KLE500 - A Centre-stand Solution

I cannot understand why all bikes don’t have centrestands!

Of course I can – pointless on a supersports bikes (but as they have nowhere to keep your sandwiches anyway they are pretty much pointless as motorcycles in the first place). I can undestrand why a Harley doesn’t have one either. I can also see why you wouldn’t want one on a purely off-road bike. But on a bike designed for (mainly) road use, a centrestand should be manadatory – and the lack of one has stopped me buying bikes in the past when I could afford to be fussy.

Even before I committed to buying the KLE500, I researched the availability of an aftermarket centrestand and despite a price tag representing about a quarter of the value of my KLE500 I knew I had to have one.

Internet research suggested that the SW-Motech stand was a quality product – and the only game in town anyway. The only possible problem was that the makers (perfectly reasonably) don’t guarantee that it will fit with an aftermarket exhaust. And my bike has a stainless steel Sebring system. Despite numerous posts on as many forums as I could find, I couldn’t absolutely confirm that it would fit my bike. But at least one member of the Facebook KLE500 community (thanks Richard) was pretty sure that it would – and the only set of photographs I could find of an installation seemed to support that view.

I bought it from Motohaus Powersports (www.motohaus.com ). Not the cheapest but the buyer of the LT’s radio had a friend who worked there and could vouch for them as a reputable retailer. It was a special order item and they quoted 2-3 weeks delivery – which they met. The stand is clearly a very high quality product. The fitting instructions are in German (bizarrely only the parts list has been translated but with a bit of help from Google and a look at the diagrams it’s all quite obvious – especially when you offer the parts up to the bike.

The left side bracket is a doddle. You just remove the passenger footrest bracket and the riders footrest bolt, place the bracket into position bolt it back up again with the bracket underneath the passenger footrest bracket. The result is very neat (Picture Left).

The right hand side bracket mounts to the footrest bolt and one of the frame bolts but it’s equally simple (Picture Right). With the Sebring exhaust, the bracket touches the pipe but there was no force needed to fit – I don’t envisage any long term problems (Picture Below).

The hardest part?  Fitting the springs. However fitting centrestand springs is a problem on any bike and in fact it can’t have been that much of a challenge as the whole job took less than ½ hour from start to finish. I simply hooked one end on and levered the other end with a long screwdriver round the spring hook – sliding it down the screwdriver

shaft onto the peg.

Once fitted, I was delighted. The bike is very easy to lift on and off the stand and a quick ride round the

block confirmed no rattles or graunches. Chain maintenance and rear wheel removal will now be a doddle. I guess it has reduced cornering ground clearance but I doubt the my riding style will challenge these limits. Most importantly, parking will no longer involve leaving the bike at an alarming angle.

  

KLE500 First Faults

I decided to simply ride the KLE500 for the first few weeks in order to identify and prioritise the things that needed fixing.

After a few self inflicted false starts (trapping the fuel tap vacuum pipe after removing the tank was one of them) I’d narrowed down the issues to three

There was a horrible strangled bearing noise decelerating on a closed throttle – it disappeared completely when the clutch was pulled in.  Clearly drivetrain related (and from the rear of the bike) the culprit was the rear hub bearing.  A decent second-hand hub from eBay sorted that one out and allowed me to clean and adjust the chain at the same time.

There was also an engine top end rattle. I tried to adjust the cam-tensioner but it was one of the early type ones and simply broke. Again eBay came to the rescue with one of the better (later) types and the bike started to sound much better. Replacing the air filter and modifying the airbox with the “Rimfire” http://www.hoerburger.net/140.pdf (in German but easy to follow) mod improved the running no end. This information can also be found at http://home.arcor.de/wolfgangschwirz/bikes/schraubertipps/rimfireumbau.htm and http://www.dernacken.de/airbox_special.html but as they are also in German I’m not sure who should be getting the kudos for this simple but excellent improvement to the engine’s breathing. I understand that it benefits the later (more strangled) bikes even more than my early ’92 example

My bike also has a fuel tank leak.  It’s form the top left bracket where the “fairing panel” mounts and is clearly the result of a minor accident at some time in the past. I’ve “glooped it up” with J-B Weld which mostly works although it does seep slightly. As this is made worse by the alarming angle of lean on the sidestand, it will be  sorted entirely by the fitting of the SW-Motech Centrestand (post to follow)

Finally (for now at least) I obviously changed the oil and filter soon after purchase. This revealed that the sump plug was damaged. I bought another one before realising that the one on the bike was not correct and had been forced in to try to get round a damaged thread on the sump itself. I carefully refitted a new (wrong) plug and am now searching for a good sump on eBay to finally put that one to rest – I’ll change the oil again after the winter so I’ve got a while to find one. 

A Japanese Bike - My first in over 30 years !

So - to recap, there I was working from home but with two big bikes (the GP800 and the K75) sitting on the drive.  Parlaying those into one bike seemed like a sensible move which explains how they were replaced with the K1100LT.

Fast forward 2 months and I found myself with a new job – and a commute into Central London on a comprehensively unsuitable machine and a true appreciation of the fact that every single ex-K75 owner has uttered the phrase "I wish I still had the K75". Hence the unfolding story of the last few posts in seeking a replacement for the LT.

With a “warm” buyer for the K1100LT during the Summer, I’d already been looking at suitable replacement commuter bikes – and a couple of mid-sized Kawasaki’s had been in the frame – a GPZ500S and an ER-5.  However the circumstances changed and economy was suddenly the watchword when I need a replacement bike before selling the LT.

There are £500 bikes around – but anything decent is usually snapped up very quickly and there were a few missed gems (a nice looking 400 Burgman and a cosmetically tatty but very sound “Divy” to name but 2).  Eventually a Kawasaki KLE500 turned up – apparently sound, not pretty but cheap enough to join the fleet before the BMW was sold/broken.

My first Japanese bike for over 30 years and my first Kawasaki since around 1979 !

I’m going to write much more about the KLE500. It has much to commend it – yet a myriad of problems, some small, some big but all eminently “fixable” although I do need to start thinking about issues of maintenance and repair that I haven’t had to consider in many years.

Importantly for a man with a desperate need to avoid the rigours of public transport, it came with enough tax and MOT to keep me on the road while I identified and sorted its issues.

The Last of the K1100LT

I said this last time – but I REALLY must update my blog more often.

The K1100LT is no more – or at least much of it has found a new home and the rest is on eBay looking for a new home.

The reason? A combination of circumstances - most of them unfortunate.

I had offered the bike for sale through a selection of online communities and nearly had a buyer. I lost him when the speedo packed up between him agreeing to buy it and collection. If you know your ‘K’s, you’ll be aware that speedo failure is common and easily rectifiable IF you can remove the speedo. The problem with the LT is that the big fairing makes that something of a chore. I guess a previous owner had faced the issue in the past as two of the bolts were comprehensively chewed and even with screen and headlight removed the speedo was staying put.

I carried on riding the bike with the remaining MOT reducing on a daily basis until it became necessary to book it in – for the MOT and to replace the front fork oil seals which were the only clear failure point as the speedo is not (currently) tested at MOT

The week before the test, the final straw occurred. I tried to ride the bike with a substantial Oxford U-lock fitted to the back wheel – the result, apart from falling off L was damage to the rear disc, dist carrier and brake pipes.

I now had an unrideable bike, (within a week) no MOT and a commute into Central London.

Given that the value of the bike was now substantially reduced, I decided that the only sensible thing to do would be to buy a cheap commuter bike and break the K

The result was the Kawasaki KLE500 that features in future posts – and the remains of a K1100LT that has funded it (with change).

If you need any K1100LT bits get in touch – and read on to hear about my experiences with my first Japanese bike in over 30 years !