I do a bit of desert riding, and hill climbing. ridge riding technical stuff. I mean how far off is the geometry on the older 500s? I would think forks alone would be a huge deal over my conventional forks, dunno if I could get the rear suspension sufficient to ride it hard and fast, the sag was adjusted so the spring was all the way at the top, sat so low, wouldn't want to put money into a stiffer spring. but I temporarily moved the sag position till I get it back together and adjust it again.
You are probably right about a KTM conversion, but tougher to get a hold of. I picked up this bike 4 years ago or so with the intention of doing a conversion, but never had the chance to put effort into it, but realized it was a perfect use of it for a snow bike even without that extra work.
I'll keep looking at rolling chassis, haven't found anything yet, but after working on it a bit more forks just seem so easy. I could also pick up a roller in the future, I could possibly snag a 85 motor and rebuild it, its just sitting, and do that conversion, but then run out of garage space.
I basically bought my wife two four wheelers and a 50 for the family and she still wants a couch...
I like your build though, and would be perfectly happy with it that way for the snow, just want an SX kit, and a tunnel cooler. I'm probably going without lights and grip warmers for a while, add on for later. Did you install heavier clutch springs? this bike has a device on it that supposedly makes the clutch pull easier, it is pretty easy, but that was another thing I was considering, I think that the clutch has been replaced in the past.
