Kawasaki ER-500

[that man over there]

In my "Hello" post I mentioned that I was planning on selling my Superdream for a Maxim 650.

Well, I got to the shop only to find that somebody had beaten me to it - but not a wasted journey, because tucked away at the back of the shop was a very nice looking Kawasaki ER-500, and well within my expected budget too.

However - took it out for a test, and the engine was very disappointing - not rough, but not smooth either. Had a very distinct lump to it, that didn't get any better at speed, which I expected.

Anybody else ridden an ER-500 - is that a trademark of the bike, or was it a duff one?

[DirtyDT]

I had a KLE500 which has a similar engine. Mine was a bit lumpy but took me all over Europe with no fuss. Lots about so walk away if you are not happy with the one you looked at.

[blackhat250]

Same as newman" rode the KLE, there a parallel twin, smooth enuff, ,low on power, great brakes,,,

[KirriePete]

Ride one all the time following my CBT trainees around Dundee, they're smooth enough if they're set up properly. The most likely suspect is out of balance carbs, one of our training bikes ran like a tractor until I put my balance gauge on it (stick, fish tank tubing, ATF) - there was a whole foot of ATF difference between the two sides, got it down to under half an inch and the bike was sooooooo much better.

It's possible it might even have restrictors in the inlets, a lot of these were sold to 33bhp licence holders and may never have had the washers taken out of the inlets.

Tell the dealer the motor seems shagged coz of the way it's running and get him to knock something off, then sort it in half an hour or less, you'll have a good all-rounder for not a lot of money.