Getting the 500AF warmed up!

[KXPegger]

http://contour.com/stories/apex-01-09oct2011

This is a long one! I was by myself on this ride waiting for the rest of the guys that like to sleep in to show up so I didn't want to twist the throttle to much.

http://contour.com/stories/apex-02-09oct2011

[Turquine]

Thanks for the video, KXP!! The KX500 has been my favorite Japanese dirtbike for many years, and I believe it is certainly the best open class bike the Japs ever built. I never got to ride one but am familiar with early model CR 500 Hondas and 465/490 YZs & ITs, and there simply is no substitute for open class 2stroke power. I used to ride desert too, and the terrain in and around El Paso, Texas and southern New Mexico is very similar to that where you were riding. Due to an accident, I'm no longer able to ride, so I really enjoy watching a video like this, on one of my favorite machines, in the type terrain I love and am familiar with. I sincerely hope you'll post more of them. Maybe some where you smoke a big bore thumper too, lol. That is a beautiful machine you have there!

[KXPegger]

Thanks for the video, KXP!! The KX500 has been my favorite Japanese dirtbike for many years, and I believe it is certainly the best open class bike the Japs ever built. I never got to ride one but am familiar with early model CR 500 Hondas and 465/490 YZs & ITs, and there simply is no substitute for open class 2stroke power. I used to ride desert too, and the terrain in and around El Paso, Texas and southern New Mexico is very similar to that where you were riding. Due to an accident, I'm no longer able to ride, so I really enjoy watching a video like this, on one of my favorite machines, in the type terrain I love and am familiar with. I sincerely hope you'll post more of them. Maybe some where you smoke a big bore thumper too, lol. That is a beautiful machine you have there!

Thanks!

I've got a video somewhere where I pass a guy on a KX450F out in the desert. He told me after we got back to the truck he was surprised when I cruised right by. He's a Nevada MRAN Expert so he's no stranger to WFO in the desert. I'm running 14/47 so that gets me around 100mph in top gear on the pipe! Anyone that records realizes pretty quick that the cameras just do not do the terrain any justice and there's no real sense of speed. If you've ridden desert...you know!

Thanks again! I'll be sticking around here with some videos from time to time.

[Turquine]

Yeah, that makes sense. Stock geared, the KX500 only does about 86 mph. Most of the 450 4strokes do about 90-92 or so. There's a video on Youtube that has a KX500 racing a CR450f on a beach somewhere. KX pulls it through the gears but then the thumper comes roaring by. Made my blood boil since all the guy needed to do was raise the gearing a bit, like you've done and he'd have totally smoked him. In fact, raising the gearing just a little, will give the bike better acceleration as well, providing he doesn't raise it too high. My friend did that on his '84 CR500 to where it would also do right at or a bit over 100mph. Kawasaki owned the Baja on the KX 500 until they pulled out of it, but could still easily do it, if they still made the big smoker and put another team together.  Here is a video with Honda CR 450f racing CR 500s. I'm sure the CR 500s have raised their gearing a bit too, but this is the way such a race should look. Incidentally, the KX 500 would beat the CR 500 in a drag race given equal riders. ---->

CR500's vs CRF450r's

Anyhow, I look forward to seeing more of you and the great green beast in action!!!

[KXPegger]

Yeah, that makes sense. Stock geared, the KX500 only does about 86 mph. Most of the 450 4strokes do about 90-92 or so. There's a video on Youtube that has a KX500 racing a CR450f on a beach somewhere. KX pulls it through the gears but then the thumper comes roaring by. Made my blood boil since all the guy needed to do was raise the gearing a bit, like you've done and he'd have totally smoked him. In fact, raising the gearing just a little, will give the bike better acceleration as well, providing he doesn't raise it too high. My friend did that on his '84 CR500 to where it would also do right at or a bit over 100mph. Kawasaki owned the Baja on the KX 500 until they pulled out of it, but could still easily do it, if they still made the big smoker and put another team together.  Here is a video with Honda CR 450f racing CR 500s. I'm sure the CR 500s have raised their gearing a bit too, but this is the way such a race should look. Incidentally, the KX 500 would beat the CR 500 in a drag race given equal riders. ---->

CR500's vs CRF450r's

Anyhow, I look forward to seeing more of you and the great green beast in action!!!

I rode a buddy's CR500 a couple of years ago. What a light switch! It was either all or nothing! The Kawasaki made a couple of horse more and you got an extra 400 to 500 rpm before it was shift time because of the power valve but the Honda was definately badass! Both bikes are not to be taken lightly.

I knocked myself out last Sunday and got a little banged up! Need a few parts so it might be a couple of weeks before I post a video again! Had the bike three years now and still don't know when to let off!

[Turquine]

Sorry to hear that, hope you recover with no lasting ill effects. It's easy to get carried away on bikes like that and forget what they can do. As I mentioned, I've never personally ridden the KX 500. Some of my friends have, and I've read the tests on it over the years. The CR 500 Hondas I've ridden were the first two. My friend had the air-cooled .'84 model, and his brother, later on, bought the '85 which was the first water-cooled model they made. The '84 had a tiny bit more max power but the '85 had more torque and a broader powerband, with a scarier hit at the midrange that would knock your socks off. The '85 was quicker overall, of those two, not sure how it would compare to later models  but I'm told they mellowed it a bit for '86 or '87, can't remember. I almost bought the '85 CR 500, but couldn't quite swing the financing and ended up buying an '82 Yamaha IT 465 enduro that was still sitting on the showroom floor. In low traction situations, it could actually pull away from the CRs even though way down on horespower in comparison. On pavement or in good traction though, forget it. That IT though, had power everywhere and was super smooth. Even so, I'd get over my head and nearly got hurt bad a number of times by being too complacent. I'd have to say though that the scariest bike I ever rode was my '74 Yamaha SC 500. It didn't have as much power as the other bikes mentioned above, but it "felt" like it had a lot more. Explosive and with that old and terrible frame and suspension, I don't know how I survived on it. Sure was fun though :-) You gotta keep your focus on a big bore 2stroke or they will bite and bite hard, lol. Anyhow, hope you are back in the saddle again soon. Take it easy