Grant demystifies the black art of Tire Changing and Repair to help you STAY on the road! "Very informative and practical." See the trailer 
Cotton or synth sweat-wicking t-shirts with the Horizons Unlimited logo on the front and a snappy slogan (changing every year) on the back.
Show your route on your panniers. Great conversation starter when you meet people on the road!
Motorcycle and travel books to inspire and inform you!
ll 5 DVDs with a custom printed slip case. "The series is 'free' because the tips and advice will save much more than you spend on buying the DVD's."
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| Kawasaki Kawasaki Tech Forum - For Questions specific and of interest to Kawasaki riders only. Questions comparing which bike is best etc go in the "Which Bike" forum. |
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#1
13 Apr 2009
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KLE500 poor performance below 3000rpm.
Hello all. This is my first post. I have just bought a '05 KLE 500 and this seems like the best forum I have found that deals with this bike. The only problem I have is that power delivery under 3000rpm in any gear but 1st or 2nd is very poor. I have to ride through urban areas in a low gear because it is very reluctant to accelerate at these engine speeds. I was wondering if this is normal for this bike. I have stripped the carbs and everything seems ok. I have also fitted new plugs. The bike is totally standard and has only done 1700 miles. Any comments greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Dave (Cleveland, UK). 
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#2
14 Apr 2009
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Hi
Welcome to the HUBB The KLE will only really accelerate above 4000RPM after all its ony a 500 so doesn't have so much low-end torque as a bigger bike http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...s-needed-31587 Have a look at the graph near the bottom of the page theres not alot of torque below 3000RPM Also what speeds are we actually talking about? doing the 30mph limit or the 15-20 stuck in traffic. Also what gear are you in when doing those speeds? Personally if i'm doing urban riding i try to keep the revs at about 5000rpm that way i can accelerate easiy if need be. The only exceptopn being on long straights or gentle downhill road in which case its in 6th hope this helps Shaun.
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#3
14 Apr 2009
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Although the kle500 isn't exactly a "grunty" motor, mine pulls well enough below 3000rpm, and just gets lumpier at lower speeds. it does sound like something isn't quite right.
Carb balance may be an issue? also the idle mixture may be out. It really needs to go on a dyno to look if it isn't fueling correctly.
__________________
Harley Davidsons, The most effective way of turning petrol into noise without the side-effect of horsepower
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#4
14 Apr 2009
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Thanks for the reply. The torque curve you mentioned ties up well with how the bike performs. I have been travelling through town at about 2000 rpm. It looks like this is too low for the bike, I'll have to get used to using the gears to keep it revving. My last bike was an SLR650 and it pulled like a train from very low revs so I guess its just a case of adapting to a smaller twin, at least I'm happy now that there is nothing wrong with the KLE. Apart from this I'm happy with the bike although I've seen plenty of comments regarding the cosmetic finnish. I'll have to see how it fairs after a couple of winters!
Regards, Dave.
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#5
15 Apr 2009
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Thats all it is Dave, you have to keep it in lower gears at slow speed. Mine is as lumpy as hell if I try and get it to pull at low revs/high gear.
As for the finish, Ive had a few Kwaks and all of them go a bit rough looking on the metal work but they last as well as any others. I was talking to a fella the other day and he was on a 650gs Dakar, it was an 2006 and it was well rough. I asked if he had done the dakar!. My tip is to make sure you have enough WD40 to scare the neighbors. Regards Roy
__________________
"Whats in that thing??", An R1 owner said.
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#6
30 May 2009
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:)
your right, the pulling from low revs on high gears isn't good. It doesn't feel good for the engine, like it's struggling. As a rule of thumb now I like to keep the bike at 4000-4500rpm in gears 2-6, it seems to sit there and run silky smooth and then starts going higher at 60 - "100" mph in 6th.
In really heavy traffic I tend to ride the clutch alot, i just can't bear the engine bobbly at low revs when doing 5-10mph. So far I've been completely trouble free for 25000miles :-) Rich
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#7
4 Jun 2009
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My bike ran real rough below 3k rpm. Not anymore.
yesterday I got a custom header/pipe made. Without jetting up yet this thing is still like producing what feels like 15HP more off the bottom!! It feels like triple the power. Guess what no more vibrations and the bike can pull 5th gear at 2k rpm with 16/44 gearing. So vibes are all the restriction making the engine rough as.
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#8
5 Jul 2009
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header/exhaust pipe
Hi there all,
Jimmy101 posted as having a custom header/pipe made. Could you post more details as to what this entailed? Did you get equal pipe lengths? change the exaust? costings? Country you had this done in? etc. Regards, Shaun
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#9
5 Aug 2009
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I too would be interested to see the header pipe for my KLE
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#10
5 Aug 2009
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Hi. Jimmy101 did you just have new equal length headers attached to the standard muffler or was it a complete pipe and muffler?
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#11
13 Aug 2009
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Hi all,
I had custom headers made - any motorcycle exhaust place will do them but they will need your bike for a day. I got mine done in AUS brisbane at: Motorcycle Exhaust Professionals I has a carbon exhaust that they just fitted it up too - probley not as "tuned" as the arrow full system, but if you have a spare can hanging around the headers and connector pipe only costs $500 in mild steel. Arrow system is about $1200 in AUS.... Im sorting my jetting, but dual #100 seem to do the trick with unmodified snorkle (small one). The power increase riding home with lean jetting was still VERY noticeable and also how the bike hit 9k very quickly.
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