Street KX500...???

[MattW.]

I've been trying to beat this idea out of my head for a long time now. Every time I drop it, it resurfaces couple of months later. It's a sickness, it's a disease.

I want a KX500 street 'tard. Yup. I admit it. I know it's overkill, I know it's crazy, but I still want it. Scary part is, I don't think anyone's on here to stop me either...

So the question is...

Has anyone riden a "street" KX500.

How does it feel, is it impossible to live with, or just something different... Anyone...

This idea is going to take me a little while to come through with, as my pockets are only so deep {read: shallow }, but I want to do this.

The only other bike I thought of 'tarding is a KTM 550MXC, but I'm not very familiar with them, any thoughts...  

Thanks,
Matt

[John]

I have a street legal-ish KX500 Motard if that's what you mean?

I can only see three reasons to swapping it for something else:

1. Fuel consumption - and two stroke oil. Not a lot of mileage on a tank.
2. Noise - no matter what you do it won't be silent.
3. it?s a powerful MX bike and not meant to be puttering around with (as you are forced to in populated areas because of the noise).

It?s not pleasant to cruise with a KX500 but it's a buzz to ride aggressively. FInally, there is a lot of traction on tarmac with the right tyres.

//John

[demographic]

I've been trying to beat this idea out of my head for a long time now. Every time I drop it, it resurfaces couple of months later. It's a sickness, it's a disease.

I want a KX500 street 'tard. Yup. I admit it. I know it's overkill, I know it's crazy, but I still want it. Scary part is, I don't think anyone's on here to stop me either...

So the question is...

Has anyone riden a "street" KX500.

How does it feel, is it impossible to live with, or just something different... Anyone...

This idea is going to take me a little while to come through with, as my pockets are only so deep {read: shallow }, but I want to do this.

The only other bike I thought of 'tarding is a KTM 550MXC, but I'm not very familiar with them, any thoughts...  

Thanks,
Matt

I have a KX 500 motard also.

It kind of depends on whet kind of roads are around the area where you live.

If there are loads of bumpy little twisty roads you will like it but if theres loads of long straights then it will be a pain in the arse.

I don't know anything about KTM 550 MXCs but I do know that you can get KX bits almost anywhere fairly quickly, also if I have to have a bike with what some people call a fragile engine (although I don't really think KX mills are that fragile anyway if you compare them to modern fourstrokes that rev to the moon and cost a hell of a lot to rebuild) I would rather that it was cheap and easy to rebuild.

Mixing pre mix can be a pain in the arse though, a way to speed things up is to buy a clear tank (well it's called neutral but you can see how much fuel is in them better than green ones) cos then you can work out how much oil to put in before you add the petrol so the incoming petrol mixes it in the tank.

Remember to switch the petrol tap off before you do this otherwise you can end up with the tap letting the oil through and the bike running smokey for a bit.

The post 92 bikes are simpler to get brake parts (mainly the caliper re-location bracket) for if your going to get a 320 mil disc set up as the forks are different.

I have bought a Clarke four gallon tank for mine cos a tank only seemed to last a bit over half an hour and the old one was not see through.

Mine looks like this, taken just after I had ran out of petrol in the middle of nowhere and my mate was taking the piss out of the situation which explains my expression

Oh although the tank is different now as already mentioned.
 

[supermotard500]

I'm riding a supermotard KX5 too, but not street legal.

Sure, it's amusing, but compared to modern bikes the riding position is not the optimum if you want to put weight on the front wheel in a curve. The steering angle is big, it is like a chopper compared to a KTM525-SM.

Another big problem is the backfiring, when you're hitting a curve on the brake with high rpms. And the vibrations are going to make your mad on the track.

I will change to a newer frame from the 250kx and hope to fix the riding problems.

Niels

[MattW.]

Swet. Thanks for all the reponses, so far from what I'm hearing it's better than I expected.

Couple of more specific questions though...

Plugs, foul any...

What gearing do you guys use, and was it a pain to find...

How is the cooling system... Does the bike overheat in "traffic"...

[demographic]

Swet. Thanks for all the reponses, so far from what I'm hearing it's better than I expected.

Couple of more specific questions though...

Plugs, foul any...

What gearing do you guys use, and was it a pain to find...

How is the cooling system... Does the bike overheat in "traffic"...

Plug fouling...
It did do but I had a fiddle with the jetting and it seems much better now.

Gearing.....

I currently have 16/47 fitted but it would take higher (bear in mind that I also have 17" wheels with 150/60 I think aspect ratio tyres fitted) and a flywheel weight helps cut down embarassing stalling in traffic

Cooling system.....

MX cooling systems are designed for low speed airflow and to be honest if anything they are over cooled on the road, although I try and avoid town riding if I can cos over here the police sometimes get snotty about noisy bikes.