Honda XL500? Help beginner
Mike
I am looking to buy a dual sport bike. A guy has a Honda XL500 for
sale. I think it is a 1984 model. He said he has never taken it
offroad and that he just had $600 worth of work done to it. Also it is
bored to 560 cc's. He said he had to have the electric choke fixed or
something like that. It is kick start only. I have not ridden it but
have seen him ride it and it looks and sounds good. I am 6'5" and
weigh 290. Is this bike big enough for me? I am a true beginner and
will ride it on the street a lot and a little on trails. Are these
bikes reliable because I see a ton of 400's and 650's but not too many
XL500's. Any help is appreciated! He is asking $1000 is this a fair
price? Thanks, Mike
Rowdy
>
> Hello,
> I am looking to buy a dual sport bike. A guy has a Honda XL500 for
> sale. I think it is a 1984 model. He said he has never taken it
Well, i started riding motorcycles on a '84 XL500R! Had enormous fun
back then. But in those times i didn't put much stress on a bike, i'd
get +10000 miles out of a rear tire ;-)
<snip>
> bored to 560 cc's. He said he had to have the electric choke fixed or
Bored, hmm, this might be a reliability drawback when giving her the
hollies on a freeway. She ain't liquid cooled, you know. But then again
it will wheelie even easier!
> something like that. It is kick start only. I have not ridden it but
> have seen him ride it and it looks and sounds good. I am 6'5" and
> weigh 290. Is this bike big enough for me? I am a true beginner and
A guy 6'5" tall at 290 positively won't miss an electric start in his
whole life, hell you even could do without any means of decompression
aid!
> will ride it on the street a lot and a little on trails. Are these
> bikes reliable because I see a ton of 400's and 650's but not too many
The two major design faults of my XL500R that drove me mad were:
a) the lever inside the carburetor that actuates the slide did come
a little bit loose every two months, giving you random idle speed
between 900 and 2200 rpms at the traffic light, merely annoying as
long as she keeps running. No glue, no spring washer did cure that.
b) mine had a cable actuated dual cam DRUM BRAKE at the front! (yikes)
The very first time one applied it, the wheel would almost lock.
As soon as the overnight rust was gone you'd get mediocre braking
power, at least for a 290 pounds guy. However, no way you'd get
reliable braking when going down some winding pass road requiring
more that 3 braking maneuvers!! (dangerous fading, great right hand
muscle trainer!)
I guess those two aspects made me wary of Honda's X???? series bikes.
> XL500's. Any help is appreciated! He is asking $1000 is this a fair
> price?
No idea, but to me it sounds very high, compared to the other U.S.
prices i've heard of, here at RMD. I'm very reluctant when it comes
to buying tuned machines. Especially when someone pepps up the engine
and neglects the already bad brakes!
A true beginner huh? What i would do:
-) see if you can start it, let the guy teach you the trick.
-) ride it yourself, for at *least* 1 hour!!!!!!!
-) try to detect clutch slippage, hard shifting, strange noises,
oil appearing near the cylinder head or engine case seals
-) check the wheel bearings
-) if you like it, buy it for half his asking
YMMV
Rowdy
WR400F (XL500R'84,XT600'86,TT600'89,KLX650R'93)
JCM
Mike <jack...@calwest.net> wrote in message
news:37e2ef1d...@news.thegrid.net...
> Hello,
> I am looking to buy a dual sport bike. A guy has a Honda XL500 for
> sale. I think it is a 1984 model. He said he has never taken it
> have seen him ride it and it looks and sounds good. I am 6'5" and
> weigh 290. Is this bike big enough for me? I am a true beginner and
> bikes reliable because I see a ton of 400's and 650's but not too many
SX Fans
I dont beleive it either! LOL.
I think you should have a mechanic check it out befor you buy it, realy even if
you have to pay a mechanic to do it.
I dont know prices so just check out cycle trader online if you want to compare
prices.
At 290LB's the shock & linkage should be checked also.
I have had very bad luck with all my used bikes so I am skepticle.
If it is in good shape, you will probly be happy with it.
Mike Smith
Mike wrote in message <37e2ef1d...@news.thegrid.net>...
>Hello,
> I am looking to buy a dual sport bike. A guy has a Honda XL500 for
>sale. I think it is a 1984 model. He said he has never taken it
>offroad and that he just had $600 worth of work done to it. Also it is
>bored to 560 cc's. He said he had to have the electric choke fixed or
>something like that. It is kick start only. I have not ridden it but
>have seen him ride it and it looks and sounds good. I am 6'5" and
>weigh 290. Is this bike big enough for me? I am a true beginner and
>will ride it on the street a lot and a little on trails. Are these
>bikes reliable because I see a ton of 400's and 650's but not too many
>XL500's. Any help is appreciated! He is asking $1000 is this a fair
>price? Thanks, Mike
Those XL 500's were as solid and reliable as
bikes come, I had one until about 5 years ago and it was still running great
and I rode it mostly off road. They don't make them like that anymore.
$1000.00 is too much however.
jacobite
Rowdy wrote in message <37E3993A...@gmx.net>...
>
>b) mine had a cable actuated dual cam DRUM BRAKE at the front!
Then you didn't have an '84. The '84 had a disc front brake.