At this point in my life it's not about power, at least for me, my ride of choice is a 2011 kx250f, easy to ride and makes good power, the trails I ride are tight and narrow. right now I only have one KX 500, thats the steel framed 250f. I've sold my al framed bike, and in turn built a al framed 250 2t, which I'm going to sell as well. I still have 3 extra 500 motors that I will probably build another al framed bike. I do like the 11 450 as well it is very forgiving and has a good ride. honestly I don't like the stock 500 chassis, I've gotten quite picky, for me if I was going to make a kx500 my primary rider it would be in a newer chassis. I'm 54 and have riden RM 500's ( yeah I'm sure most of you have never heard of them) YZ490 and kx500's and at the end of the day I love the motor and hate the chassis, of course there will be many that will say get the suspension set up and it will be totally different, remember I'm 54, I've already done that and can tell you there is no comparsion. If you have a cherry 500, maybe you should restore it and hang on to it, then make your daily driver a newer framed 500. motorcycles are an addiction, you can't have enough, ever.