We have a number of 500 Huskies.
All very easy to start ,cold or hot when you have the knack.
Very reliable and very , very fast , particularly the XC-500, shit , now these things really haul arse , although its very hard to beat the ride a 83 model CR-500 gives.
Brakes , well most Open class EVO bikes struggle one way or another on the braking side of things