Ever since the Ninja 400 replaced the Ninja 300, Kawasaki fans have been asking for a Versys 400 to replace the Versys 300—and they haven’t had that wish granted. But now, from what we saw teased at EICMA, they may be getting the equivalent of a Versys 500… or maybe something else.
Although Kawi hasn’t really said anything about it officially, we got the following photos from EICMA themselves, who snapped pix of the machine on the floor. The side of the bike’s box says “Life’s a Rally. Ride it,” and tells us the machine is a new KLE-series model.
Uh, what? The original KLE model was not a rally bike—it was a street-friendly ADV, sold at the same time as the Gen 1 KLR650, which was considered a more off-road-oriented model at that time. The KLE was never a Dakar winner.
But let us move past the mis-labeling of the marketeers and consider what the original KLE actually was. This model put the Ninja 500 twin (the original EX500, not the new model) into a chassis with long-travel suspension, and it was a very popular machine in Europe. Sales never caught on in North America… because Kawasaki never brought it here, figuring Canada and the States were buying KLRs already, so why confuse things?
Now, the Ninja 500 is back in production (actually with a 450 engine). A few weeks ago we saw patent drawings that sure ’nuff looked like an adventure bike or crossover-style machine built around this engine, or the hybrid powerplant that Kawi built off its new 500 twin.
Note that the weirdo box packaging you see above doesn’t let us see the engine, although it does say “Established 1991” to reinforce that connection to the original KLE series.
There is some speculation that this may be the first-ever hybrid adventure bike on the market, or maybe Kawasaki will release both a KLE500 and a KLE 7 Hybrid. The Ninja 7 Hybrid and Z7 Hybrid show Kawi is committed to this segment.
Whatever the case is, it can’t be too far off, or Kawasaki wouldn’t tease it.
