Certainly a bike built to last!
I hope so as I have "plans" for this motorcycle. My friend who used to be a Kawasaki dealer tells me that the engine is near unbreakable, the one weak link being that early models, like mine, have an alternator rotor that sheds magnets and causes significant harm. I got an awful shock when I discovered that the later part is nearly $AU400 from Kawasaki (all they did was crimp a stainless steel "liner" to the rotor to keep the magnets in place). but happily I have discovered
http://www.electrexworld.co.uk/acatalog/RO5.html who will sell me one fr about $AU240, and they have an excellent reputation.
The engine is almost as easy as a boxer to work on, or at least it would have been but for one small problem. The pistons were corroded very solidly to the barrels which meant I had to split the cases to release the conrods from "underneath". Whilst I had it apart, and with the aid of the factory service manual I was able to graft from somewhere I decided to replace most of the gearbox, a few roller bearings and all seals.
A nearly new gearbox from an EX-500 cost $AU60 from the USA with reasonable (for once coming out of the USA) eBay flat rate postage. The KLE has the same engine as the 500 Ninja, GPZ500, ER5-N and EX-500, in continuous use by Kawasaki from around 1987 to present date. As they are long lived and hard to break there is a bit of a glut of them in wreckers - I bought a serviceable cylinder head, replacement barrels and pistons for less than $AU150 including delivery.
It is the little things that cost, non-catalog bearings and seals are eye-wateringly expensive, in fact the gasket set, bearings and seals have now cost me more than buying the bike in the first place, plus the head, pistons, barrels and gearbox!
Stuff like brake master cylinder seal kits are around $AU50 and caliper kits around $AU60, all of which makes me pine for BMW prices....
Target is to have it running by the end of our winter, August more or less and registered by Christmas. One big spending item I still need is a serviceable fuel tank, they come up occasionally overseas, but I cannot find a freight carrier that will load a second hand fuel tank, which means I have to pay and Australian wrecker's early retirement fund price for one.