kx 500 /84

[090]

That price is unbelievable. Especially when people generally aren't buying at the moment. I would expect it to be sitting on that sort of money as a restored bike with 40 minutes to go.
Gee you sure know how to talk a bike up there got no buddy. Seems to be any bike you own though!!!!

[E74]

Hey Bahnsy, I have a '84 CR500 very close to completion, it will be stunning when its finnished a couple of weeks into the new year,


I will swap you it for you know what....

[paul]

another secret bike mmmm     lol what is it  i wonder 

[holeshot buddy]

well they cant be that bad they won the aussie championship
back then against all those red ones

e74 i am sorry to hear that  
if i had a cr500 i would swap it too

[paul]

 

[LWC82PE]

looks like its ( ebay one) been used as enduro bike as its got a taillight

i think after this we can all realize these KX's are reallly valuable and sought after now

another nice one Paul. the modern hand guards spoil it for me though

[Maico31]

That 500 is real nice Paul. What are the forks from, they look like modern conventionals with a nitrite coating and bigger than 43mm? Looks like it has billet clamps too.

[paul]

dont know anything about it john ,that bike took my eye at one off the viper meetings ,its surely nice

[VMX247]

Looks like the yellow one had more fun 

[Maico31]

It's cool.. Keen to get mine finished now.

[bigk]

I think the forks in that KX500 are 50mm WP Magnums from a mid 90's KTM or Husaberg.
Cheers,
K

[BAHNZY]

Bigger than 43mm? – Yep
Billet clamps – Correct
50mm WP Magnums from a mid 90's KTM or Husaberg - Nope
50 WP Extremes – Nope

"Looks like the yellow one had more fun"
Not even close. It lunched itself on the first lap of the first race. Spent more time cleaning it than riding it.

I have ridden the RM & YZ 465 the YZ 490 and the 83 KX500, and (in my opinion) the KX is way behind those bikes.
The rear suspension is the let down and Kawasaki must have been well aware of it. The 84 rear suspension, whilst it looks the same as the 83, is completely different. If my memory serves my correct, none of the parts are interchangeable. The articles that I have read thus far indicate that the 83 was shocker and Kawasaki reacted very quickly to re-engineer the bike. For 1984 a new frame was introduced with extra strengthening spars in the frame, a new rocker ratio and swing arm and a revised shock absorber. If you have a look at any of the bikes that Trevor Williams rode, you will note a shock absorber like no other with a remote reservoir the size of a muffler mounted to the sub frame on the opposite side of the exhaust.

Whilst they went someway to addressing the issue in 1985 where they threw the whole design out the window and came out with the new linkage system, it was still no better, in fact a quote from back in the day said “The fork performance was okay on this bike. They were still a tad harsh. The rear suspension left lots to be desired. Even with all the spiffy new "technological" gadgetry, no amount of rear shock adjusting would get the rear to work properly. Thanks to the totally abominable rear shock that defied adjustment, the handling was confused”    

All that aside, the 83 KX500 could handle worse than a postie bike and I couldn’t care less. The bike has got a personality that I feel the others don’t have.

[holeshot buddy]

funnily enough all the rear suspensions
back then except rm
were pox
yz490 cr500 were on a par with the kx
i remember trevor williams trying ohlins and white  power on the bikes
but found standard shock worked better
i raced back then on these bikes
and like all the models you had to set them up
also there was not a lot of guys racing kx500s
back then it was when mr mx went 250 :'(
so these bikes were just kept for aussie title meets
in standard trim the motors were the quickest no contest
i also raced a 85 kx500 these were a great bike
like night and day over air cooled i still have one
in my shed its the quickest out of all my 500s
and yes the 83 and 84 are a cool bike and it doesnt really matter
but remember the other models were not much better

[Husky500evo]

Is this some kind of quiz on what the forks are on the '84 KX500 ? My guess is a set of (48mm?) conventionals off a ('97?) Suzuki RM , with titanium nitride treated tubes. I think Suzuki went back to conventionals just for one year & they were supposed to be pretty good . I bought a new KX500 in '83 & found it to be a difficult bike to ride. Lots of power , but it pinged like a bastard . Nice bike to look at though .

[Maico31]

They look a bit like Ohlins conventional forks or late 90's RM Suzuki.