I can’t say that I
have really spent any time on one of Kawasaki’s long-running EX500
Ninja models, but one came available on Craigslist that I couldn’t
pass up. These bikes were in production for 22 years, with few
changes other than adding a rear disc brake, larger wheels and
smoothed-out bodywork in 1994.
Wikipedia overview
shows:
The Kawasaki Ninja
500R is a Sport Bike with a 498 cc parallel-twin engine, part of the
Ninja series of motorcycles manufactured by Kawasaki from 1987 to
2009, with a partial redesign in 1994.
Fuel capacity: 15.9
l (3.5 imp gal; 4.2 US gal)
Fuel
consumption: 64.0 mpg‑US (3.68 L/100 km; 76.9
mpg‑imp)
Engine: 498 cc
(30.4 cu in) liquid-cooled 4-stroke 8-valve DOHC
parallel-twin
Power: 49.9 hp
(37.2 kW) (rear wheel)
Seat height: 770
mm (30 in) (1987–1993); 775 mm (30.5 in) (1994–2009)
Torque: 30.9
lb⋅ft (41.9 N⋅m) (rear wheel)
Transmission: 6-speed
constant mesh
This bike was a
California-emission spec model, so equipped with a carbon canister
and pulse air system. The history, from the seller, was that the bike
was bought new in 2002 and the original owner had put about 500 miles
on before tipping it over and scaring himself from riding it again.
The bike sat until about 2012 when it was offered for sale. My
seller picked it up, replaced a turn signal, added a new set of
tires, a new battery and had the carbs cleaned. He rode it for a
total of 2500 miles in the 7 years he owned it, then decided to make
space in his garage for new endeavors.
Apart from a little
scuff on the left front edge of the fairing and a few scratches on
the mufflers and bodywork, the bike is quite nice. When fired up, the
engine was clearly not running on the right side at idle. It seemed
to run off-idle, but faltered when idling, even after a warm-up. Our
shared opinions were that the idle jet was probably clogged up from
lack of run time. Faced with having the carbs cleaned again in order
to facilitate a good sale, the owner offered it to me for $200 less
and I agreed to take it off his hands.
Once it arrived back
home, the seat and tank were removed for carb removal/cleaning,
however I noticed that there was an emissions vacuum line lying loose
near the carburetor. Tracing it back to a junction, it appeared to
need to be attached to an engine vacuum source. There are fittings on
the intake manifold stubs for vacuum to the petcock on the left
cylinder and the right side one was found to be unplugged which is
where the vacuum line was supposed to be connected. It all made sense
now that the engine wasn’t idling on that side due to a large
vacuum leak! I did remove the carburetors and had to reset one of the
float levels, but the jets and bowls were still clean, so the loose
line was the actual culprit.
With the carbs
reinstalled and all vacuum lines connected the bike fired up and ran
well. The ergonomics are just about right for my dimensions and I was
especially pleased to find out how easily this bike can be pulled
onto the centerstand. Ah, the centerstand! This lost relic on many
models now, is a treasured feature on street bikes, these days. It
makes chain maintenance so much easier and gives the bike a different
option to be parked, as well.
While on the
centerstand, I turned the back wheel to check the chain slack and
noticed that the rear hub has a cush-drive setup which seemed to be
worn to me, with a noticeable amount of play in the back and forth
directions. With only 3k miles on the bike, it seemed like an odd
amount of wear. I ordered a new $60 damper for the wheel but was
disappointed to find that a new damper had about the same amount of free play as the original. Apparently, age was not a factor in the old
part, but an odd engineering oversight.
Between the gear
lash in the transmission and the built-in slack from the rear hub,
there is a bit of backlash when on and off the throttle that is
attributed to both factors. There is an EX500 forum, with a resident
guru who offers a few improvement bits and sage advice. His
suggestion was to add in some pieces of an aluminum can to pack in
around the damper, in order to tighten up the assembly. He also
offers some rear suspension dog bones that raise the rear end about
1.5” in order to change the geometry enough to eliminate some odd
handling quirks in these models. However, jacking up the rear end
negates the function of the center and side stands, without carrying
some stand assistance pieces onboard. Carrying around a 2x4” board
in your backpack might be an option for some, but I would seek other
options, personally.
I noticed that when
I reinstalled the rear wheel, the right side axle adjuster tended to
squirm around when the axle nut was tightened. The only way around it
was to tighten the axle into the nut with the provided tool kit
wrench. Yes, these bikes do seem to have a few quirks, despite their
lengthy development time.
Closer inspection of the rear axle setup
revealed that there was a gap between the rear caliper bracket and
the inside of the swing arm as you go to tighten the axle nut down. I
found a 1.5mm shim to slide into the space and that seemed to help
out quite a bit. There’s no reason to be pinching in the ends of
the swingarm just to tighten up the rear axle hardware. So far, the
bike has been up to an indicated 95 mph with no problems in the
handling department.
The other puzzling
issue was that the rear brake pads were worn quite thin. I ordered
some EBC pads online and they installed easily with 3x the thickness
of the originals. The front pads still seemed to have decent amounts
of material left, so I guess the previous owners were rear-brake
oriented.
Overall, the bike is
really pretty good. It has a few more rated horsepower than the manic
CBR250R that I ride, but weighs about 75 lbs more in wet weight.
Obviously, the 500 twin has more torque and is geared higher for more
relaxed freeway cruising at half of the engine speeds as the 250-4.
Both have been getting close to 60 mpg, so quite economical to own
and enjoy.
1988 CBR250R (18k redline, 45 HP, 350lbs wet)
The only Kawasaki
motorcycles I have owned in the past were a 1984 GPZ550 and a trio of
2000-2001 W650 twins. They are solidly-built machines with numerous
positive attributes. Even though it seems out of character for
MrHonda to own bikes from the K-brand, I think it is healthy to
sample and appreciate bikes from other makers, especially when they
bring a strong sense of satisfaction to the riding experience.
Bill “MrHonda”
Silver
10-19
