KLE500SE

[MyLittleStudPony]

Dude! Sweet!

[A_morti]

Dude! Sweet!

But what does mine say?!

It is definitely neither wee, nor nesh

[Supermofo]

Looks really nice mate...for an Adventure thingy. Reviews as a road bike have been good from what I've seen. Numberplate is nice too.

[A_morti]

Looks really nice mate...for an Adventure thingy.

It's a bit of a mullet with the 17/21 wheels, but still decent looking.
I've already seen some Indonesians on Instagram messing with the wheels. One by fitting a 140/80-17 on the back in place of the 140/70-17, and one fitting a 19" front, both of which evens it out nicely, one by adding ground clearance, one by reducing seat height.

In case you're interested (and use Instagram), and so I can find them later. Not that I'm likely to make those changes but still.

140/80-17


17/19:

[A_morti]

Mrs_Morti and Mini_Morti were out this morning and took the car. So there was lots of room for activities.


Pawel came over and we replaced the swing arm end caps on his 411 Himi. These act as both thrust washers and seals and were worn, making his bike sound like a haunted house. Apparently a common issue on these bikes. He'd never even removed a rear wheel from a motorcycle before, but did great.

While he was cleaning stuff, I fitted a Givi e251 plate to take my existing top box, and did a few other little jobs like lowering the brake pedal.


Then Mrs and Mini got home, and Mini tried her new perch. It passes muster

[Count Steer]

That's an impressively minimalist garage!

Where's all the 'stuff'?!

[A_morti]

That's an impressively minimalist garage!
Where's all the 'stuff'?!

Thanks!

There are 3x racks in the back corner with a few odds and ends on, but they're not heavily packed.

Household shite doesn't live in the garage at all. That's largely because it's on floor -1 and the humidity is real, but also because I don't let it happen. It's a garage, not a store room!

[Skub]

Your good health to enjoy.

I have garage envy.

[A_morti]

I made a Vijayo.

A common complaint about the 2026 KLE500 is that the engine vibrates through the footpegs a lot at around 6000rpm.
The engine is a buzzy parallel twin, so there's no getting away from that... or is there? This fix costs next to nothing, and while it can't turn the engine into a straight 6, it will significantly reduce the vibration felt through your feet.

[Lutin]

Neat solution that. Oh, and happy new bike day.

[Taipan]

Garage-of-empty!

[A_morti]

Garage-of-empty!

It looks less empty with the Jazzzz in there, but it's maybe unclear from the picture how big it is.

We've tried before and you can definitely fit a jazz, a Yaris, and two motorbikes in there, with all the tools and stuff and still have room to walk around.

I should've put a banana for scale

[A_morti]

Worker's day ride with mini_morti.

First we met friends for a fryup at The Bell, Qawra to get us setup right. Then a little exploring.

Plenty of room for two and a box, even with breakfast.


The chapel of the immaculate conception at L-Armier



By a radar installation outside Għadir




Stopped for an ice cream and most of the A2 ADV sector was repping.


Police needed ice cream too

[Bustaspoke]

I'm not into 'Adventure bikes' myself,but I was in the local Multifranchise shop yesterday & they had a couple of KLE500's on the shop floor.The bike that Kawasaki describe as 'Metalic Bluish Green' looked really nice.

[A_morti]

For me it was green frame or nothing, but that colour which looks a bit drab in pictures, does look nice IRL.

[A_morti]

Posted today by 2WheelDynoWorks.
Nate is kind of the guru for ninja 500 tuning. He's taken them from 50 to 57hp with an exhaust, velocity stacks, and a tune.
https://2wheeldynoworks.com/products/2w ... ng-service

So when he finds the KLE has 44 at the wheels stock and gets 3 with just removing the noise reduction snorkels and custom mapping, it's a sign of plenty more to come.

If his flash tunes also pop whatever cork Kawasaki put in to reduce the engine from 51 to 44 horsepower for A2 limits, it could be a really big win.

[A_morti]

Welp, 2WheelDynoWorks aren't interested in mail order outside of North America for a bunch of reasons but mainly (and hardest to argue against) because they can't be sure their tunes created on USA bikes apply to EU A2 or Aussie LAMS bikes which could have different hardware for emissions or restriction purposes. Fair enough, but also a damn shame.

Meanwhile, further proof that I've ridden the bike.

[A_morti]

Today I received a delivery of Shit from China (TM)

The first thing is a radiator guard.
Kawasaki wants €185 for the OEM one, but it didn't take China long to make a very close replica for which I paid€40.

One note, I actually ordered it in silver with KLE500 on the area in the middle; China sent me the wrong one.


Fitment of the item itself seems very good.
The spring nuts could be narrower as they didn't grip at all and the screws could have been half as long.


These were a bit chintzy.
The black part is plastic which is why I liked these ones in particular - it seems to me that if the whole thing is anodised, it'll get scratched immediately. But the plastic part was slack enough to let it rattle, a couple of turns of electrical tape solved that.


Looks nice fitted.

[A_morti]

I've also been looking to let it fart just a little bit louder. "Matey on Facebook" said a Hornet 750 link pipe would fit; he even had pictures of his bike with a delkevic exhaust on, for that bike.

So, away to order a link pipe, to reuse an old Quill T3 silencer off the shelf.

I like an old school fart cannon, which is apt what with me being one.


But jeez, if matey made that fit, he's due a cracked manifold soon enough.


Ouch.

Sounded alright, but I won't run it like that, it'll stop me filtering

[A_morti]

I've also made a couple more Vijayos.

In this one I rattle on about vibrating fairings and what I think causes them:


Not really a great look for a bike that's trying to sell against the (easily) arguably more competent Chinese competition based on reputation and build quality.