hows your 500 handle with the aluminum frame?
Compared to the steel frame, it's quite a bit better.
The first thing you notice is how much slimmer and compact the
bike feels just sitting on it. It's much easier to move around on
when riding. The handling is razor sharp also in comparrison. The
08 CRF has a fairly steep steering angle (thus the steering dampner),
and the bike turns just from thinking about it. Unlike the CRF though,
just a little throttle will create a rear wheel induced direction change,
the way it should be.
The down side is the short wheelbase combined with a bunch of
torque and power. All I can say is it's good that it's easy to move
around on because I spend a lot of time on the tank trying to keep
the front wheel down.
Overal, the bike is a blast to ride.
dogger