Mrs Nudey's new bike

[nudemetalz]

Yup,..we bought a 1994 Kawasaki EX-4 last week. She rode it for the first time today to work an absolutely loves it :)
They're a great machine, handle not bad and good power for a 400 twin (being based on the 500).

(She was borrowing the 250 Eliminator 'til we found a bike)

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[SMOKEU]

I have to say I love the look of that Guzzi in the background.

[tri boy]

Good stuff nudes.
Kanny's KLE500 has 132000kms on it and is a wee ripper.
Solid lil engines.
Previous owner split the cases to do the primary chain at about 110000, and a freshen up of bearings etc also.
The chains do start to rattle slightly on high milage, but are pretty reliable otherwise.
Enjoy.
(a free flowing intake and exhaust with a rejet get these beasties singing):Punk:

[T.W.R]

Good choice of scoot :yes: B will have a ball on it

it'll be a slightly mellower ride than the 500 but a fun, peppy, nimble handling piece of fun :ride:

[nudemetalz]

The engine in this is absolutely sweet, no smoke blowing and only 38K on the clock, which I'd say is fairly accurate.
Runs a bit rough down low, I think the previous owner may have tweaked the carburettion as he said he put a K & N filter in it. I'll set it back to standard settings and go from there. Plus new plugs and oil/filter change, she should be fine.

[YellowDog]

The engine in this is absolutely sweet, no smoke blowing and only 38K on the clock, which I'd say is fairly accurate.
Runs a bit rough down low, I think the previous owner may have tweaked the carburettion as he said he put a K & N filter in it. I'll set it back to standard settings and go from there. Plus new plugs and oil/filter change, she should be fine.

Well done with that bike. Missus looks happy!

[John_H]

Excellent, may it be a long and happy relationship. Hope she continues to enjoy her new bike.

[yungatart]

Beautiful!
It's my bike's baby sister...they are even the same colour!
A great bike, I reckon, but I could be biased...

[nudemetalz]

Beautiful!
It's my bike's baby sister...they are even the same colour!
A great bike, I reckon, but I couyld be biased...

Ta :)
I told the Mrs you have one and Nasty used to once upon a time (well, 500's).

She may not have the pep of the 500, but good enough for what we need.

[yungatart]

Ta :)
I told the Mrs you have one and Nasty used to once upon a time (well, 500's).

She may not have the pep of the 500, but good enough for what we need.

I have never used all the pep of the 500 anyway, but then I am content to be a bit of a nana.....

[MSTRS]

Runs a bit rough down low,

The 500 is the same. Could be a design flaw.
ie Cruise in 6th at 4000 rpm = about 80kph. Open the tap and it sort of shakes/vibrates as the revs climb until it gets to 5500+ then it is smooth(er).

We got rid of the hoedy (sp?) muffler/s and built a free flowing 2-1. Much better. The original cans are crap, with very poor flow characteristics.

[nudemetalz]

Yeah they are VERY quiet. Mind you, she likes quiet so the chance of a couple of race cans appearing are fairly slim !!

[MSTRS]

The ones YT's bike had were anything but quiet. They had all the packing removed. Baffle pipe was still there, and very restrictive in size. One end formed the endplate on the can, other end screwed into an internal plate at the engine end. This plate had a number of holes in it. The inlet pipe is off centre to the baffle pipe, so gases entering hit the plate . Some go through the holes in the plate into the outer part of the can, some go into the baffle pipe. Either way, there is a huge disruption to the flow characteristics of the can, what with effectively having a swirl chamber at the inlet end and crossflowing of gases etc thereafter.
Sound is attenuated by soundwaves in the exhaust expanding out through the baffle pipe and into the packing, right? If you have a design that allows the gas/soundwaves to enter the quietening section on both the inside of the baffle pipe and the outer packing, and a baffle pipe that is too small for the rate of outlet flow, then what you have is a system that simply chokes the engine.

[nudemetalz]

From what John at Boyle Kawasaki was telling me, apparently the early 500's (the 16" wheel ones) are lot quick than the later ones.

[crazyhorse]

Nice machine. Happy Riding MRS Nudey :)

[MSTRS]

They would be the ones known only as GPZ/GPXs. The EX may have had changes other than just styling and 17s...
I believe there was a race class way back, such as today's Pro-twins, and the Kwakas used to clean up.

[T.W.R]

From what John at Boyle Kawasaki was telling me, apparently the early 500's (the 16" wheel ones) are lot quick than the later ones.

:yes: The one my mate had was the pearl white with red seat & black rims model and it'd run to an indicated 215km/h, enough to keep a SE katana honest anyhows :pinch: used to be funny watching them scrapping with eachother as they were complete opposites : very slightly built dude on the Kat & a Gorilla on the GPZ :crazy:

[nudemetalz]

I always remember in the late 80's there used to be a pink and green GPz500 race in the F3 class (Bill, you may remember this). It was blardy fast and used to clean up.

[Grumph]

That was Tony McMurdo from Wgtn - won F3 2nd & 3rd seasons on that thing.
First time he brought it South - to the GP - I had a ride in practise. Frame (VF750) flexed badly.
Showed up at my slow speed because I'm about 30Kg heavier than Tony...1 inch high reinforcing added on the top of the frame spars for the next season.

Still got my race one in the barn - should probably hook it out & rebuild it for pre 89..

If the missus gets bored with it as a 400 I've probably got enough spares to put a 500 top end on it for you - and some spare cams for the Megacycle profile Kelford copied for me.

[nudemetalz]

Ah Tony McMurdo, that's the fellah !!!

The 400 has a different bore and stroke to the 500 so top ends wouldn't be interchangeable I would think.

[Grumph]

Ran a rule over a 400 once - the barrells appear to be the same height so I'd imagine longer rods.I know the gudgeons are the same size and the top end stud spacing is the same. Cam chain length is the same too.
Would't be a full 500 - but worth doing if the bits were available at the right price.