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174
Joined
12/19/2009
Location
Delaware, AR
US
Edited Date/Time
6/23/2014 9:08pm
Anyone racing a kx or cr 500 in mx? Ive always wanted one an wondered how they would do on a mx track
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I've been able to jump from bike to bike most of my life with no real problems, 125, 250f, 450, 250 two-stroke, whatever. It took me a year to learn to ride the 500 coming off a 450. I had a Service Honda CR500AF. It was very tricked out and set up to my liking. Hit like a ton of bricks. If I had it to do over again, I'd go huge on the flywheel.
The bikes are super fun. You can wait until the last minute to commit to a line or jump.......AFTER you get used to the delivery. I jumped nose high for about 3 months. Over jumping and underjumping were a big issue for me. The difference was about 2 degrees of throttle.
The bike is very physically demanding to ride fast on. Playing around is awesome, but when you get serious, it will wear out your upper body trying to hold on to the beast.
This was just my experience. I'd love to have another but the wallet protested on owning multiple bikes when one of them is a $12,000 machine. Nothing like the sound of a crisp 500 pulling hard on the track.
Men, sure.
Not sure if you caught it, but I'm the one who posted the 500 gopro thread.
http://www.vitalmx.com/forums/Moto-Related,20/Taming-the-Beast-cr500-go…
The steel frame and conventional forks means it is pretty forgiving to ride and a set of twinwalls keep the vibes down.
you have to flow round the track on a 500 and carry your speed using the tourque of the motor in the slow bits and firering it down the straits. I realy enjoy it and very rewarding when you get it right.
And the kids on 250f's hate it when you beat them.
The bike is not the killer some people think. It does out pull everything on the track when it has traction. I don't like the way this bike corners--this may have more to do with the way I fabricated the engine mounting than the fact that its a big bore 2-stroke. It corners better on the throttle with the back wheel sliding out a little, whereas every 450 I've ridden rolls around the corners and follows the front tire better. I put a flywheel weight on the CR250 ignition to try and improve traction, but this probably negatively affects cornering a little.
Bottom line: I love riding the bike and have a lot of satisfaction in riding something I built---but I've been on modern 450s, and I can definitely get around the track faster on them. Also, the 500 is an arm-pump generator if I get lazy and forget to hold on with my knees and keep my body weight forward. Obviously, sissy boys don't need a bike they can't kick start for themselves.
The are not as gnarly as the myths suggest. The power hits hard, but it doesn't really out-accelerate a good 450 - unless you were doing long drag races.
They turn like a schoolbus towing a boat, but they are very stable and you can hang it out more than you expect.
I'm an A rider. The 500 was scary to ride until I put modern footpegs and stiffer fork springs in. It actually jumps OK, but whipping/scrubbing is a terrible idea, the chassis just will not go back in line with all that crank inertia.
And it vibrates more than you can imagine.
For a decent rider they are really fun - as a novelty. They would never be better on anything but a very fast, wide open field track.
I should throw up a GoPro vid...
Pit Row
He raced a KX250 with a KX500 engine in our National series and finished 10th. He's a Vet now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_ZOQvXoRyc
I've got an AF now, and that motor in a newer chassis is pretty sweet, but if you buy it and find it a little "lacking" in the modernness dept, put a set of newer Twin Chamber Showas on it, and a subframe and air box off of a 93/96 CR250. Makes a huge difference in the ergos. Buy the bike, and if you don't like it, off it. You won't lose money unless you pay too much to begin with.
It's 2014 and if someone isn't clever enough to figure out how to quell the vibration in a 500…………they must not have great balance. ;-)
I will say I personally am a lot faster on my 450, everything about is better. This 500 has a 2001 500 shock with Showa twin chambers and flexx bars.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I8hAZAOJSNA
Good thing my wife surprized me by buying the first YZ400F coming to Iowa, in 1998.
It's been over 45-years riding mx, now. Glad I didn't quit!
P.S. It should be interesting to see what a 500 can do with steel frame and all the new tricks (oversize, PC suspensions, rekluse, etc)
Trick to riding them properly was to blitz the first couple of laps and pull a huge lead then get tired and torque around a gear or two high, while still traveling at a pretty good clip. I only raced one desert race on it but it was after a season of moto so those cats didn't stand a chance.
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