Long story short, bought the (1997) bike back recently after building it in 2000. The kids started riding GNCC and since we are there I started riding the 500 during adult practice. It’s beating me up, just raw power that is on or off. Stock suspension, steering is hard, it just wants to go straight. I am not looking to break records but is it worth pumping some money into it or just find a 450 and sell the 500? Thoughts and ideas welcomed.
500 Four Stroke Tech, what to do...
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Oldskool83
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Dont see how anyone ever took a 350 to a 500 fir warrior but stranger things were done. $1100 gets you a nice set of elkas built for weight and riding style. Stock shocks are not worth anything. I thru mine away and built a set of works for my slow old man trail quad.
Just because you'd buy a 450 wont bean your suspension will be better, any stock suspensions ATV sucks. I road a 08 kfx450r a year thru hell with built shocks. I let my $10k banshee go for it...kfx450r was a much better bike then banshee was in woods. Kfx450 was great machine but honestly too light and peaky power was just not great for woods riding I do. You stalled it and had to wait for the efi to recycle/ prime to start...i hated that. I went to a highly build kfx700 was better once set up. Never liked trx450r. Road one fir a day and gave up on it's stupid clutch. Went back to carbs and built a killer 65hp raptor 660. It did everything a 450r did plus more but had more low end then a fast revving 450r. I added alot of motor work so I had enought to push 14:1 compression. I set it up for hill climbing and ate hills other guys didnt think to ride. 3 years of crash boom bang I finally destroyed the frame in all directions. My kid was older and I figured I'd slow down to ride with a little kid so I bought this one owner 88 warrior with a tad of motor work. I built it over the spring from stock to this.
It's like sitting a pillow.
No matter what you ride I always spend the money on suspension 1st, what's the point if going fast then it beats you up and rides like dog fecal matter....
This is only my honest 30 years experience of riding hardcore woods
I have a pretty wild blaster also that's been secret for years...
Just because you'd buy a 450 wont bean your suspension will be better, any stock suspensions ATV sucks. I road a 08 kfx450r a year thru hell with built shocks. I let my $10k banshee go for it...kfx450r was a much better bike then banshee was in woods. Kfx450 was great machine but honestly too light and peaky power was just not great for woods riding I do. You stalled it and had to wait for the efi to recycle/ prime to start...i hated that. I went to a highly build kfx700 was better once set up. Never liked trx450r. Road one fir a day and gave up on it's stupid clutch. Went back to carbs and built a killer 65hp raptor 660. It did everything a 450r did plus more but had more low end then a fast revving 450r. I added alot of motor work so I had enought to push 14:1 compression. I set it up for hill climbing and ate hills other guys didnt think to ride. 3 years of crash boom bang I finally destroyed the frame in all directions. My kid was older and I figured I'd slow down to ride with a little kid so I bought this one owner 88 warrior with a tad of motor work. I built it over the spring from stock to this.
It's like sitting a pillow.
No matter what you ride I always spend the money on suspension 1st, what's the point if going fast then it beats you up and rides like dog fecal matter....
This is only my honest 30 years experience of riding hardcore woods
I have a pretty wild blaster also that's been secret for years...
Agreed but it was in 2000 or so, the bike had a bad crank so I picked it up cheap, I had a little money in my pocket and I had read a Dirtwheels magazine prior talking about the 500 kit from FST so I went with it.. haha
My perceived concern on this bike is the weight and design of the frame.. will I always be behind the curve? As you mentioned, good suspension is a must either way. I have considered a few options.. I should also mention I'm having issue finding a battery that will spin this motor over well, our starts are cold starts. I'm currently running a 250CCA Fire Power Lithium battery and I have to use a jump box when it's cold. Once it's warm (probably over volted) it starts Ok....
#1. Fresh top end on this one, new suspension, a arms and axle as well as new fenders (the ones on it are old yellow Maiers and they just don't look right)
#2 Find a 350 Raptor in good shape, swap this motor in, still do new suspension, A arms and axles but have "newer style bike with nice fenders"
#3 Find a YZF450R and just upgrade suspension (I have done little research on this bike or any 450 for that matter)
You bring up some food for thought, I just assumed a 450 was the sweet spot for cross country type riding but now that you mentioned it, maybe the 450s are better for MX and I should look at something with more torque. I do like the torque from the 500 on the few practices I did, I can leave it in a higher gear and let it pull me around the turn (I'm only 150lbs) but man my steering is work!! Talk about arm pump.
Your build looks very nice!!!
Oldskool83
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One thing is how wide your front end is and if your wheels are offset. Other reason they can suck to turn is when your rear end is wider then your front yet. I did read up and realizied micky dunlap was the FST guy...not saying hes a bad guy or good guy. Ive delt with him on 3wheeler websites on builds
Raptor 350 is really not much different then a warrior, so honestly i'd rather have the warrior to keep more mud off you. If your looking for same power your gonna need a raptor 700, but XC riding is and has shifted to utes...You'd be better off buying a KFX700 and running that in stock form (stock ehuast with (6) 1" holes in the air box...it will be more then you ever need and it turns on a dim
450's suck if your over 30 years old. Its just not fun to have high HP and try and ride tight stuff. I'm 36. Heres are a few of my old machines....they did everything.
jogaca suspension works did all my shock valving build and me buying them off thims for half the price of new elkas....you'd be best to spend $700 on shocks ride the thing a year and tweak it a bit.
stock kfx700 which was my wifes old machine....550lb machines shouldnt do this.
modified 65hp 660r...same hills....the torque always wins over HP.
Raptor 350 is really not much different then a warrior, so honestly i'd rather have the warrior to keep more mud off you. If your looking for same power your gonna need a raptor 700, but XC riding is and has shifted to utes...You'd be better off buying a KFX700 and running that in stock form (stock ehuast with (6) 1" holes in the air box...it will be more then you ever need and it turns on a dim
450's suck if your over 30 years old. Its just not fun to have high HP and try and ride tight stuff. I'm 36. Heres are a few of my old machines....they did everything.
jogaca suspension works did all my shock valving build and me buying them off thims for half the price of new elkas....you'd be best to spend $700 on shocks ride the thing a year and tweak it a bit.
stock kfx700 which was my wifes old machine....550lb machines shouldnt do this.
modified 65hp 660r...same hills....the torque always wins over HP.
Front end is stock, rear has spacers on each side.. I had spacers up front, pulled them off thinking that was the issue, no change. Yep, I think he quit making the 500 shortly after due to reliability issues and perhaps kept a 466 kit??
Hell, the maier fenders don't do much on the Warrior.. Not sure i'm up for trying to find some stockers in decent shape.
The ATV XC we do on the local series is a mixture of ute trails and Dirtbike trails. it's a nice mixture and i've always been an ATV guy over DB and no knocking on 40 with 3 kids can't afford a ute.. hahaha the damn little 2 stroke quads and DBs keep me busy enough and broke!
This is great info though. I need to reconsider my options now.
Hell, the maier fenders don't do much on the Warrior.. Not sure i'm up for trying to find some stockers in decent shape.
The ATV XC we do on the local series is a mixture of ute trails and Dirtbike trails. it's a nice mixture and i've always been an ATV guy over DB and no knocking on 40 with 3 kids can't afford a ute.. hahaha the damn little 2 stroke quads and DBs keep me busy enough and broke!
This is great info though. I need to reconsider my options now.
Oldskool83
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All his kit was a kodiak 400 rod pistion and cylinder, over bored ported polished big carb prob 5 angle valve grind and decked head or fly cut cylinder base. I did all that on my 660r...used a stock pistion yet lol! The big overbores dont really do much vs stroke and high compression.
I only fly cut my warrior cylinder and built a muffler. It's never gonna be what my hill climber was. It's a sit back mess around trail quad. The wider the front of the frame the worse things turned...my banshee left my arms jacked after riding. Raptor kfx450 and kfx700 not at all. Tighter the frame rails better handling. Time to build a blaster!
I have sone wild crap done to mine that will become my daughters when she can handle that. I left motor 100% stock for her.
I only fly cut my warrior cylinder and built a muffler. It's never gonna be what my hill climber was. It's a sit back mess around trail quad. The wider the front of the frame the worse things turned...my banshee left my arms jacked after riding. Raptor kfx450 and kfx700 not at all. Tighter the frame rails better handling. Time to build a blaster!
I have sone wild crap done to mine that will become my daughters when she can handle that. I left motor 100% stock for her.
