2026 Kawasaki KLE500 Review

Kawasaki’s KLE500 puts the company’s friendly parallel twin into an adventure-ready chassis that encourages you to explore the country. Is it a great all-rounder?

There are some motorcycles you walk up to and immediately think, yep, this’ll be easy. The Kawasaki KLE500 was not one of those motorcycles. My first impression was fairly simple: she’s a large girl.

In the KLE’s defence, that statement is probably slightly unfair. My recent adventure-bike benchmark has been the Triumph 400 XC, which I spent close to 5000km throwing around the South Island in the name of scenic gravel roads, questionable decisions and generally finding out whether Google Maps really did know best.

Park the KLE beside the Yamaha Ténéré 700 currently occupying space in our garage, however, and suddenly its proportions make much more sense. It has that same tall, purposeful adventure-bike presence. The problem is less the Kawasaki and more the fact that I am approximately five-foot-two on a generous day. And motorcycles, unfortunately, cannot be negotiated with using personality.

Short-person problems

The standard 870mm seat height falls firmly into my “absolutely not” category. Kawasaki New Zealand kindly fitted its accessory low seat, reducing that by 30mm to a more achievable 840mm.

Now, “achievable” is doing some heavy lifting here. I’m certainly not flat-footing it. But I can get one foot confidently onto terra firma, which makes the difference between riding an adventure bike and simply becoming a decorative feature attached to one every time you stop.

It also resulted in some fairly entertaining standing photos, where the KLE appears to have swallowed most of its rider. Kawasaki deserves credit for offering the option. Adventure riding has exploded in popularity in New Zealand, and not everyone wanting to disappear down a gravel road has the inseam of a professional basketball player.

Once aboard, it’s traditional ADV: wide bars, tall rally-style front, a 21-inch spoked front wheel and 17-inch rear, with enough bodywork for presence without resembling a small housing development.

The bars felt particularly wide, although a larger human employed for scientific testing pronounced them normal. Once moving, I stopped noticing.

An old friend underneath

The name suggests something larger, but inside is Kawasaki’s 451cc liquid-cooled parallel twin, closely related to the Ninja 500’s engine.

Having spent much of my early riding life aboard a Ninja 400, its delivery felt wonderfully familiar: smooth, predictable and easy to understand. In LAMS guise, it produces 33.4kW, or 45PS, at 9000rpm, with 42.6Nm at 6000rpm. Those numbers won’t tear your arms off. That’s the point.

Power delivery is progressive rather than intimidating, making it friendly when the bitumen disappears. Roll on across gravel and speed builds cleanly, without a sudden explosion of enthusiasm from the rear wheel. You can ride rather than negotiate a peace treaty with the throttle.

The clutch is light, predictable and easy to feather, letting me creep through slower technical sections without protest.

On the open road, the little parallel twin punches above what its capacity might suggest. At 100km/h I was seeing approximately 4700rpm, with none of the frantic buzzing or vibration you sometimes encounter from smaller-capacity machines desperately attempting to convince you everything is fine.

Everything actually was fine. In fact, I’d argue the KLE is every bit as much a small touring motorcycle as it is an introductory adventure machine. There’s a 16-litre fuel tank, the engine settles comfortably into highway speeds, and the riding position allows you to knock over decent kilometres without feeling folded into origami.

Kawasaki quotes fuel consumption around 4L/100km, which theoretically gives the KLE useful range for exactly the sort of back-country exploring it’s aimed at.

Surprisingly sporty

For something with a 21-inch front wheel that looks permanently destined for dust, the KLE is remarkably happy through sealed-road corners.

It tips in easily, holds a line confidently and carries an entertaining pace. It almost feels like a sportbike that discovered hiking.

The seating position is slightly more aggressive than some adventure machines, although the low seat probably contributes. Dropping 30mm brings my knees closer to the pegs, tightening the rider triangle. For somebody closer to the dimensions Kawasaki probably had in mind, I suspect it would feel considerably roomier.

The suspension was softened to gain extra sag and assist my battle with the ground. Even so, the 43mm KYB inverted forks and Uni-Trak rear handled roads, potholes, gravel and adventurous terrain without becoming a pogo stick. Travel is 210mm front and 196mm rear.

The 185mm ground clearance has been heavily debated, because naturally the internet formed its opinion before most people rode one.

We introduced the underside to New Zealand on a tighter drop-down, confirming the bash plate isn’t decorative. A more substantial belly pan would be on my shopping list for harder off-road riding.

Getting dirty

Off-road, the KLE continues its engine’s theme: approachable. At 194kg ready to ride, it isn’t especially light for a bike partly aimed at adventure beginners. You notice the weight paddling around driveways or during slow manoeuvres. Add short legs and things become entertaining, but once the wheels rotate, most of that weight disappears.

Standing felt natural, with reasonable room to move around the tank and bodywork. Kawasaki borrowed ergonomic thinking from its KX motocross range, and the intention is apparent.

My gripe was the rear brake pedal. It sits too far forward for my tiny feet. Standing and trying to cover it, I had to deliberately reach forward rather than finding the pedal beneath my boot.

Again, this will probably be absolutely lovely if you are built like a regular adult human. I am apparently travel-sized.

It’s also worth talking tyres. The factory IRC Trail Winners are perfectly adequate for what I suspect most KLE500 owners will actually do: road riding, gravel roads and lighter off-road exploring. They behaved predictably throughout testing, although there was the occasional wriggle on loose gravel to remind me they’re still a compromise. Nothing terrifying. Nothing requiring fresh underwear. If your weekends involve mud, steep trails and decisions beginning “I wonder if we can get through there…”, I’d fit something more aggressive.

About those brakes…

The brakes are perhaps the least exciting part of the package. There’s a single 300mm disc with twin-piston caliper up front and a 230mm disc at the rear, with selectable ABS for heading away from the seal.

On road, the front brake lacks the immediate bite I’m accustomed to from sportier motorcycles. There’s stopping power there, but you need more lever input than you might initially expect. “Wishy-washy” may not be an approved engineering term, but it’s reasonably accurate. Then again, adventure bikes, particularly LAMS-friendly ones, exist in a slightly different world. That relatively gentle initial response suddenly makes more sense when your front wheel is rolling across gravel and your startled monkey brain decides to grab a fistful of brake. Sportbike brakes in that moment could rapidly convert your adventure ride into an adventure flight. You adjust fairly quickly.

Simple, on purpose

The KLE doesn’t overwhelm with electronics, enormous horsepower or enough riding modes to require an IT qualification. There’s selectable ABS and smartphone connectivity through Kawasaki’s Rideology app. Worthwhile adventure fruit included a larger screen, larger skid plate and handguards.

It isn’t trying to be a miniature Dakar bike or a road bike wearing an adventure costume because marketing liked knobbly tyres. It sits somewhere useful between. It’ll commute, tour, carve up twisty roads and turn down the gravel road you’ve driven past 400 times wondering where it goes. When things become more adventurous than expected, it doesn’t immediately panic.

At $11,215 for the standard KLE500 in New Zealand, it enters an increasingly competitive adventure market. Buyers have choice; the Kawasaki isn’t necessarily the lightest, lowest or most dirt-focused, but might be among the easiest to get along with.

Taller riders will likely find its dimensions natural. For those closer to Hobbit specification, the low seat makes it manageable, even if stopping requires strategic planning. Would I fit better tyres? Yes. Would I move the rear brake pedal halfway back towards Auckland so my foot could reach it? Immediately. But none of those things change the underlying package.

The KLE500 takes Kawasaki’s wonderfully familiar parallel twin and puts it into a chassis that encourages you to explore a little further than you otherwise might. And really, that is what an adventure bike should do.

It doesn’t need to cross the Sahara. Sometimes adventure is simply seeing a gravel road, having absolutely no idea where it goes…and turning down it anyway.  

Kawasaki KLE500

$11,215  / 4.0L/100km  /  93g/km
0-100 km/h 5.4s
Engine  451cc  parallel twin
Max power  33.4kW@9000rpm
Max torque  42.6Nm@6000rpm
Drivetrain Six-speed, chain final drive
Weight (claimed)  194kg