Maintenance & Technical > KX500 Aluminum Frame Conversion (AFC)

KX 500 AF for desert racing

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azracer19:
After looking thru this site and finding alot of articles and members buillding the Aluminum framed KX 500, I am amazed at the beautifil machines they have produced. I am very close to making a decision on building one myself. I have raced the deserts of CA at the ripe old age of 11 racing a few times at the old bay mar TT track also ( that really dates me ). The first bike I raced was a bike my dad built out of many parts. van-tech frame, bridgestone rotary valve 100 cc engine with leading link front suspension. Of coasre I have raced and owned many bikes since moving to 250 by the age of 14 I finally setteled years later on a KX 250..bored to a 285 with race tech suspension. I fell in love with that bike, however I got tired of eating dust for 100 miles and bought a new 86 KX 500 and found a new love, after owning just about every year 500 after that I now have settled on my 2002 KX 500. When a guy learns to ride this bike with a gearing change of a 43 tooth rear sproket and a 15 tooth front sproket a pipe and a few engine mods, and suspension revalving, there isnt a bike alive that this bike wont chase, catch down , pass and leave a cloud of dust in its wake leaving whatever bike it passed in a dense cloud of dust which would resemble a nucleur bomb expolosion. I have never riddin anything that can even come close to handling the desert terrain as a well tuned KX 500. Although this bike is very hard to ride on a motorcross track in my opinion its the best desert bike made, however this leaves me thinking. Would a KX 500 AF do the same? Better? if anyone has an opinion please let me know. oh I forgot by bike does have a steering stabalizer set at 10 when doing over 100 miles an hour..very scary with out it.. Seriously any idead on how the AF would compare, I would love to hear

jfabmotorsports.com:
I have never raced desert before. I have been racing motocross sense 1978 and in 1979 I started racing the open class on a RM400. Back then I weighed 145 lbs and as it is today most open class riders weigh a LOT more than that. I did real well and if your ability is equal to the other guys it boils down to HP to weight. I now race a KX500AF with the Stewart treatment. Long story short...Im older and fatter and dont fly like I used too but the hole shots are just a good as they used to be. If the starting line is 100 yards long I will be 3 bikes ahead of the next guy to the first corner. Of course it goes down hill from there. I can only imagin those 100 yard hole shots stretched out to 500-1000 miles. I also race an KX450f. The AF doesn't handle any better than the 450. The Af's that I build is 5 lbs lighter on the front end but I cant tell the differance by seat of the pants. My lap times are a lot faster on the AF and sense it flys and corners the same as the 450 I have to contribute the time difference to all the little "drag races" between the corners.
    Well a 450 even run a 100 mph in the sand? I dont know the answer to that...its a real question???

azracer19:
Thanks for the quick reply, the reason I was interested in a AF so brilliantly built as yours is 1) parts such as plastic...graphics and other parts are hard to come by and I am sure in time will only become worse and the simple truth as it is a beautiful bike. I am concerned of the stability of the bike at very high speeds..yes 100 miles per hour. I dont ride much motorcross but when I do I ride a little KX 125 which keeps me in shape and is very fun to throw around. I havent looked into the difference of rake and trail along with wheel base differences of the 450f versus the 500. But all things being considered equal...mosty the riders abiility I am really considering doing the AF swap. Naturaly I would need lots of help. DO you sell the engine cradle? and other parts I would need to do this. I plan on in the near future of riding a 450 across the desert at full speed to see if it handles good. Just thought someone might have some knowledge on that. Since I have a spare 500 engine I could always build a super-moto out of my beloved 500 and sell it.

jfabmotorsports.com:
Yes...I will sell every custom part that you need.

JFAB

azracer19:
Promise it wil look like yours?  just kidding
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