KX500 Bad reputation

[KX500freak]

in the wide region around i,m the only K5 streetlegal rider

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 

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

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

 

[quincyman]

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)

[Mick]

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.

[CR480R]

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

[TheGDog]

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!

[k5abuser]

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 .

[Dutch-K5 Fan]

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) 
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
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

[bigbellybob]

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

[ilovemybike]

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!!!!!!

[Polar-Bus]

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.

[iamsofaking]

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!

[Kawasakinut]

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 .


jimmy v.     

[dcon]

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)

[n2682]

 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