1983 Husky 500XC?

Has anyone ridden an 1983 Husky 500XC? I've heard horror stories about the 500CR model,horrible starting,vibration,cracked center cases. I was hoping maybe they toned the 500XC model down and it was maybe a difffrent animal? Thanks

Frog

I own a Ten Fins of Fury...

1983 XC500
here she is with her big brother - 08 TE610





Vibrate?...please show me an aircooled 500 smoker that doesnt.

Hard starting?
no different than any bike, get the jetting on, no problems.
I noticed a nice additional benefit in starting when I built the intake blade for the 40mm carb. My guess is that it increases the air velocity over the starting circuit per kick...etc...


Dumping the choked up stock spark arrestor and mounting a CR exhaust on her really helped get air out of the beast too...
gee....wonder who helped me with that??

Once warm, I can start mine with left boot, single kick, straddling the bike.

I have had no maintenance issues at all, other than standard wet seals (class 1 leak) around the kick shaft or countershaft, but nothing other than that.
She has been stone reliable and honestly my favorite open class smoker motor to date. I simply love the motor.

turning?...well that is a different subject, she is a cruise missile, only way to crash is to run into something.

I scored an 84 frame so will swap that out once I am done with my 81 YZ 465 rebuild currently on going.

I race mine, no one, and I mean NO ONE can hole shot Ten Fins




...turn inside me later in the race...in a BLINK!!!


HR

You are not supposed to get one if you can't start it. I bought one in 1992 from a friend who had bought a Honda cr 500 in 1986 and when we went riding this time of year the husky started right up but the Honda was almost usually frustrating. I rode it until the crank finally wore out and still have a few parts of in use. It all depends on what you want or expect. For the riding I did, woods roads power lines woods trails gravel pits and stuff like that It worked fine for me. Some of the events made me put on a piece of tire tube to the silencer to start. It makes lots of noise passing hikers and the like which were more used to that kind of noise at that time I wouldn't do that anymore however it is the loud four strokes quads included that the sound really carries. If you put your foot forward it turned fine for me. As long as you twist the throttle just a little it wouldn't stall. If you ask the guy I bought it from which was the better of the two I expect he would say the wide ratio transmission was missed. The modern huskies are kind of a joke about wr and wide ratio, I believe the current wr 125 has the transmission that was cr in my year 1998 and the 250 wr got the 250 cr ratio starting in 2003. you are looking at like three and a half times spread from low to high on them. Cr models around the year you mention, 1983 seem to have essentially the same ratios just less gears in some cases.

i ride a83 husky cr 500, even way up here in leadville when 10 degress below it will fire right up yes it does vibrate but you gotta keep up on the tighting and inspection of all.....the nuts and bolts and check those exhaust mounts. funny it starts easyer than any of my 510s or my husaberg 600 did

Thanks for the info! I have 1977 YZ400 and don't think it vibrates bad,but remember my old 1988 430CR vibrated really bad. My 42 year old hands go numb pretty fast these day.

Most all of these old 500cc bikes had all of the problems you mentioned. Not long ago I owned a KX500. Fun bike, but it really didn't serve any real purpose. Maybe in an open field you could fly around and have fun with the power. But, MX/trails, the bike was way more work than fun. The one thing you didn't mention was traction. My experience with these old beast is, "what traction?" The rear wheel just spins and spins and spins. One last thing, have you ever wondered why they stopped making these large two strokes? They really served no purpose for 95% of most riders. Anyway, this is just my opinion.
They're cool bikes though....

What i do on all my two strokes is fill the bars willflexiable foam, a 3m product. even on my gg300 ec with protapers. the onley problem with my 500 is you cant hang on to the beast! about 3rd lap and ya get noodle arms. what a great bike to trail ride ! just put in 2nd and lug on thru!

ditto
except I do that INSIDE my frames...have been since been racing the open bikes.

HR

NO one?????:busted:

How about an old 83 ish 500cr?

No dead engine hot starts though!

I do have a 86 510 you ought to try. Still stock other than added an FCR carb so it would start.

HA
1/4 mile holeshot...I win with the 115mph top speed over the 4 speeder...
HA!

So when are you going to sell that 510 to me so I can race it in the series here this year?

Trade for my 1980 RM400?

HR

I'm okay with the 1/4 mile drag. Put the wide 6 speed in it when I went through the motor.

The 86 is going to run in the " air-cooled " class in our new team series of 2 6hr races, a 12hr, and the 24hr in October. It will run the team OTBG team, see how many modern teams we can embarass (sp?).
Planning on going through the 500cr so it will run big lights.

Raced a 79 RM 400 in 1979 and 1980, went from C to B skill level. Very competitive, but fragile bike.
Does it still have the stock pipe? Only mod I did to mine was to hog out HALF the washer they put in the fat part of the pipe.

Oh, and I put Ohlins shocks on it after the stockers wore out.

Hammer & Tongs MX and GP will run at Eddieville May 21 & 22. 3hr team/Ironman Saturday and MX Sunday.

There is a TV show about you...
Called

Hoarders

You cant swing a dead cat in your trailer without hitting at least 15 Husky's.


Im just asking for one measly 510, air cooled, twin shock...

nothing more....
honest


LOL

I will be at the Race in May...running the full HT series this year.

I would like to run the open class and four stroke class.....HINT HINT HINT....

HR

man up, kick it, ride,,,,like you stole it,,
all these ol bikes pictured are nasty to start...from the 360 Viking, to the 500 Rebel...
id say the worse to start over all is my Beta trials bike, darn 6 inch long kick start lever, will bite the bottom of your foot when your not expexting it...
even with crusty worn out knee,s i can still light em up...most days lol
FYI: the guys in the Rebel picture. left to right...
Bill Grossi, Edison Dye, Kent Howerton, brad lacky..
i had Mr Dye sign the rear fender on the Viking you see me on, awesome man, had tears in his eyes when i asked him to sign my bike,,
he asked why i would want such a thing..i said...if it wernt for him, that bike wouldnt have ever made it to the US, and we would never have had the chance to wear out our bikes, and bodies...
Edison Dye is the grandfather of MX... a true hero in my book...if it wernt for him...we would all be on a moped.