General > Riding Tips & Tricks

Front fork questions.

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oic0:
I'm still learning to ride on the KX500, haven't managed to kill myself yet (prolly shoulda started on a 125 or 250 lol). Few questions though...

Do you ever get used to the wheelies? Any time I open the throttle I find myself giving almost my total awareness to wheelie detection. For instance, I was in third gear running wide open. Sitting close to the gas tank and with as much weight as I could safely put towards the front of the bike. Screaming along nicely and then seemingly at random the front wheel starts to come up. I didn't feel a burst of acceleration like hitting the powerband or anything, I was actually expecting to run out of power and need to shift pretty soon, but up it comes. It always seems to pop a wheelie when I least expect it to.

How many clicks do you run on the front forks? I am currently 6 clicks away from the hardest setting, probably due to how much I hug the tank. It made things a lot more stable when stopping though. Before I was getting headshake on decelleration.

Lastly, how do I get faster in the woods? any keen bit of insight you guys can bestow upon me or do I need to keep on practicing? I was getting pretty confident and picking the pace up until I hit a patch of grass covered sand going through a corner in second. nearly laid it over but by reflex I kicked the ground hard with my left leg as I was going down and it stood back up. It may be a tire problem though. I am running a Maxxis desert 120/90 tire. It seems like if I give it ANY gas while turning it kicks the rear out. The tire is brand new and fresh but maybe it is just too hard for good handling? or maybe its my tank hugging ways?

k5for-life:
i run a maxxis desert it 120/100-18 and i love it what you need to do is run about 11-12 psi in the rear and go for a 14-50 gearing for woods riding well that what i race with i was talking to destry abbott and he said the gearing he ran was 13-48and i i dont know why everyone says the k5 like to wheelie a lot i cant get the front end up if i tryed

Hillclimb#42:
Its all in gearing choice. I used to say the same thing about my 250 having too much power for a starter bike. Use the clutch, and the grunt power. 500's are kinda tough to whip around in the tight stuff, but look-out on the straight line runs. You'll get used to the wheelies.

BDI:
That's the fun of the 500. Proper tire pressure may help with getting the bike to hook up better and you might try rideing the bike in a higher gear then it seams like you should be in.by riding the bike in a higher gear you will lug the bike a little and you will wheelie less save tires and be more in controle. You will find yourself going faster with less effort and less engine RPM.

oic0:
k5for-life yours doesn't wheelie? Mine doesn't "feel" wheelie prone as in standing up every time I blip the throttle. Its just when I rev a gear out in a straight away. Sometimes it comes up slowly, sometimes its comes up violently,  sometimes it doesn't come up at all.

Do you guys lift your forks in the clamps for better woods handling? I have mine all the way out because it had some bad head shake when braking but I think stiffening up the front end solved that.

I'll try some lower gearing, I have been meaning too since first seems too tall. Seems like I would have to abuse the clutch to do any tight trails.

I'll have to work on riding in a higher gear though. I am pretty programmed to try to stay within easy access of the power band from all that time riding my warrior RD hybrid (built like a dune banshee).

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