OK, I have to admit the performance both Audible and on Track of the new (Last) incarnation of the KLE is less than inspiring. This has been responsible in small part for the poor sales volume and maligning that the KLE has received. It is ironic because its sister and largest donor for parts, the Venerable GPZ500(s) was a huge sales success for Kawasaki and is legendary in the durability/Courier segment where 200,000 Km is not uncommon for these motors and they seem to live longer the harder you ride them, not abuse, ride!!
Anyhow, I digress. It is well reported on the German forums that the KLE motor has huge potential, I knew this from the start which is why I have chosen it to prototype as a real dual sport motorcycle for Australia.
Twin cylinder engine
Large (ish) frame for pillion/luggage accommodation
Fairing for higher speed/long distance/ transport work
21" front wheel
Reliable and cheap drive train
Not entirely unattractive
Well the time has come (and gone) for me to unleash the full potential of the GPZ heritage. Being a very popular bike in the UK/Europe (the KLE and the GPZ 500) I looked there for the results of the inevitable efforts of others to remedy the disastrous ADR inflicted on the poor little beast. It was easy to find the evidence of Jetting/Exhaust work which is really all that is required. Some went to the effort of putting the GPZ500S cams in, but as I suspected, this pushes the power and more importantly the torque up the rev range and eaves the motor a little less tractable below 3-4,000 rpm. Not what we want off-road. The choice of descent exhaust systems was limited. Reason being that the problem with the KLE here in AUS and other markets is that they did not just stifle the motor on the intake side with a tiny snorkel but also put 3....YES 3 catalytic converters in the exhaust system. One in the can itself which is easily remedied by a StainTune or whatever BUT they put one in each Header too!! Thats just not cricket! So the SOLUTION was going to have to include header too. That meant just 3 systems that I could find. The Arrow and Yoshi systems which are both two into one or the Delkevic which is a complete twin system and for my money would look great in the same position as the KTM 950/990 Adventure. So that settled it. Oh also the full stainless EQUAL LENGTH twin system from Delkevic landed here in Australia is cheaper than the Arrow and much cheaper than the Yoshi!!
"So what did you have to do to get it to fit?" I hear you ask. Well not too much really. The system as I said is made for the GPZ500 frame so to put the cans up under the rear indicators and in nice and close (for excellent water crossing potential), I had to have the connector pipe lengthened to make the end of the headers meet the cans. No problems there, a quick trip to the local exhaust guys who work with stainless had that sorted. However there is always a gotcha. In this case it was the side stand. The side stand on the GPZ is in a different place and the tab that it bolts to on the KLE is right in the road of the left side header. The stock two into one system loops across to the right just aft of the engine so the stand has been places in a good place for the stand but not for the second system I was fitting. So that has to be removed with the angle grinder. Not a big job but makes standing the bike up a little difficult for fitting the system. I suitably cut length of 4x2 propped under the SW-Motech bars does the job until the fitting is completed. Oh yes I had to loose the pesky side stand switch too. No prob, just cut that of, short the wires together and harness tie them up out of the road. Don't like those things anyway. I don't know how many times it's gotten full of mud etc and left me scathing my head on the side of the track until I remembered to check it. Doh!!
Well with the system on, mounted by some simple brackets made from stainless strap coming down from the seat mounting bolt, it was time for a test ride. Well I am half way to my 55Hp that I wanted already!! Sounds awesome and makes a huge difference to the bike. A little less tractable down low but I expected that with standard jetting but the harder it revs the more power increase is evident over standard. It revs out much more quickly so that stock system was strangling the poor dear. As an observation, The ADR and its evils is supposed to make the engine less environmentally evil, Yes?? With just the system on, no jetting or anything, I got another 25 Km out of a tank!! So it now uses less fuel per distance and is running better, so more complete and hence cleaner combustion. Simply by removing the very thing that was put there to achieve it??? I tell you the world is being run by a bunch of bean counting idiots who have no real idea what they are doing. Scary I know, but true!
I have had the bike down to the local shop and had the jetting done. replaced the original 90 something jets with 105's in both carbs, I know why would you expect different jets in each carb!! But that's how Kawasaki dealt with the inherent problem of unequal length headers. The left header was a good 8-10 inches longer than the right!! So what did they do....put different jetting in each carb to 'balance' the pots out. Now with a twin system with NO BALANCE PIPE, they operate like two 250 singles and now they are jetted properly, Wow, what a difference. I asked 'Dave" to focus on bottom end and Midrange, not to worry about the top end. He has done a fine job and now it has that sub 3k rpm thump of a single and pulls really usable power from just off idle right through to about 8k. After that it tapers off but will rev right through to redline still. It will power mono in 1st with just a little provocation and if you stand up and get up onto the bars it will spin the Dunlop 606 up on a cleanly graded roadbase road! Not bad for the little ugly sister. Naturally it is only a 500cc twin and it will never the grunt of a 525EXC but it is just the right balance of power, torque and smoothness that I was hoping for. It will quite happily sit on 140 all day or dig around some single track in 2nd and 3rd and won't have the 'corner man' waiting too long for you when your out with the thumpers.
All in all, I am very happy with the bike. I am 115kg and it will be taking me to the corners and B'ville this August/September with gear and I expect it will do it easy. Fuel range is the next thing to sort but a pair of 5 litre jerry cans will give me 400km easy. The next thing to finish is to connect those two "Air hoses ' that come from behind the fairing through the cockpit to the airbox as they have just been terminated under the tank. They do carry some cool air in there for the motor but I want it to breath from up behind the headlight like a real ADV bike so water will no longer be an issue. Not that it has been anyway, as I have had it through water up to the seat and it was fine. However if I drop it or go A over H in a deep crossing, with the airbox connected to the fairing and the new pipes, I think she will be as un-drownable as you can ask for.
Pictures to come, See you on the next modification
"Adventure on guys"
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