We all love the feeling of rowing through the gears in a manual transmission. But let’s be real—stop-and-go traffic can make your left leg absolutely miserable. If you’ve ever thought about getting into motorcycles but dreaded managing a hand clutch in city traffic, Kawasaki just built the perfect bridge for you.
Meet the 2027 Kawasaki KLE500 featuring a brand-new system called “Smartride”. In simple terms, it’s a motorcycle that handles the annoying parts of clutching for you, while still letting you feel like a gearhead.
How does it work?
Smartride is essentially a self-engaging clutch system. It tucks a compact mechanical centrifugal clutch right inside a traditional clutch assembly. If you know cars, think of it a bit like how a torque converter smoothly connects engine power to the transmission in an automatic car as RPMs rise, but it does this purely mechanically.
The best part is that you don’t need to touch the clutch lever at all to stop or pull away from a dead stop. You just roll on the throttle and the bike moves forward, which completely removes the fear of stalling the engine.
It’s an absolute game-changer for crawling through heavy urban traffic without burning out your left hand. It also saves the day off-road, like when you’re trying to pull away on a sketchy gravel hill where the rear wheel would normally skid. You still get to click through the gears yourself, but the bike does all the tedious feathering work for you.
