All the mags say the 500EXC is incredible. Amazing even. I see it more as a dirt bike with blinkers, than a small adventure bike. The problem is how comfy will it be after days or weeks of riding? The L fills a very special spot for me as the largest, comfiest bike that can ride single track easily. Anything bigger is a super pig and anything smaller is too strung-out, hyper, cramped etc. Also, it ain't gonna be an L when it comes to maintenance. You can have a Wattner level L for less money and they are way more rare and cool! Just depends on what you're shooting for. To connect trails or ride to OHV areas without a pick-up, hell yes! It's your machine. For multi day dirt biking adventuring?..not so sure.
500EXC IS amazing. If you ride tight fast whoopy stuff. I rode one in Colorado Springs. Just on, EFI, brakes like a slutty Christian, suspension like a fat chick.
I have the same ones on mine-it came to me that way. They don't bubble because the stickers are perforated. Only the edge has lifted a little isn't even enough to be trimmed. I've had the bike almost 3 years now and they didn't look new when I bought it.
one of my regular riding buds came home with this yesterday. fuel injected, plated from the factory. had 147 miles on it apparently hadn't seen dirt. used words like orgasmic after he rode it. i haven't ridden it yet, but can't wait.
I like the simple rear suspension set up Too. Good dealer support as well. But, would you want to do a SHOOTERDAVE style fifty state tour on one of these? Or even spend all day on that bike?
So as stated before the mechanic (me) and the cam are retarded So modded my timing gear to get about 7 degree of adjustment or more both ways +/- from zero, man is that steel HARD the carbide burrs in my die grinder worked great but a hand file or average drill bit will only scratch it. So several cam degreeing runs later I got this Intake 103.25 Exhaust 104.75 cam card Intake 104 Exhaust 105.5 Looks legit to me within 1.25 deg on the worst difference so time to tear it down for some more clay on the piston. There was no way in hell I was going to remove the cam sproket so devised a way of getting the cam and sproket out without removing the bolts (bit of a pita but worth it). re clay the piston and re assemble the top end rotate 360 cam degree and tear down again. What I found was not unexpected but not what I wanted either, the Exhaust valves now have about .150 clearance BUT the intakes are at bout zero zilch Nada :huh EDIT So not trusting myself I checked everything again cam timing and piston valve clearance the cam timing was spot on from the previous runs but the cay check showed .90 Intake and .105 Exhaust so i dd it all AGAIN sure as shit it came out with the same valve timing and the .105 Exhaust .90 intake... must of spun the motor backwards the first time I did the clay check sence indexing the cam. Thanks for the help guys! here is a pic of the cam sprocket
Ok Advice needed me and my kit for a 3 day trip weigh 330lbs I am thinking of upgrading the rear shock with a custom made 13.5 spring from Cannonracecraft Then the front springs from procycle - Race Tech Fork Springs - http://www.procycle.us/bikepages/xr650l.html Which strength must I take , .6 or .7 or .8 Regards
250lbs wet less fuel. So how light can a xrl be made... I wonder how much a 60hp CW engine done to a new XLR with a CRFX fork swap and a revalved shock would cost. All day? Sure. There are a bunch of different seats available. Was SHOOTERDAVE on a stock seat??? A fifty state tour would be a bit much. That tour on a XRL is too much for me also. You started this tangent..
I thought that might be the end result after setting the cam correctly. I have had the same issues when changing valve timing with a big cam and a high compression piston combo. It's all part of building a custom engine combo. I would probably have .110"-.120" removed so cam chain stretch isn't an issue, since it will cause retard the cam slightly.
I did mine with heavier springs only. (I'm 300) I HATE it. I'm going to send them to be re-valved over the winter and see if that helps. I want to say my shock is 12.5 and my forks are.68's. I will beat you into oblivion on rocks and gravel. I haven't even been riding my bike because it's so miserable.
Another stuipd question from me, sure you got the piston in correctly, front side of piston facing the front?
