Author Topic: Newbie from Riverbank, CA  (Read 1736 times)

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Offline cfloyd

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Newbie from Riverbank, CA
« on: January 26, 2010, 01:20:29 AM »
Hello everyone.  This is my first KX500 but not my first big bike.  I've been riding and racing since I was 11 but have given up the actual racing about 15 years ago.  Now its just fun times on the track - okay so thee is still a bunch of friendly competition and fender banging :-) - and a bit of trail riding at the local OHV parks every now and then.  My current stable is a Honda XR100, a Yamaha YZ85, a Yamaha YZ250 and the newest addition - a 1992 KX500.  She is very clean but in need of some TLC.  She hasn't been ridden in a few years, let alone started.  So far I have replaced the oil, the gas, cleaned out the carb and cleaned the lpug.  She fires up on the second or third kick and sounds sweet.  However she just doesn't have that 'Push your eyeballs back' power that I remember my '86 YZ490 and a friends '89 KX500 having when I last was doing some serious track work back in the early 90's.  So I will be digging through all of the info I can find here.  My next plans are to install a new plug and inspection of the reeds and then probably pull the head and the exhaust pipe so I can  look in the cylinder to see if anything looks obviously bad.  Compression appears to be good, but I will give that a through testing just to be sure.
Sorry for the long windedness here so I will stop for now.
Again thanks for this great forum with all of its members and information.
Oh, I'll get a few pictures up here in the next couple of days or so.  :-)

Offline hughes

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Re: Newbie from Riverbank, CA
« Reply #1 on: January 26, 2010, 01:42:15 AM »
Welcome, You'll find tons of information here and good people.
Open Class 2-Stroke Kawasaki KX500
Yamaha 2005 YZ250
Richard Hughes
Dirt Hammers - Online Off-Road Journal
hughes@dirthammers.com
http://www.dirthammers.com

Offline Friar-Tuck

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Re: Newbie from Riverbank, CA
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2010, 10:54:07 AM »
  Welcome C,
 You're pretty much doing most of what all of us have, going through the bike a little at a time. 
    It usually takes a few months of riding and repair, adjust and repeat.  Then one day it all comes together and
you see a post like , Wow This thing is crazy!  or  Man, this is the K- whack I remember!... :-D
    Hang in there, it will all come together!
   Tuck\o/
"The Truth Has No Agenda"

Offline blueoval

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Re: Newbie from Riverbank, CA
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2010, 03:56:27 PM »
Hi cfloyd, I totally relate to what Tuck is saying    "Then one day it all comes together and
you see a post like , Wow This thing is crazy!"    When I bought my bike a couple of months ago it just needed a little TLC.  I would go ride it, come home work on it (ask advice from people on this site and apply their advice), go ride it, do work on it with more advice from the experienced people on this site, go ride it, repeat the cycle.  After doing this about 5 times and then taking it on the last ride I thought it was going to rip my arms off and finally experienced what people say about the k5 - "that thing pulls like no other dirt bike"  it was amazing!    B.O.
If some is good, and more is better, then too much is JUST RIGHT!  B.O.