just about at the bottom of the thread. one guy stuffs a cr500 motor in a kx500 chassis. still asking my self why, but never the less thats his decision. then some knuckle head chimes in and says the kx500 is better than a cr500 motor! where do these people come from?? . theres alot of cool people on that site, but a ton more idiots. Pstofers, rpetersen, sloams and all the hillclimbers, AP, freemer, terence and theres alot more cool people. then you get these rif raf monkeys like this on there
now a cr500 motor in a kx500 chassis is just plain stupid.
now, the kx500 motors are more moder by design and have quite a bit more power potential, and in that respect, I guess you could call them superior, but I head the clutch and trans can't keep up.
the cr500 will always be the best because of how rock solid reliable and damn powerful it is, its all about balance and the kx is like a fast in a strait line kinda bike.
'09 kx450f 4-Poke
Gen-4 trail bike --SOLD--
Gen-3 badass trail/mx bike --SOLD--
Gen-1 built dunes bike --SOLD--
'05 klx110 --SOLD--
'95 pw80
plus longer rod and plated AL bore, they are much more up to the times with that design. Honda made minor changed to the 1985 design and thats what we still have today. I have and '86 motor in my af and the only diff between that and a '01 is the electronics and rod length. Too bad the 500s never got the attention the 250s got. I was looking at the jug on the yz250 I'm working on and it got me thinking about the cr500. like it had a similar intake setup, but the exhaust had extra ports above the transfers controlled by the power valve and the powervalve also lowered the exhaust port at low rpms. Got me thinking about how hard it would be to make one for the 500.....
'09 kx450f 4-Poke
Gen-4 trail bike --SOLD--
Gen-3 badass trail/mx bike --SOLD--
Gen-1 built dunes bike --SOLD--
'05 klx110 --SOLD--
'95 pw80
I ride with guys who won't own anything else. The KX is a great machine, the powervalve makes it one of the best trail bikes ever made. But, I've also seen the downside as well. Take your pick, I spose.
But remember......................................
You must have big balls to ride a 500cc 2 stroke dirtbike
Because all the guys riding the latest and greatest wouldn't dare
Kalkaska, the inbred capital of Michigan. ....a place you can walk into the greeting card aisle and find one that reads "Happy Birthday Uncle Dad"
being a previous kx500 owner myself (1994), i cant see how someone can come to the conclusion its a better bike- chassis, motor or other wise. but whatever. i got mine right off the showroom floor and only had it about 1 year and didnt experience any mechanical probs (but i wouldnt expect ANY bike to have probs in the first year, except the crf's lol) but i heard from more than 1 source that the tranny is less than sturdy. and the power valve didnt meen shit to me- you would think it would have a mind blowing explosion of power but no, the cr500 gets the job done very well with none of that valve and spring bullshit in there. i took it to the dunes in utah many times and once my freind with a '94 cr500 rode it. first thing he said was "damn you have to rev this thing alot higher than the honda to get it to go fast". the tranny ratio was junk too, on big dune hills it either over reved or if you shifted up it would bog. i guess thats why they used them for desert racing, maybe the tranny was better suited for that type of riding. opinions are opinions, i know i wouldnt piss on a kx500, let alone own another one
take this for what its worth, coming from TT members in a thread about cr500 vs kx500 . its a good read though . the worst thing they could say about the cr500= it has quit a bit of head shake at high speed
To me owning the cr500 is the only way to go. It is exactely like owning a 4x4 Toyota vs. a Nissan. The Yota(cr500) is WAY more popular, many more parts floating around, had a 4x4 system(engine in a cr) that alows much easier buildability and is still viable after many years. The aftermarket has ignored the Nissan(Kawi) while the Yota(cr500) has incredible support. Yes the Kawi is fast, other than that, forget about it, the cr500 is the best. How many KX500 exclusive websites are there? NONE! There is a reason why that is.
One of the motorcycle mags did a shootout between the new CR500 and the KX500 back in the late '80s or early '90s and they had major problems with the KX's transmission; one of the shifter forks on a brand new bike snapped during the shootout. They put the KX and CR shift forks up side by side; the KX shift fork was only out 1/2 as thick as the CR. They went on to trash the KX's handling compared to the CR in the same article. Wish I had saved that one; it was in MX Action, Dirt Rider, or Dirt Bike.
jbird_710 wrote:One of the motorcycle mags did a shootout between the new CR500 and the KX500 back in the late '80s or early '90s and they had major problems with the KX's transmission; one of the shifter forks on a brand new bike snapped during the shootout. They put the KX and CR shift forks up side by side; the KX shift fork was only out 1/2 as thick as the CR. They went on to trash the KX's handling compared to the CR in the same article. Wish I had saved that one; it was in MX Action, Dirt Rider, or Dirt Bike.
ive read a TON of 500cc shootout mags over the years. the kx500 never won any of them. only good thing i ever heard them say was its a stable bike at high speed (put a steering damper on a cr5 and its good for 100mph with no headshake). you can still find all the old shootout magazines online if you look.
The Kawis are notorious for eating shift forks, and the drum valves(sub exhaust ports) wear out. Side by side, to me, is a toss up. Like I say, both have their glitches, but I'll take less moving parts any day.
I ride with a guy that has a 2000, one of several KX500's in his stable. 6 yrs on a top end. Yup, 6 yrs, and this guy isn't Joe Slow(2 time FL state open champ). He hasn't had a problem with his trans, but then again, and let this be the best tech tip you ever got, he takes extremely good care of it. It's always got fresh trans oil every other ride, uses quality 2 cycle lube(Klotz R50), cleans the filter as soon as he gets done riding for the day. Sure, the piston was showing a bit of blow-by, but one thing was absent......The intake side crack that seems to always show up on CR's after running a piston for a couple seasons. The Kaw is superior in this matter, that bridged intake port giving the extra support on the intake side. Cr500's aren't the only bikes that get the crack. I seen the same crack on an earlier model CR250, and on this particular, the skirt broke off and blew thru the bottom of the cases. The first thing that stood out to me was the fact that the 250 has the same type of setup the 500 has, a big piston swallowing hole on the intake side.
We just got a new lathe, and I got the runout down to .0015. I got to look into makin up an aluminum sleeve with a bridged intake port and plated for the CR. I just wonder how much the bridged intake would effect performance
Kalkaska, the inbred capital of Michigan. ....a place you can walk into the greeting card aisle and find one that reads "Happy Birthday Uncle Dad"
doooood, can you imagine a cr500 with forged piston, forged rod, and forged crank. or imagine if it was all billet crank, rod, that would be the most indestructable motor ever concieved
. theres alot of cool people on that site, but a ton more idiots. Pstofers, rpetersen, sloams and all the hillclimbers, AP, freemer, terence and theres alot more cool people. then you get these rif raf monkeys like this on there 
