Service Honda- 2013 KX500AF Build Project
- Thread starter mtn-doo
- Start date
Ive tried all 3. The FMF i felt was stronger. Ive also tried the 300XC with a FMF. Felt the same as my XCW. I think having the head cut with some porting would be a great step. I will be using MikeS at Cycleplayground or even possibly Adam Millar to do mine. The 300 loves a 38 or a 40 pilot jet. Makes it that much better. Mine was stock with a 35. Mine wont be a snowbike. Yet lol unless my 11 year old wants to snowbike !
M
mtn-doo
Well-known member
Good info, thanks. I have the "same" boy at home! My son Brian is eleven. He goes crazy when Dad leaves to go snowbiking. 
The 300XC will be ported and head work by Forward Motion / Millennium Tech, the 250SX cdi race map, and have a new APT Cast 38MM feeding it. It will be a snorter for sure! Ha... He will find it user friendly with a Recluse clutch and e-start. That will be a sweet pkg. Also a spare bike to take along to Dealer deom's for riders under 180lbs.
The 300XC will be ported and head work by Forward Motion / Millennium Tech, the 250SX cdi race map, and have a new APT Cast 38MM feeding it. It will be a snorter for sure! Ha... He will find it user friendly with a Recluse clutch and e-start. That will be a sweet pkg. Also a spare bike to take along to Dealer deom's for riders under 180lbs.
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R
relentless rider
Well-known member
Yep i weigh in at 162 with my boots on, I was born to ride on snow lol,
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So other than the KTM 300 being more available, is the AF Honda and AF kaw's flawed in some way? I asume the stator may be an issue but gloves have heaters, and with the new avid carb heaters seems like the AF build may be the ultimate Build?I sold my berg and found a new in crate 13 XC450 next season the plan will be to convert my KX to a 500?
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Power and kicker are the only concerns if you will. Power not really necessary unless you want grip warmers and HID lights. The kicker is a personal preference. If your bike is setup well and you have a decomp then no biggy really, unless you have a double hip replacement LOL. The 500 can't be beat for power imo.
M
mtn-doo
Well-known member
I agree. I will do it again. A "high end" 500. More rev's is better. A super-moto , High RPM Service 500 is pretty awesome. Now we have Carb heat, Smart Carbs, De-comp heads, Primer, etc. It is pretty much an easy "super snowbike".
I have never had heated grips. Heated gloves and an LED light in my pack. Electricity is not something to hold you back.
I have never had heated grips. Heated gloves and an LED light in my pack. Electricity is not something to hold you back.
T
thejean
Well-known member
And of course the price to buy one ($13k usd) plus the extra mods to make it more user-friendly. I agree it would be the absolute bomb to have but now cost-wise you're into 450F turbo territory and will still come up shy by 20HP compared to a turbo bike. I would also be curious to know what parts availability is like? I'm assuming you don't just pop down the street to the local dealer when you need something for these motors...
Hardly, i would never pay 13g for a 500. You can build a AF for half that if you dont mind getting your hands dirty. When u pay that SH price you are buying a brand new bike. Ive seen SH bikes for as low as 5000 bucks used. It really depends on how you build it and what frame you use.
Parts are easy to get for the CR. Most parts are still available and will be for quite some time. All engine parts can be bought straight from the dealer. If you have a AF then body parts etc are a little easier to source. Used parts are a bargain and are everywhere. The infamous Eline stator is the only part i have run across that is big big money. Its a collectors item because they dont make it anymore and is too expensive to make and it works very very well for 200 watts.
A turbo bike is in the 20g range. You could have a CR with kit for a lot less. Will it have as much HP ? Prob not. I have seen some CRs with more torque though than a turbo which is interesting to me.
The thing i dont like about the 4 stroke is when they blow up its a huge bill and hard to rebuild for most guys. Not sure if the majority of 4 strokes are meant to bounce off the rev limiter all day. The 2 stroke loves to be revved and is so simple in comparison. You can have a 500 motor stripped to the crank in 2 hours. Crank rebuild is a few hundred bucks and a piston and rod another few hundred bucks. You could do a complete rebuild for a grand easy if not cheaper if you know where to get your parts.
The only plus to a 4 stroke for most is electric start, most guys dont like to kick a bike. I dont mind yet but maybe one day i will ha ha
Nothing sounds as horny as a 2 stroke in the back country. The 4 stroke snowbike sound like a wet fart in a paper bag imo LOL
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H
Hbmtr
Well-known member
Guys ebay has frame conversion kits for 300-500$,with complete instructions on how to do the cr 500 moter transplant.crf 250 frames are easier to convert from what i have read.But the crf 450 frames are also doable.
If my 488 does scatter in the future this would be a fun project.
If my 488 does scatter in the future this would be a fun project.
M
mtn-doo
Well-known member
I have been asked about parts availability and KX500 info lately. I thought I would post some info for folks considering a powerful, inexpensive dedicated snowbike. The Honda info is everywhere but questions about the big KX can be answered here. Reading this gives me the bug again!
*****************************************************************
Dirt Bike Magazine
THE LIFE & TIMES OF THE KAWASAKI KX500
June 4, 2012
'A fuse looking for a light.’
‘Unrideable.’
‘Violent.’
Those are all quotes from the June 1983 issue of Dirt Bike. The subject? Kawasaki’s first KX500, a bike that was destined to become a legend in motocross and desert racing. It was a humble beginning for one of the greatest dirt bikes in history. At the time, there were no 500cc motocrossers. Kawasaki was the first to go there since the notorious 501 Maico of the previous decade. But in the end, the KX would outlast all others of its kind, officially turning out the lights on the 500 two-stroke class in 2004.
USES FOR POWER
For over 20 years, it was generally accepted that if any bike made more power than a Kawasaki KX500, it was impractical. The KX was seen as the upper boundary of sanity. It might have been true. It was a bike for real men. Unfortunately, it seemed that real men were in short supply, and the market gradually moved away from the KX500 and the other 500s that followed. When it finally was dropped from the Kawasaki line, it had been unchanged for more than 10 years, and its sales numbers were unimpressive. The question of cause and effect remains unanswered to this day. If the KX had moved with the times, would its era have lasted longer?
Interestingly enough, the KX500 remains competitive even now in one very specialized realm. It was, perhaps, the greatest desert racer of all time. Motocross might have been its intended mission, but it’s particular blend of strengths meshed perfectly with the needs of western off-road racers. The KX was all but unbeatable in the National Hare & Hound series as well as in Baja. Many top desert racers say they would still ride it to this day, if only they could.
The next year, Kawasaki gave the KX a feature that no other 500cc two-stroke had ever seen: a KIPS power valve.
1987: Updates came yearly in this period, as Kawasaki and Honda were locked in a battle for dominance of the class. All the others had fallen by then; Suzuki’s 500 was long gone, and Yamaha’s air-cooled YZ490 was still in the line, but rapidly becoming an antique. The Kawasaki got a new frame and the side-access airbox design was abandoned. The rear suspension was reconfigured, losing the big rocker arm on top.
1988: The KX500 got its last big redesign, becoming the bike we know and love. It got minor mechanical changes and cosmetic updates afterward, but the most significant event was the arrival of the upside-down fork in 1990. In 1992, the ignition and crank were changed as an unofficial acknowledgment that the KX was being used more for off-road riding than motocross. By the early ’90s, Honda had given up the horsepower chase, leaving the KX uncontested as the most powerful dirt bike made. There was a brief challenge from KTM in the 500 class, but the only years that proved formidable were 1991 and 1992. There was also a KTM 550DXC in that period that was a very good bike.
USED BIKES
Kawasaki KX500s are plentiful on the used-bike market, particularly in the Southwest. A quick survey on Craigslist shows prices between $500 and $2400. With a bike that was unchanged for this long, it’s all about condition, not vintage. Few of them were raced, although many appear unkept. Parts are readily available for anything that was manufactured after 1990.
One of the great things about used KX500s is that they are fairly indestructible. They could swallow dirt by the pound and keep running. The electrofusion-coated cylinder couldn’t be bored, but would wear for a long, long time. If it does get damaged, there are a number of companies like Millennium Technologies that can recoat a KX barrel.
At the height of the Team Green desert racing era, the most significant modification was frame reinforcement. The KX frame wasn’t nearly as indestructible as the engine. The pipe mount and footpeg mounts always got attention. Zip-Ty Racing still has a long list of KX500 parts and services available.
The fleet of motorcycles is so large that it’s somewhat eternal on trails in California and Arizona.
Hope this helps. Good luck and have fun!!!
*****************************************************************
Dirt Bike Magazine
THE LIFE & TIMES OF THE KAWASAKI KX500
June 4, 2012
'A fuse looking for a light.’
‘Unrideable.’
‘Violent.’
Those are all quotes from the June 1983 issue of Dirt Bike. The subject? Kawasaki’s first KX500, a bike that was destined to become a legend in motocross and desert racing. It was a humble beginning for one of the greatest dirt bikes in history. At the time, there were no 500cc motocrossers. Kawasaki was the first to go there since the notorious 501 Maico of the previous decade. But in the end, the KX would outlast all others of its kind, officially turning out the lights on the 500 two-stroke class in 2004.
USES FOR POWER
For over 20 years, it was generally accepted that if any bike made more power than a Kawasaki KX500, it was impractical. The KX was seen as the upper boundary of sanity. It might have been true. It was a bike for real men. Unfortunately, it seemed that real men were in short supply, and the market gradually moved away from the KX500 and the other 500s that followed. When it finally was dropped from the Kawasaki line, it had been unchanged for more than 10 years, and its sales numbers were unimpressive. The question of cause and effect remains unanswered to this day. If the KX had moved with the times, would its era have lasted longer?
Interestingly enough, the KX500 remains competitive even now in one very specialized realm. It was, perhaps, the greatest desert racer of all time. Motocross might have been its intended mission, but it’s particular blend of strengths meshed perfectly with the needs of western off-road racers. The KX was all but unbeatable in the National Hare & Hound series as well as in Baja. Many top desert racers say they would still ride it to this day, if only they could.
The next year, Kawasaki gave the KX a feature that no other 500cc two-stroke had ever seen: a KIPS power valve.
1987: Updates came yearly in this period, as Kawasaki and Honda were locked in a battle for dominance of the class. All the others had fallen by then; Suzuki’s 500 was long gone, and Yamaha’s air-cooled YZ490 was still in the line, but rapidly becoming an antique. The Kawasaki got a new frame and the side-access airbox design was abandoned. The rear suspension was reconfigured, losing the big rocker arm on top.
1988: The KX500 got its last big redesign, becoming the bike we know and love. It got minor mechanical changes and cosmetic updates afterward, but the most significant event was the arrival of the upside-down fork in 1990. In 1992, the ignition and crank were changed as an unofficial acknowledgment that the KX was being used more for off-road riding than motocross. By the early ’90s, Honda had given up the horsepower chase, leaving the KX uncontested as the most powerful dirt bike made. There was a brief challenge from KTM in the 500 class, but the only years that proved formidable were 1991 and 1992. There was also a KTM 550DXC in that period that was a very good bike.
USED BIKES
Kawasaki KX500s are plentiful on the used-bike market, particularly in the Southwest. A quick survey on Craigslist shows prices between $500 and $2400. With a bike that was unchanged for this long, it’s all about condition, not vintage. Few of them were raced, although many appear unkept. Parts are readily available for anything that was manufactured after 1990.
One of the great things about used KX500s is that they are fairly indestructible. They could swallow dirt by the pound and keep running. The electrofusion-coated cylinder couldn’t be bored, but would wear for a long, long time. If it does get damaged, there are a number of companies like Millennium Technologies that can recoat a KX barrel.
At the height of the Team Green desert racing era, the most significant modification was frame reinforcement. The KX frame wasn’t nearly as indestructible as the engine. The pipe mount and footpeg mounts always got attention. Zip-Ty Racing still has a long list of KX500 parts and services available.
The fleet of motorcycles is so large that it’s somewhat eternal on trails in California and Arizona.
Hope this helps. Good luck and have fun!!!
J
jskattum606
Well-known member
Here is another sweet conversion that has me thinking twice again!
http://motocrossactionmag.com/news/...kx500ktm-250sx-hybrid-two-stroke-project-bike
http://motocrossactionmag.com/news/...kx500ktm-250sx-hybrid-two-stroke-project-bike