KX Riders
Maintenance & Technical => KX500 Original => Topic started by: dans89kx500 on November 27, 2007, 01:54:41 PM
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Yesterday I brought my KX500 to a local bike shop to have some work done. And the owner of the shop had such a bad opinion of the KX500 he would ask me "why do you own this bike" "this bike is suicide" "I hate riding these things." I just told him it is fun bike to ride................Anyway, this isn't the first time I've heard this about the KX500 or CR500 and other open class bikes.
Its like if you own any two stroke bike bigger than 250cc, all you hear is crap. Anyway, it really doesn't matter to me. Do you guys heard similar stuff?
Dan in Vacaville
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thats a great reason to hoop up a kx 500 becuse people think they are to fast stock
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Generally I find that people who have a poor opinion of 500 2-strokes are people who can't ride. They always fear what they can't handle. I have ridden 500s since I was 16. The KX is a reliable pussycat. Cam.
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I can sum It up with three words, He's a pussy :-D
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When people see my K5 I always get "Wow a KX500 cool, can I ride it"? And I always say "Sure no problem I won't be riding it when Hell freezes over and you can ride it then".
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I have not encountered anyone bad mouthing a KX500. In fact most people who know what it is, will make a statement about how fast it is and perhaps too fast for them.
I do find a lot of people who hate two strokes and dont mind voicing thier opinion. I believe most of their attitude originates from not being able to start and keep a two stroke running. Basically they do not understand it and perhaps had an old two stroke that fouled plugs or that one time siezed. They switch to a four stroke and thier problems are gone.
Once you have blasted past and roosted your other riding buddies, they will no longer have anything but respect for the Mighty 500.
Good luck with your bike, you will find that the KX500 is reliable and starts easy.
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After riding a 4-stroke I like a smooth bike, but I ride a KX500. I got so tired of going to the dunes and not being able to keep up. I got the KX500 and didn't like it that much at first because the power can be so wild if you don't control your wrist. After getting comfortable with the power I love my bike. I think that most people that hate them are either racers that think that the 500 suspension is to old, or people that have only ridden them once or twice. The 500 is a lot of motorcycle even for a guy my size 6'5'' and 300lbs. After getting used to the power I love my bike. It may not have the most recent suspension technology, but only a handful of riders out there can actually use any modern dirt bike to its potential. My 500 starts on the first kick even on cold mornings. Everybody has an opinion so just go roost the hell out of them and let them tell you how horrible the 500 is.
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the only bad rep encounter i can add is the typical cr 500 moron who vows 80 horse at the rear and cant hold s**t in pants when throttle twists.Big red bulls**t i say! I ve beaten all comers 4 stroke and 2 i ride a 97 with boysens and a fatty shes set at 14 48 and hauls my ass around jest fine :evil: :evil: :evil:
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I find that most of the people that bad mouth the K5 are just ignorant of the big bore 2-strokes all together. most young riders out now have only run with or against a 250 and really can't concieve the monster between my legs...the bike I mean!
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MadKaw, if it's green perhaps you should see a doctor LOL
John
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I think most people are intimitated by the power output of a 500. Personally it made me a better rider. I still blame the AMA for the death of 500 class.
Serafin
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"Too Fast" Reputation is really it. They would say the same thing if you drove a funny car to the grocery store. :-DThe power is sorta overkill. That is the beauty of the k5. You will never really tame it all of the way. That is why you have to be careful letting people ride it, especially CR owners. The k5 has a powervalve and hits harder than just about any two-stroke. And I think if they have any point, it is that the 500's are way hard to stop.
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To much horse power is barely adequate. 8-)
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Hilclimb #42 is right, riding the kx500 in the trails is like driving a funny car to the grocery store. What a great way to get groceries !!! Now how can we get the funny car to go faster ?
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I keep getting people saying it is a useless bike.. or
there 450 will beat it... :lol:
a lot of guys my age if they ask what i ride they say somthing like "oh i didnt think i liked 4 -strokes" ...hmmm???
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in the wide region around i,m the only K5 streetlegal rider :mrgreen:
all my buddy,s have 4stroke,s
and few do have cr500,
none off the bikes is so aggresive on the throttle as a fresh K5
so therefor its good to have bit bodymass,over 200pounds :-D
so i can use the mass for launchcontrol,
but its not easy take off from tarmac imo.
since the powerband begins at once and it starts climbing in chain
or the bike gets lowrev,d and fades out causing you to lose from big 1cyl.4stroke :cry:
imo its a bike for very experienced riders,
thats where its bad rep.comes from
its big great powerband aside the total feeling of sitting on rocket with handlebars
:mrgreen:
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When I ride my K5 in the woods I only get remarks about how great my riding skills must be to handle something that powerful on tight trails. I am not a great rider but having learned to dirt bike on the seat of a KX500 I have become exceptionally good at wrist control. At my age I can't afford not to be able to control my wrist.
I also hear a lot of remarks like:
Now thats a mans bike!!!!!
I have always wanted to try one but don't think I can handle that kind of power.
It's over kill.
I'm afraid of em, my 250 is more than enough for me.
Your the man.
Do you think I could try it out sometime? (usually when I offer they say they didn't mean today)
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Guys don't like the thought of a dated bike that's no longer produced smokeing their razzle dazzle four banger. I would often catch a lot of static in the pits or up in the hills early in the day. But it only takes a minute to shut everybody up. My KX has hurt a lot of ATV riders feelings. Ported, bored, stroked it doesn't matter. A KX500 eats expensive home built four wheelers.
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When I ride my K5 in the woods I only get remarks about how great my riding skills must be to handle something that powerful on tight trails. I am not a great rider but having learned to dirt bike on the seat of a KX500 I have become exceptionally good at wrist control. At my age I can't afford not to be able to control my wrist.
I also hear a lot of remarks like:
Now thats a mans bike!!!!!
I have always wanted to try one but don't think I can handle that kind of power.
It's over kill.
I'm afraid of em, my 250 is more than enough for me.
Your the man.
Do you think I could try it out sometime? (usually when I offer they say they didn't mean today)
Really this applies to most big-bore 2-strokes in general... What most 250/450 guys dont realize is that the added grunt actually makes them easier to ride in alot of situations...Thats what I love about 500's... The added rotating mass and lugging power is priceless when pulling a steep or rutted hillclimb... The added torque makes them feel like they are always in the right gear, especially on sand... and on slick ground you can upshift for traction and still pull... I am glad most guys dont realize what they are missing
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There's a reason why the KX 500 won the Baja 1000 something like 9 times in a row.
My first ride was out in Victorville... and you could just feel that you were on a purpose-built machine engineered to blast across Desert whoops at ludicrous speed.
Man... I took her out for a quick warm-up blitz down a whooped-out trail near the truck... when I pulled back up to the truck... first thing I told the buddies I was with was....
"Hoooo Man! I gotta start gettin' my ass back to the Gym!" Not because I'm all that pathetically out of shape or anything... it's just.. it's just.. This thing is a BEAST and she wants to rip herself free of your grasp at all times! It's freakin' beautiful!
And man oh man.... when I would take lead.. Ho-Ly Sh!t.... I'd have to wait a substantial amount of time when I'd stop for the two behind me on their 250 4-strokes to catch-up. And.. to hear one of'em tell me about how is arm is still sore from the rock I threww off the back-tire which pegged him near the shoulder... Major Grin Material!!
The only kinda minor gripe for me is that she IS kinda tall and long-legged. I'm "inseam challenged" if you will. I'm 5' 10"... but my inseam is only 30" (I'm a lil more torso than leg).
So... at one point where I was following these two... on the top of a rocky hill they decide to turn around and head back down the way we came. Eeek! Slow going in bouncy-ass rocky terrain saps my energy quick since I can't dab my feet the way they can. Slipping the clutch helps considerably... however lends itself to arm pump.
Ugh... and kicking her over is tricky for me. She's usually just a one-kick start... but the trick for me is getting myself up high enough to give a good solid snap to the kick. There is a lot of free-play in the kickstart lever which requires that I lean the bike over so my foot is kicking-down at an angle..NOT parallel with the side of the bike. Also I kinda need to the ball of my foot on the kick-starter... rather than my arch. Otherwise at bottom of kick foot hits pegs and thus shotts off the side of the lever.
When I went to purchase her... that first kick trying the normal way... slipped off the lever and I got shanked up my shin bone somethin' fierce by the lever. (Still healing)
One thing I thoroughly love about this bike though... I have absolutely no fear of hillclimbs of any kind. I just know that I can do them... simply put. You can even start at a dead stop at the bottom of basically any hill.. then just say "Go!" and grunt up anything.
I still have to mess around with adjustments... but from that first trip, she seems like a handful in the corners.. and ya gotta be very weary about trying to honk on the throttle and blast outta berms, as she can easily break traction and slide out the top of them.
Whatever prowess she lacks at railing corners.. she MORE than makes up for when you "pull the trigger"!
The suspension had been freshly rebuilt by the genious/artist associated with "CLEAN RACING". I had the same guy do the '01 KTM 450 MXC I'd had before. I'd come running up on stuff that made my eyes nervous... but she'd just swallow it up like nothin!
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i remember rding 125 and 250 two strokes and thinking you would be crazy to want a 500 2 banger and then i rode the quadzilla ( i rode the first water cooled 500 just didn't get to open it up ) and bought it 5 days later ,so much easyer to ride , climb anything any where anytimeit was just a much more powerful 350 warrior which is what i had at the time . 500 two strokes NO REGRETS . NO SUBSTITUTES . i would set at the bottum of a chat hill in fith and lauch when the others went by and still win .
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People have no respect for a 500!! If you respect the beast and are good with your right wrist.
There will be nothing faster than a open class bike(read 500 2-stoke) :-D :-D
The first time I rode a 500(KX of course) it just felt great!! had only ridden 125 max. On the track
where I was, there was a long straight section and rode it in 3th gear. A couple of laps later put
it in 4th, and with warp speed I was in the corner. It was like I missed a few seconds of my life :evil: :evil:
I've seen Stefan Everst on his RC500af in Namur, (engine from Dave Thorpe RC500, smooth and fast).
Looked like he was 6th place, but he was so mutch ahead of # 2. On a four stroke he was mutch slower.
People who say a 500 can't be ridden now s###t
Dutchie
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on all big bore 2t's you have to slow down to go fast a on a MX track. if you try and haul butt you will be slower and probably go to the ER.
i did not know the KX500 had a bad rep. i have only herd good things about it. if someone tells you otherwise that means they cant handle the power and probably ride a 250f or a something f
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Ive been riding for maybe 6 years and went from a 100cc 2 stroke to a 500 4 stroke to my k5r and its FREAKING awsome!!!! ive never ridin a bike this bad i thought my buddies old honda 250 was fast that aint got s**t on this bike!!!!! i love the KX500!!!!!!!!! i have nothing bad to say what so ever!!!!!! :-D
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The only reason anyone has a "bad" attitude towards any 500cc 2 stroke is because when they were young and stupid (or older and still stupid), they hopped on a friend's KX/CR500 and just dumped the clutch, and whacked the throttle wide open. This results in an immediate trip the the ER.
This also results in a lifetime "bad" attitude towards a bike that doesn't deserve it.
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I've gotten some snarky comments from people about my kx5. I imagine they figure I am an idiot or a looney for riding something that powerful. They can think what they like. Daddy likes the power, baby!
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those snarky comments are most probably from posers who keep there bikes nice and shiney the kind of people that you never see
riding but tell lots of stories. well i know a thing or twoo about power when i was 13 i had a 1980 xl500 with motocross knobbies (i only weighed maybe 100lbs and this thing was a toruqe monster to me at the time). i've never ridden a kx 500 but i would jump at the chance
to scare myself senseless. thats why i ride .posers like the ones who comment negatively on a true mans bike are most likely wearing pink underroos under there spotless riding gear :-D :-D :-D.
jimmy v.
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I ride an 88 kx500 and don't really get any stares or questions from others at the trails. KX500's are uncommon here in Va at least where I ride so a lot of the other riders just think its an old kx250 (a really sweet sounding 250) :evil:
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I have tons of friends that tell me all the time oh the kx500 i cant start it or well you cant motocross well thats fine with me because in the trails im throwing more rocks in there face then they can handle and usually always walk right away from anything i come up across even when my kx5 was burning a quart of gear lube up in 5 minutes burning it with the gas it still was the wicked bike ive ever sat on ive had prob 10 cr5 and they couldnt catch my kx5 on its worst day ive never seen another dirt bike that actually still ran that rich on oil and i couldnt keep the front tire on the ground my guess is people bad mouth what they are scared of and they should be scared of a kx5 its not a bike for the guy who dont know how to ride or a guy that dont know how to respect a bike that is for sure. nick from michigan