CR 500

[wsuwrhr]

I can assure you, you guys are the luckiest peeps in the world, or none of you ride them, or some of both.

I don't know which it is.

You don't keep up on valve adjustments, your time will come to be doing engine work.

To be fair, I have never had to do any engine work to my 450 either. Neither has my dad, uncles, cousins etc who all have 450's.

Regardless, the second most fun thing about owning a motorcycle is working on the motorcycle! Allows an office guy like me to get his hands dirty haha

 

[Rajobigguy]

Absolutely, I know many people who had a Service Honda AF and absolutely hated them. Big Bore smokers need a little flex to handle well and not rattle your teeth out.

Steel has feel.
The CR 500 was probably the fastest of the open class 2 strokes but any of the big bores were pretty damn fast. My favorite of the bunch was my '84 Husky 500, it wasnt quite as fast as the Honda but had the widest power band of any of them. It actually was a joy to ride at Glamis, you could just get lazy and put in third gear and drive around all day like that. It was much easier than my 250 which you had to be on the pegs, on the pipe and working up a sweat jsut to get around.

 

[wsuwrhr]

Does a 500+cc Banshee count?

 

[ArizonaKevin]

I can assure you, you guys are the luckiest peeps in the world, or none of you ride them, or some of both.

I don't know which it is.

You don't keep up on valve adjustments, your time will come to be doing engine work.

Oh we just maintain our stuff well, adjust valves when needed, new piston when needed etc. But none of us have had a 450 go boom before.

Definitely can't say the same about 250 4T's though.

 

[Rajobigguy]

Does a 500+cc Banshee count?

You mean a high performance hoverround?

 

[MSum661]

I had one back in the late 90s . Fricken fast. Front wheel off the ground in every gear with a bald tire and 200# sitting on the tank.

I know it.
Ported with a Pro Circuit pipe alone made those Monsters just about un-ridable.
From a Drag Racers point of view they were bad ass for balls out, straight line boogie passes.
Craziest Fuckers ever made.

 

[wsuwrhr]

So, you've never ridden one. Noted.

You mean a high performance hoverround?

 

[wsuwrhr]

Well, by definition, isn't that doing motorwork?

Oh we just maintain our stuff well, adjust valves when needed, new piston when needed etc. But none of us have had a 450 go boom before.

Definitely can't say the same about 250 4T's though.

 

[ArizonaKevin]

Well, by definition, isn't that doing motorwork?

I was referring to one blowing up, I don't consider doing regularly scheduled maintenance as "motorwork"

 

[oldschool]

Absolutely, I know many people who had a Service Honda AF and absolutely hated them. Big Bore smokers need a little flex to handle well and not rattle your teeth out.

Buddy of mine has a KX500 so I'm kinda sorta looking for a donor bike to try this swap. Probably won't get ridden much, but would be a fun build. They used a 2013 KTM 250sx on the FMF project.

 

[wsuwrhr]

Plus the

Reliability is no comparison. I never had to do any engine work on any 500 I've owned.

To be fair, I have never had to do any engine work to my 450 either. Neither has my dad, uncles, cousins etc who all have 450's.

Regardless, the second most fun thing about owning a motorcycle is working on the motorcycle! Allows an office guy like me to get his hands dirty haha

I can assure you, you guys are the luckiest peeps in the world, or none of you ride them, or some of both.

I don't know which it is.

You don't keep up on valve adjustments, your time will come to be doing engine work.

Oh we just maintain our stuff well, adjust valves when needed, new piston when needed etc. But none of us have had a 450 go boom before.

Definitely can't say the same about 250 4T's though.

 

[wsuwrhr]

Noted.

I was referring to one blowing up, I don't consider doing regularly scheduled maintenance as "motorwork"

 

[oldschool]

I was referring to one blowing up, I don't consider doing regularly scheduled maintenance as "motorwork"

I did the same on my 06 CRF 450, but it lost a rod bearing and took out a bunch of stuff. The key to good maintenance is to do it just before it breaks.

 

[ArizonaKevin]

Buddy of mine has a KX500 so I'm kinda sorta looking for a donor bike to try this swap. Probably won't get ridden much, but would be a fun build. They used a 2013 KTM 250sx on the FMF project.

If you are on Facebook, hop into the KX Guru Racing group. The owner of that shop, Oscar Cota, was a Team Green mechanic during the KX500 days and has partnered with some great companies to do some cool stuff for these bikes. Decompression buttons so your leg doesn't break if you don't kick it right, milling the clutch side cover to accept modern clutch covers (to replace clutch plates on KX500's you have to take the whole clutch side case cover, huge PITA)

He built Sean Collier's KX500, MXA tested it and said it has vibration similar to a modern 450, handles reasonably well because of a modern front end, and makes very usable power (for 500 standards)

He is in the process of building a KTM/KX500 right now

 

[oldschool]

Just put some Marzocchi Shiver 50mm forks in the spam section if anyone is looking for some trick forks.

 

[sintax]

If you are on Facebook, hop into the KX Guru Racing group. The owner of that shop, Oscar Cota, was a Team Green mechanic during the KX500 days and has partnered with some great companies to do some cool stuff for these bikes. Decompression buttons so your leg doesn't break if you don't kick it right, milling the clutch side cover to accept modern clutch covers (to replace clutch plates on KX500's you have to take the whole clutch side case cover, huge PITA)

He built Sean Collier's KX500, MXA tested it and said it has vibration similar to a modern 450, handles reasonably well because of a modern front end, and makes very usable power (for 500 standards)

He is in the process of building a KTM/KX500 right now

I had Terry Varner rebuild my KX500 from the bottom up. He was also a Team Green wrench during the big days. The thing is so dialed I can just push it through and it'll fire. I dont know what Terry did to the KIPS but its a whole new bike

I ended up putting the 2002 KX500 engine into a 2002 KX250 chassis. It came out great and is a pretty solid desert bike. It does not get much seat time these days, and i'll prob sell it sooner or later. I maybe have 6 hrs on the engine, if that. Its a beast though, custom rolled cone pipe, silver metal flake powder coat w/ all black plastics.

 

[boatdoc55]

I like reading about all you young bucks and your "newer" bikes. As youngster's my brother and I were caught up in the MotoX world when it first got started, mid to late 60's and all through the 70's. Then girls turned into wives and ended our racing days. My brother rode for many Orange County shops and I turned the wrenches. We practically lived at Saddleback, only 15 minutes away from where we lived and we worked at a couple of the shops in the OC.
When we started there was no such thing as a mono-shock or water cooled bikes, hell there wasn't water cooled bkes when we got out of it but we did have the first mono shocked bike in the States when our Dad had one shipped in from Canada about 3 months before they showed up in the States. If any of you guys are old enough, that's when all the Yamaha YZ's were International White with the red stripe through the tank and when they hit the USA they were the good old yellow and black.

Thanks for taking me back to the grand old days with many, many memories and many old friends.

 

[KENDOG689]

I rode Saddleback when I as a kid on 80s.That was always my favorite place to ride.

 

[ArizonaKevin]

I had Terry Varner rebuild my KX500 from the bottom up. He was also a Team Green wrench during the big days. The thing is so dialed I can just push it through and it'll fire. I dont know what Terry did to the KIPS but its a whole new bike

I ended up putting the 2002 KX500 engine into a 2002 KX250 chassis. It came out great and is a pretty solid desert bike. It does not get much seat time these days, and i'll prob sell it sooner or later. I maybe have 6 hrs on the engine, if that. Its a beast though, custom rolled cone pipe, silver metal flake powder coat w/ all black plastics.

When you sell it, let me know. I am very interested in that setup

 

[Wheeler]

I like reading about all you young bucks and your "newer" bikes. As youngster's my brother and I were caught up in the MotoX world when it first got started, mid to late 60's and all through the 70's. Then girls turned into wives and ended our racing days. My brother rode for many Orange County shops and I turned the wrenches. We practically lived at Saddleback, only 15 minutes away from where we lived and we worked at a couple of the shops in the OC.
When we started there was no such thing as a mono-shock or water cooled bikes, hell there wasn't water cooled bkes when we got out of it but we did have the first mono shocked bike in the States when our Dad had one shipped in from Canada about 3 months before they showed up in the States. If any of you guys are old enough, that's when all the Yamaha YZ's were International White with the red stripe through the tank and when they hit the USA they were the good old yellow and black.

Thanks for taking me back to the grand old days with many, many memories and many old friends.

Dude, you're even older than Billy barkfeather and his sidekick Rick.

 

[Wheeler]

I have ridden many different bikes. The newest 450's are pretty close in power from the factory as the old 500's (2016 450's make from 55 to 58 how and the 500's made about 55 to 56 hp). I still have never ridden anything that has anywhere near as linear a power band as my KX500. It can make you a lazy rider not having to slip the clutch and such to keep it in the power band and what not.My 500 has so much bottom end it's like hitting the pipe right off the crack of the throttle.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

I've seen you before, you're one of them squids thst comes into the restaurant in the morning with all the riding gear on sans helmet and gloves.

 

[PlumLoco]

After the kickstarter ate its way through my boot, I had Pro Circuit drill a tiny hole in the head that would bleed off some compression when kicking, but too small to make a difference at running rpms. Also added some flywheel weight. My 86 CR 500 was an easy starter after that, and the added mass helped smooth the power a bit.
Now I'm riding a 1979 Husky 390. This bike has an amazing powerband. It will literally run at walking speed without any chugging or chain snatch, and with 6 gears and lots of rpm, will walk away from most of today's open class bikes.

 

[Flying_Lavey]

I've seen you before, you're one of them squids thst comes into the restaurant in the morning with all the riding gear on sans helmet and gloves.

Hell no! Those guys are pathetic. Those pants aren't comfortable to wear when not riding. And, I'm too cheap to have the really nice comfortable boots.

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[ArizonaKevin]

Hell no! Those guys are pathetic. Those pants aren't comfortable to wear when not riding. And, I'm too cheap to have the really nice comfortable boots.

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After slugging through cheap boots for most of my life, I broke down and bought a pair of Sidi Crossfire 2 TA's and it has changed my riding life.

 

[KENDOG689]

LOL,I rode in glamis with shorts,work boots and my open faced helmet.Also no gloves.

 

[oldschool]

LOL,I rode in glamis with shorts,work boots and my open faced helmet.Also no gloves.

You are more daring than me. I dress for the crash, not for the ride.

 

[77charger]

LOL,I rode in glamis with shorts,work boots and my open faced helmet.Also no gloves.

Pffft I've ridden in less