1981 Honda XR500R

[rcerrie]

Brucifer, check out how this guy (fellow wild dog) revived his 1982 XR500R

http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=35075.0

[3uba296]

Originally Posted by rcerrie

Brucifer, check out how this guy revived his 1982 XR500R

http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=35075.0

[Limitless]

Hey Bruce, nice bike, I've just put a deposit down for what I think is an XR500R from 1984, looks like awesome old school fun!

It'll be my first dirt bike and I've recently moved to Cape Town so lots of playground for me!

I was wondering if anyone here knew the difference between the R and the RE? I remember reading the the R is lighter and a bit more powerful but is there a way to tell visually?

Looking forward to seeing how yours turns out, anything that I might want to look out for?

Here's a photo

Cheers

[brucifer]

Originally Posted by rcerrie

Brucifer, check out how this guy (fellow wild dog) revived his 1982 XR500R

http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=35075.0

Cool. Thanks for the link.

Originally Posted by Limitless

Hey Bruce, nice bike, I've just put a deposit down for what I think is an XR500R from 1984, looks like awesome old school fun!

It'll be my first dirt bike and I've recently moved to Cape Town so lots of playground for me!

I was wondering if anyone here knew the difference between the R and the RE? I remember reading the the R is lighter and a bit more powerful but is there a way to tell visually?

Looking forward to seeing how yours turns out, anything that I might want to look out for?

Here's a photo

Cheers

Congratulations on the XR5! Your pic didn't work so I'm assuming the '84 you're getting is the same as the '84s we got.
Your bike is a completely different design than my '81. Pretty much a better bike in every way. The RFVC engine of that vintage make a lot more power than my bike.
I really don't know of anything to look out for--a pretty solid bike as far as I know.

Ghost Mutant would be the one to ask. Hopefully he'll be around shortly.

[Ghost_Mutant]

Originally Posted by brucifer

Congratulations on the XR5! Your pic didn't work so I'm assuming the '84 you're getting is the same as the '84s we got.
Your bike is a completely different design than my '81. Pretty much a better bike in every way. The RFVC engine of that vintage make a lot more power than my bike.
I really don't know of anything to look out for--a pretty solid bike as far as I know.

Ghost Mutant would be the one to ask. Hopefully he'll be around shortly.

I see a pic in the post by Limitless. It looks like the 83/4 XR500R with some street legal equipment added.

The 83 is a 'D', and the 84 is a 'E'. I'm not sure which bikes Limitless wishes to compare, but I'll try and answer about differences between the 83 D and the 84 E.

The short answer is that the differences between the 83 and 84 XR500Rs are superficial. There is no weight savings or performance differences. They are basically the same.

Longer answer:
The 84 came from Honda with hand guards, which I don't have for my bike. Previous owners must have destroyed those long ago, along with the speedometers.

There is a difference in the carb boots between the 83 and 84. The 84 has the cross port, making the reed valve optional. The 83 must use the reed valve in the top of the head since it's carb boots don't have a cross linking port. Don't use the 83 boot on a newer dual carb RFVC (XL600 or XR600).

The carbs come setup slightly different between the 83 and the 84.

The swingarm stickers are different between the 83 and the 84 and the seat 'XR' logo is also different

One thing I do notice between my 83 as compared to my 84 is that the 84 is more refined. Parts fit better. Less manufacturing blemishes.

This makes sense since the 83 is the prototype year for the RFVC bikes. Honda did improve manufacturing over that first year of production.

Getting certain parts is difficult for these old machines, but I would guess that is also very true for the 82 and older XR500s. I had to hunt around to find a 1st oversize piston and ring set for my 84 which is on it's first overbore.

I already mentioned the scratches in my fork tubes, and that changing the fork bushings would be tough job for the home mechanic. I'm swapping to newer cartridge forks to solve this problem. This is pretty easy to do. 91/2 XR600 forks will swap directly. 93 and up forks require a front axle change as well.

I do see some references to an 85 model XR500R in other locations on the globe. So I wonder when the XR500 ended and then the XR600 started. That was 84/5 for the United States, but I'm not certain if that is also true for SA or Australia.

The text from a Cycle article on the 83 XR500R is here (note pic is an 84 with hand guards, 84 XR logo, 84 swingarm sticker):
http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/mod...500re%2083.htm

They say in the article that the 83 XR500 weighs 11 pounds less than the 82, but I'm not sure I believe that

[Mr Puffin]

Bruicifier, looks like you got yourself a mighty fine XR there

Originally Posted by rcerrie

Brucifer, check out how this guy (fellow wild dog) revived his 1982 XR500R

http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=35075.0

Cool Link, i think the wife would kill me if i brought a project into the house






Mr Puffin

[Ghost_Mutant]

They still come up for sale on occasion around here

I think the price is a little on the high side, however (but it does look original):
http://denver.craigslist.org/rvs/2180447658.html

[brucifer]

Originally Posted by Mr Puffin

Bruicifier, looks like you got yourself a mighty fine XR there







Cool Link, i think the wife would kill me if i brought a project into the house






Mr Puffin

Thanks Mr Puffin.

Originally Posted by Ghost_Mutant

They still come up for sale on occasion around here

I think the price is a little on the high side, however (but it does look original):
http://denver.craigslist.org/rvs/2180447658.html

Not bad, but I would agree the price is a bit steep. Don't think the front fender is original.

[brucifer]

Here's a Cycle Guide test of the '82 XR500R.

[whaleoilbeefhooked]

Love these bikes. I've got two '81 xl 500s that I bought about 6 years ago. The one that's street legal has been a reliable commuter for 20,000 kms. Bulletproof. Happy riding.

[brucifer]

Here's one for Ghost Mutant.

[Garthe]

I'm getting old...I think I remember that issue...

Great stuff. I just bought a 83 CR 480 R and I found the same kind of info on the bike aswell. You gotta love the guy who scans stuff like that...

[brucifer]

Hey Garthe! Yeah, I'm following your 480 build. A buddy I used to ride with back in the late '80s early '90s had one of those.
I have an '84 CR500 I'm gonna tidy up at some point.

[Ghost_Mutant]

I'm old enough to have read that article, but I'm sure I didn't when it was first printed. So thanks for posting it so I could read it for the first time.

It reminded me of watching motoworld back in the day when I would go over to a friends house (where he had cable TV). I think the motocross Honda rider at the time was named Bailey followed by Johnson if I recall correctly. That show, and this article, were mostly focused on racing; which were things that I found interesting at that younger age.

Now that I'm older, I totally think the XR is the bike to have of these three. Somewhere along the way I realized I wasn't rich enough to be racing anything......... and all my scars were from get offs while competing with other humans on dirt bikes.

The best rides were by myself at my own pace. I've never gotten hurt doing that, but perhaps that's because I didn't have a cell phone or a GPS back then.

Now, I have to ask.........which was the fastest street bike in Oct 83? I'll guess that it was the GS1100. I have a tiny little experience with that bike, and I recall it was pretty fast.

[brucifer]

The fastest bike was actually the Kawasaki 750 Turbo.

Here's the line up and stats.

Top Speeds

Turbo-145.07
GPz 1100-145.07
Katana-142.05
V65 Magna-139.15
GS1100ES-139.15

Quarter Mile Times

Turbo- 10.839 @ 122.95 mph
V65 Magna- 10.901 @ 123.28 mph
GPz 1100- 10.982 @ 121.29 mph
Katana 1100- 10.987 @ 122.28 mph
GS1100ES- 11.118 @ 119.84 mph