe even stick on an old Amal carb and see if it really was just a case of emission and noise laws holding back modern designs.
Before I had the chance to do that, being chucked out of a nice cushy job with BT meant I had to hit London's despatch circuit. Well, it seemed a good idea at the time, the Kawa was sitting there looking all innocent and fresh, and the idea of making six hundred sovs a week had a certain appeal. I brushed up on my A-Z, made the rounds of the despatch companies. They all insisted I eat humble pie by starting out as a trainee, ignoring my vast experience of bikes and several years residence in the capital. The money was pitiful but better than sharing space with the degenerates at the DHSS.
In most ways the KLX was the perfect tool for despatch riding. Light and narrow, with loads of power in the right places, it could be kept on the pace, and didn't really object to mad, sudden changes of direction when I realised I was going the wrong way, was halfway down a one-way street with all the traffic coming at me, or the lights changed suddenly and I had to do a speedway style slide to avoid running down a crowd of ped's.
There were two major problems that spoilt this idyll. The first was that after a couple of hours of town riding the engine started to overheat and would suddenly stall, refuse to start for at least ten minutes. It may have been the straight thru exhaust causing it to run a touch lean and hence hot. Whatever, the cooling system had a hard time of it and seemed ready to burst at the seams at times. It always started up eventually and ran fine once given a half hour break every couple of hours - if my money and sanity didn't depend on it then I could have written this off as part of its quaint character.
A couple of hours of abuse was also a bit enervating, insofar as my fingers went numb at the controls and my backside felt like it had been borrowed by a bus-load of drunken public school louts. The vibration was insidious over time and the saddle turned into a bed of nails.
Don't let this put you off the KLX, under normal riding these flaws didn't intrude at all, it was just the heavy-duty despatching that brought the worst out of the machine. In about a year I put 29000 miles on the clock - the only thing I did to the engine was the oil every 1000 miles. It still runs like clockwork despite the lack of maintenance and hasn't lost any of its power.
Some chassis corrosion, crap screws that rust in the rain and hard to clean spoke wheels took some effort but the bike still looks good and I'd have no problem selling her for over two grand. Luckily, it's back to the easy life for me as I got a job with one of these new cell phone companies, and the KLX now does the minor commuting chores as well as weekend runs. I finally had the valves checked but they were within limits! Impressive enough for me not to want to trade it for anything else. More than adequate go, lots of fun and not too expensive.
L.L.
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