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500 twostroke vs 500+ fourstroke?

Love my kX5. Loved it in the dirt too. Now it's got a new life as a snow bike. Still dialing in the 40mm Smarty. Been getting hot quite a bit unless it's deep pow. We'll see if fueling fixes the overheating issues. Otherwise I'll set up a heat exchanger and delete a radiator.
Only ever ridden one 4 strkr on snow. 570 kitted ktm. We switched bikes. When we switched back we both said "totally different bikes". Not that one was better than the other.
 
Vagisil may help with the vibrations? dont really notice it on my KX500AF anymore. i think its something you just get used too?

If you want a kick and go bike, stay 4 stroke. if you want to keep up with sleds and done mind a little tinkering, a 500 2 stroke is the way to go.

all the problems are pretty easy to solve:

-carb ice - use coolant to heat it. lots of ideas on here how to do that

-jetting - intellajet, smartcarbs, ect. no big deal

-starting - decomp valve and a primer

-water temp - i've settled on a KTM T-stat on one rad and the other open all the time. works very well. i like to be around 90F. the trail up is the only time mine gets too warm. If i had a ligher kit that i could hammer though the whoops, i bet i could keep enough air going over my rads...hmm.

Really, maintaining the sled/ski attachments have been the largest part of my maintenance. i would say 75% on the TS parts, 25% on the 500AF
 
Awesome, Thanks for the advice. 2 stroke vibes don't bother me. I have just purchased a 07 crf250r with a dead engine for a conversion! I've ordered the engine mount kit from CP500 they were very helpful over the phone. I have a line on 2 engines right now, one stock and one has a long rod kit, but no deal made yet. I want to make this engine more of a torque engine. Has anyone tried Nitrous on a 500? :light: I most likely won't be on the snow this year except on my Pro Turbo. I want to do this right. But have full intentions of being ready for next fall!
I wonder if I could put a bike front end on my R1 Raptor chassis, and TS that? Joking of course, or am I!? 2 skis up front and a TS in the rear for ditch banging has been a thought.
 
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nitrous works good. got it on mine. NPP made me a nice setup where it clamps to my muffler so it warms it a bit.

Start a gear taller than you need, when it lugs just press the button. good for longer runs. not so good for technical on/off throttle situations obviously. i dont use it much but its a nice option to have when you feel lazy.

another benefit of it is that when you dump your bike over, you dont loose as much fuel as the vent lines go upwards not down to atmosphere.
 
I've done a ton of research. There's a few options of chassis's to use. I talked to some builders, These are sought after. The only downfall is you have to remove the engine to do a top end. Super light and steps ahead of a 500 frame. You can still get a bigger tank for them. I'm going to build it exclusively for for the snow! I'll not convert it back to a bike.
 
Ok, I have another little question since i've been away from bikes for years. What carb system is better for a 500? smartcarb, Pulse, or good old carb? Also where do I find info on Pulse? Just looking for valid opinions before building an engine.
 
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The CRF250 frame is the worst out of all the CR250 and CRF250/450 frames in AF mode. They are "small and a pain in the ***" as one of my very good AF builder friends says. If it was me id do a nice blown up 2013/2014 KTM 450 SXF chromo frame LOL. That orange is Sweeeeeet LOL ! The AF's vibrate much more than the steel frame. Maybe a chromoly frame will be the happy medium !
 
88 cr500, on dirt the vibrations are surprisingly mellow. Have ridden other 500s that were really bad, including an 85 that vibrated the fmf silencer apart.

Haven't seen mention of turbo 4 strokes in this comparison thread.
 
Weird about the vibrations, my 88 cr500 didn't vibrate much either. I didn't bring up the turbo option. I have 2 turbo sleds already, an old school rx-1 and a polaris pro turbo. I'm looking for low budget fun! I don't want to put millions into a snow bike until I ride one a while and see if I love it. Though there may be one in the future, Maybe I'll figure out how to turbo a CR500. ;)
 
Now that is just crazy talk. But then I googled turbo two stroke, and apparently you aren't the only one.

I'm looking for a way to get into the sport as well at a reasonable price, yet still be satisfied with the end result. my 88 cr500 is just rusting away right now, I should use it, then I don't have to mess with my 450's set up for dirt.
 
i have owned 3 cr500s and it does not compare to my 575 husky tc , my 500's would eat it up , its a know fact , proven that 4 stroke any thing needs to make 2 time the CC's too keep up with a 2 stroke thats why i was running in a 450F class with my 250 thats why any thing 250 Four stroke feels slow bc it dosnt make the power a stroke makes , the 1st time i ever rode a brand new monster kx250f the kid is telling me how fast it is and hold on , Man that thing was slow ! but my lap times where faster bc of the torque and how the power was displaced evenly through out the power band !!! , 2 strokes were a dyeing breed in motocross only because of the epa scams and parts companies make more off 4 strokes but they are coming back and coming back fuel injected , the new cr250r for 2015-2016 is fuel injected and 10 times faster and the power curve i hear is dum sick!!!!
 
A turbo 450, even a poorly tuned turbo 450 will stomp a KX500 or CR500 on the snow (I ride a big bore, ported KX500). Until you ride one, you have no clue.
 
Hey everyone. Just wanted to send a thanks out for all your input and opinions. I'm a 2 stroke guy. It'll be a 2000 CR500. Ported. Fatty pipe. Pulsed. I have 2 chassis choices. But am undecided so far.
Thanks again!
 
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