KX Riders
Maintenance & Technical => KX500 Original => Topic started by: Sharc on May 24, 2004, 04:39:47 AM
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You want a wild ride, swap to 14x49 gearing and you'll have a monster bike like the open class 2-strokes from the 80's....! Maybe not right for everyone's taste, and I've got a 10oz flywheel weight, but I did the low gearing for woods and made a desert trip and loved it in the open too. Still does an honest 80+ mph, but just RIPS through the 20-50 mph stuff. Great for hills too...Scream it in third and it'll go straight up a wall...Nice....Love this bike. Makes my buddy's KTM 300 feel like a pea shooter...
Sharc
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I am currently using 16/42 on mine but with a 17" rear wheel which gives a top end of just over a hundred MPH.
I was out yesterday and hardly used first,second and third apart fron pulling away from junctions so might just put a smaller rear sprocket on it......
Maybe I was on straighter roads than usual though
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I've been trying to ride the taller ratios (well, before I tried to ride my helmet in the rocks), and find I really like the 14/47 or 14/48 gearing. I think I'm going to leave these gears in place, and pull off the flywheel weight just for giggles. Afterall, do we really need to be going 100 when we hit the ground?? AFterall, I can always go back to the high speed gears.
Rick
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14x49 uses a 116 link chain, you can swap to 15x49 with the same chain. Circlip pliers and a chain adjustment and your good for 90+....That was the original plan, but the low gearing is so much fun I think I'll leave it there for a while...
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whats the ultimate gearing for the dunes?
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That is the ratio I run and I love it. I tend to ride a lot of tight stuff. I use the clutch a lot less that way which extends component life. Steep hills are a lot easier because you can maintain a lower speed for control and stay right on the pipe. I don't need a 100mph bike. Even with the lower gearing, I still run out of real estate before I run out of gear. You also gain slightly quicker acceleration. (Like this bike needs it!)
John
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I'm going for the 14/49. Ordering my 49 rear sprocket from Sidewinder today. Will try it out on Thursday.
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My bike came with 14/53 and i didnt it like it much. I went to 14/47 and am much happier
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What do you guys do with your bikes, pull tree stumps? I run 15/48 in pretty tight eastern stuff, 14/47 is the absolute lowest I would go. 14/53...that's gotta be brutual.
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14/47 was stock on my '92. I like the 14/48 I am running better for my conditions (woods, trails and the occasional MX). Tempted to try the 14/49 so I can use 2nd & 3rd more in the gnarly stuff. Cam.
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14/47 is fine for me out here in SoCal. I have tried 15/47, but makes first tuff on nasty climbs. When I was in Arizona, 13/47 was good in the tight stuff, but had absolutely no top end in the sand washes.
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I'm running 14/50 and like it. I'm tempted to try 13/50. Yeah I know thats low but I ride with my kid on a xr70. His high gear is too slow for my 1st gear so I'm constanly riding the clutch.
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I like even numbers so I use 14/50. When I told my 125 riding buddy what I was switching to he asked me if I was nuts. My response was, "Probably". :twisted:
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Actaully, with a flywheel weight, running a ratio more like a 125/250 isn't that bad, as the weight helps control wheel spin.
As a test, I pulled the flywheel weight off last weekend without changing from the 14/47 sprockets, and just hated the change. The bike spent more time trying to swap ends than running straight. While I use the power to steer the bike with the rear wheel, it must be controllable to have the desired effect. We returned to the van where I reinstalled the flywheel weight, and then rode the same 20 mile loop. Much improved, so the weight stays.
Rick
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Rick,
I had a 14oz stealy on a 1987 CR500. Made the power nicely controllable but also seemed to make the bike handle slower when swapping (leaning) the bike from side to side in tight corners. Did you notice this (or any other handling effects) at all in your back-to-back tests? I have often thought that something like a 4 or 6 oz flywheel weight would be about right. Cam.
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Rick,
I' am currently running a 16/42 on a KX 500 motor in a 91 KX250 frame. The bike is about 15 to 20 pounds lighter than a stock 500 for that year. It will do around 105 to 110 if i push it but it's hell to hold on at that spoeed without a steering dampner. Try to find someone with a kawi and see if tehy will let you borrow a few sprokets to test out and see what you like.
Travis
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The 15/42 I run @ Snowflake will pull to 108 - 110 - clocked on backstretch, you might be better off ditching the 16.
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Actually, I have a box full of sprockets ranging from 13-15 front and 45-51 rear, both in alumimum and steel. Since we have spent a number of years racing the National Hare & Hound series, the ISDE Qualifiers, and everything in between, I have run just about every combination of sprockets imaginable on my KX500.
For the 15/45 or lower folks, I just don't want to go that fast anymore. Worked fine in the high speed desert races, but hey, I'm getting old, and take longer to heal.
For the folks with the 13/51... :shock: :shock:... 'nuff said.
I guess I settled on the 14/47 because I don't have to switch sprockets very often to be competitive in the regional series. Also, since we will no longer race the National Hare & Hound and be switching to the WORCS series, I doubt I will have a real need to go 100 mph anymore.
On the question of power in tight switch corners, I actually found it easier after the flywheel because my rear wheel wasn't all over the place. I removed the flywheel last weekend because some folks on this forum had noted that they lost way too much power. Since I had been running my flywheel for over a year, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. After my test last weekend, I'll be happy to leave the weight in place.
However, I do agree that a smaller weight would probably be prefered, but since the 14 OZ. is the only thing on the market, we are stuck with that unless someone wants to experiment with some machining.
In the end, I think the flywheel weight and gearing has a lot to do with the style of riding in which you are most engaged. Since I switch from mountains to desert from one day to the next, I settled on the 14/47 or 14/48 as the best overall gearing. In fact, last Saturday, we needed to ride cross country in the mountains to hook into a trail, which required climbing a long, grassy, rocky, steep hill. The 500 just tractored up the side of the hill with almost no wheel spin or clutch feathering, while everyone else had to resort to tacking up the hill like a sailboat. :lol:
Rick
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Well, I ran the 14/49 for a day in Beaumont. Hill climbing, opening it up on straight aways, etc.. I have experience with 14/47, 14/48, and 15/45. I like the 14/49 the best. It just feels like the bike is on steroids. That's just my opinion. Oh yeah, I'm past the triple digit mph days. Too old to hold on..
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Now, when I get too old to hold on, my wife has instructions to point my walker in the direction of the 500, help me mount my steed, and duct tape my hands to the handle bar... wide open throttle of course. Incidentally, they have the same instruction if I ever get any of those debilitating illnesses that affect your mind that are too common as one ages. The only modification in this case is to point big green towards a huge cliff...
Rick
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I agree....duct taped to bars and pegs, carb spring UNDER the slide, 5th gear off the south wall of the Grand Canyon....
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Steahly does custom fly wheel weights for a little more $ if any one wants to try a lighter weight.
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I've got a 10 oz that came with an Electrix 210 watt lighting coil from Baja Designs. That weight seems just right...
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Hey kawdude!!!
Watch out with that 13 tooth countershaft sprocket!! If you run an O-ring chain, it will rub on your case! (I know from first hand experience.)
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Yep. I went away from the O'ring chain for that reason. Now running DID 520 gold standard.
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SO...I guess noone has any use for 15/42?
:twisted:
Manny
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Send those unwanted 15s to Manny!
BTW, Paul, that's "THE" gearing for a well built/mainted K5
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For all around gearing I like the 15/47 combo (tight stuff) and the 15/45 (all around good gearing. BUT... when you just have to fly it's time to bust out with the 15/42 :twisted:
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I'm too affraid of a 42 rear. Would have to balance the crank and rims.
Doesn't one that small rub on the back of the swingarm?
Rick