Topic: Terry's "Big Red" Honda XR500RE, back from the darkness.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Scott, yes it does, but I suspect that its in need of adjustment, because unless I pull up the lever on the bars, nothing happens? I should do some more googling, I guess.

[scottly]

My friend Greg had one of those thumpers, and it always made a loud ticking noise when started cold. I always suspected it had something to do with the compression release adjustment??

[754]

 Its the ignition type, I been told..
 The XL 350 and 250 are easy to start, and I been told its ignition..

[Tracksnblades1]

Terry,
Good to hear that Hoon reference. The CR500 Riders borrow that down under term at times. Good to see the big 500 out of the bin.
    As I read your starting woes, I remembered a buddies BSA 500 Victor. I tried to kick it over once without using decompression lever. The best way to express the experience, " I thought someone put a concrete block under kick start lever. Absolutely no way to kick it over with out breaking lever off. Good torque on that beast, but couldn't get use to the reversed foot controls.
    While I'm not sure whether the Cr500 starting procedure, it is a procedure, will work on your big XR500 4stroke, I'll share it anyway.
Current CR500R staring procedure (cold).
1. Turn fuel on, lean bike towards you until fuel runs out carb overflow hose(s).
2.  Mount bike, slow kick, very slow, 3 times with choke (enrichment circuit on PWK).
     (Most of the time you'll hear a small toot out of expansion chamber).
3.  Slowly bring up to beginning of compression.
4.  Reposition kicker to top for full kick stroke.
5. Kick the big *%#+* like you own it without reservation.
6.  Almost always running at this step, take choke off when idle is to high.
Other techniques have been know to wear out older guys before they get to ride. I know this for a fact.

Hot starting is pretty much get a full stroke on the kicker and go roto-tillering.

SB41 mentioned flat slide Mikunis. The CR500R lords swear by keihin 39 PWK air striker carbs, while cussing the Mikuni variants. Our Cr250s and CR125s have factory Mikuni flat slide variants. I equally like the Mikunis and don't experience the jetting problem complaints of a lot of others. They are very responsive, especially at low throttle transitions.

Safe travels while " hooning " the big XR5.

😎

[Terry in Australia]

My friend Greg had one of those thumpers, and it always made a loud ticking noise when started cold. I always suspected it had something to do with the compression release adjustment??

I reckon you're on the money Scott, mine still sounds like it's got a loose rocker, it does get a little quieter when warmed up, but doesn't go away completely. I was relieved when I heard the one in the vid was just as rattley.

[scottly]

Check if the comp. release lever on the cam cover is moving when the motor is running. The lever rotates a cam, which contacts the exhaust rocker and keeps the exhaust valves from closing, at least on the '82 XR version.

[Terry in Australia]

Check if the comp. release lever on the cam cover is moving when the motor is running. The lever rotates a cam, which contacts the exhaust rocker and keeps the exhaust valves from closing, at least on the '82 XR version.

Thanks mate, I will.

[Terry in Australia]

Terry,
Good to hear that Hoon reference. The CR500 Riders borrow that down under term at times. Good to see the big 500 out of the bin.
    As I read your starting woes, I remembered a buddies BSA 500 Victor. I tried to kick it over once without using decompression lever. The best way to express the experience, " I thought someone put a concrete block under kick start lever. Absolutely no way to kick it over with out breaking lever off. Good torque on that beast, but couldn't get use to the reversed foot controls.
    While I'm not sure whether the Cr500 starting procedure, it is a procedure, will work on your big XR500 4stroke, I'll share it anyway.
Current CR500R staring procedure (cold).
1. Turn fuel on, lean bike towards you until fuel runs out carb overflow hose(s).
2.  Mount bike, slow kick, very slow, 3 times with choke (enrichment circuit on PWK).
     (Most of the time you'll hear a small toot out of expansion chamber).
3.  Slowly bring up to beginning of compression.
4.  Reposition kicker to top for full kick stroke.
5. Kick the big *%#+* like you own it without reservation.
6.  Almost always running at this step, take choke off when idle is to high.
Other techniques have been know to wear out older guys before they get to ride. I know this for a fact.

Hot starting is pretty much get a full stroke on the kicker and go roto-tillering.

SB41 mentioned flat slide Mikunis. The CR500R lords swear by keihin 39 PWK air striker carbs, while cussing the Mikuni variants. Our Cr250s and CR125s have factory Mikuni flat slide variants. I equally like the Mikunis and don't experience the jetting problem complaints of a lot of others. They are very responsive, especially at low throttle transitions.

Safe travels while " hooning " the big XR5.

😎

Thanks mate, I'd love to have a CR500, they're awfully expensive here, but such a fun bike, I still kick myself for turning down a deal on a TM400 Suzuki back in the day, that thing was a weapon and a half!

[Terry in Australia]

Its the ignition type, I been told..
 The XL 350 and 250 are easy to start, and I been told its ignition..

Thanks Frank, I haven't heard anything bad about the ignitions on the "Thumper" forums, I still think it's just a technique issue as I don't remember it being a big problem when I last rode it in 2015? I think I'm just missing some muscle!

[jgger]

If you are havi g trouble jumping on the kick lever, it might be due to the fact that you have become half the man you were when it was last ridden.

Put some rocks in your pockets. That should do it.😁

[Terry in Australia]

If you are havi g trouble jumping on the kick lever, it might be due to the fact that you have become half the man you were when it was last ridden.

Put some rocks in your pockets. That should do it.😁

Ha ha, I tried that mate, but my pants fell down?

[Terry in Australia]

Well it's Saturday morning here in the land of Oz, and I'm planning my ride. That sounds like I'm actually planning the route, but in reality I've just decided to go for a ride, and I'll let the road take me as I usually do, but I'll try to steer away from my usual routes, and find some dirt roads less travelled. Nothing too challenging mind you, I may have started out on dirt bikes 50 years ago, but it's been a long time since I was completely confident going over jumps or creek crossings, I've had it too easy, for too long.

The bike would be fine in much more demanding conditions than I'm going to try today, interestingly it's not much heavier than the latest big dirt weapon that is so popular in Oz, the Yamaha WR450. The Yamaha's wet weight of 119 Kg is not much less than Big Red's dry weight of 118 Kg, even if you add another 14 Kg for oil and a full tank of fuel, it still weighs over 20 Kg less than I did 6 months ago! I guess the good thing is that it'd be easier to pick the bike up, than pick myself up had I dropped it back then.

Getting my leg over the seat is a big effort though, I'm not keen on standing on the left footpeg and swinging my right leg over the seat due to the angle that the bike leans on the side stand, so it takes a concerted effort to swing my leg over the 950mm (38 inch) high seat. I might have to take up martial arts again (or perhaps ballet) so I can kick my leg that high?

Terry's XR500RE 21 Feb 2019 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

As sacreligious as it might sound, I have this nagging thought of building a sweet single cylinder road bike, like the Royal Enfield 535 Continental GT. RE have stopped making them now the 650 is out, but there's something about riding a big single that I really enjoy, my old Yamaha XT500 was a great bike on the road, in a lot of ways it was better on the road than off. I rode mine from Melbourne to Bathurst (1000 mile round trip) in 1985 for the Easter Motorcycle TT, and had great fun racing my mate Pete on his Motoguzzi 850. I certainly wasn't shamed by larger capacity road bikes on that windy road, and the pot holes that were throwing bigger road bikes off line didn't make any difference to the big yam, it just floated over them. OK, time for "Brunch", then off I go! (if I can get it to start..........)

Terry's breakfast banjo by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[Tintop]

Fun read Terry, my 1st bike was a Maico single.  Always love the torque of a big single.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Brian, it really is a lot of fun! OK, so I put on some jeans and my big boots, and was happy that it only took 5 or 6 kicks for it to burst into life. I rode it over to the local Caltex station and filled it up with 91 RON. It took another 4 or 5 kicks to fire it up again which annoyed me a bit as usually when it's warm it'll fire right up, but I thought about that for a moment, the fuel in the tank consisted of maybe 3 litres of one or two month old 98 RON out of my K2 and another 2 litres of 3.5 year old fuel that was on the other side of the tank's "hump" that stayed in the tank when I replaced the petcock, so possibly not the best fuel for easy starting. I'll see how well it starts again tomorrow now that it's got another 9 litres of fresh fuel in it.

Anyhoo, out on the road again, the big thumper was a most pleasant ride. I did just shy of 100 miles on a mixture of sealed and dirt roads, and had a ball. There was lots of dead fauna on the side of the road, mostly Kangaroos and Wombats, so I was extra careful that I didn't plow into an errant animal, although I did take it up to the "Ton" once or twice.

The speedo is just about stuffed though, once it goes over 100 Kph (60 MPH) the needle bounces all over the place, and one of the little screws that holds the speedo face plate down has unscrewed itself and it bounces around like a pinball. Quite entertaining, but probably not so good. I better see if there's a new one to be had on Ebay. Also there's a whining noise coming from the front end that's only really noticeable at slow speed, but I better check it out, it could be the speedo cable, or it could be a wheel bearing, so best I take a look, as everyone knows, "Safety" is my middle name!

Big Red ride 23 Feb 2019 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

 

[Terry in Australia]

Well, after a little soul searching, I've put Big Red on Ebay. As lovely as it is, I've got a heap of lovely bikes and I need to make room for Tim's new Royal Enfield 650 Continental GT, plus I'd like to move my BMW K100RS over to get it running again, and I have no room here. Heck, if I sell it, I might have enough for a down payment on a new Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor........

Terry's perfect Saturday 16 Feb 2019 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
 

[ekpent]

  Sounds like a good decision Terry and new is always nice !

[Terry in Australia]

  Sounds like a good decision Terry and new is always nice !

Thanks Eric, if the big bugger had an electric starter I'd keep it as it'd be a great commuter, but without an "electric leg", it would be a bugger to start on a chilly morning at 5am when I leave for work, and if I stall it in peak hour traffic, it'd be a PITA.

There was immediate interest on Ebay, I started at $1500 (AUD, about $1100 USD) and after 4 bids it's up to $1725. (1220 USD) It went quiet after that, but I'm hoping that with a week still to go, there'll be another flurry of bids near the end and I'll at least get back what it owes me.

I might have to drag a couple more bikes out of the garage to put on Ebay to get a little closer to a shiny new Royal Enfield Interceptor, but that's ok, I'll need to make some space for it anyway.........

Terry's perfect Saturday 16 Feb 2019 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[ken65]

Just tracked your ebay listing down for a squizz. Hope you get more than your chasing.
Nice looking motor too.

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Ken, thanks mate, it's a nice bike so someone will love it, but I want something with a starter button so I can just jump on and go. Hmmnnn, there's a 2006 VTR1000F "Streetfighter" project in my garage that I never quite finished, should I sell it, or use it as a daily commuter? Decisions, decisions.......

Terry's VTR1000F 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[MoMo]

^^^  Doesn't look as though it would be the most comfortable daily commuter bike, Terry....Larry

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Larry, yeah, I bought the high bar conversion kit from Germany so that's OK, and I found a nice Corbin seat for it, but the pegs are very high, with not much hope of lowering them to anywhere near comfortable for my long legs. I think I'll pull it of the garage tomorrow, fire it up and take it for a ride, that'll help me decide which way I want to go.....  

[ken65]

I'm going thru a comfort/ease of riding thingo myself.
This time last year i sold my xs1b and bonneville. Both kick start bikes which
sometimes injured me while starting.   Only a couple of weeks ago i swapped a rd350lc for a nice bandit and a bit of cash my way.
Just got back from a 20 minute ride on my 86 slabbie.
Its a beautifull bike. Smoothest gearbox of any bike ive ever owned. Everything works perfectly. Goes like a cut snake.
After 10 minutes on it ive earn't a beer or 10. Takes me 5 minutes to remember where the foot pegs are , they're that high.
I'm just to old and fat for it.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah Ken, I know the feeling, it's disappointing, but I'll be 60 next year, so no shame in moving on to something a bit easier to start, as long as we're still getting the wind in our hair and the bugs in our teeth. I remember riding a first model GSXR750 back in the early 90's, an army mate had ridden it down from Brisbane and was begging me to swap my BMW K100RT to ride back. As much as he was a nice bloke, there was no way I was gonna be in that, I'd ridden the big BM to Canungra for a course a few months prior and absolutely loved it, but after riding his Suzy for 10 minutes I just wanted to give it back.

My RC51 is much the same, I've owned it 2 years and ridden it twice. Like most of my bikes it's not minty, it's got some age patina, some little dings on one part of the tank, and around $5K USD of aftermarket "Go Fast" gear, so while it is a weapon in the corners, is at the lower end of the value scale, even though they're becoming quite collectable. I really like just looking at it, Honda did a great job when they made it, so I can't decide whether I want to keep it or move it on, even though I'm sure a shiny new Royal Enfield 650 would be ridden more often? Anyway, the good news is the bidding on Big Red has hit $2K ($1400 USD) so I'm getting nearer to at least getting my money back. Sweet..........  

Shed stuff by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[ken65]

Ha , I just went through my watch list  on ebay.   2 biggens in on ya red bad boy .
I know where ya coming from as far as just looking at a bike  for the pure bliss i get from looking , cleaning and riding it  half a dozen times a year.

[Terry in Australia]

Did you ever ride the 1100 Slabbie Ken? I rode on in 1989 and quite liked it, it had a lovely engine, I think the early Bandits had the same (but detuned) engines?