KymcoForum.com
Scooters - Big Bore => Xciting 500 => Topic started by: DaveRinPA on April 13, 2010, 08:43:22 PM
-
I am a new 2009 Kymco 500 Ri owner - 5' 10"- 260 #'s (love those twinkies).
I started on a Roketa MC54 (new), then moved up to a six-year old Burgman 400 (soon for sale) before just buying the new 500Ri.
Here are some first impression comparisons ... after my 100 mile ride home from the dealer (he had my color - charcoal):
1) Kymco has significantly higher seat than the Burgman. I am on half-toe, versus full flat on the Burgman.
2) Kymco is much "throatier" at low rpm than the Burgman. It's a manly scoot! (Is that a contradiction in terms? ... or "non sequitur" for the edgemicated among us.)
3) Oddly, I'm having to add mirror extenders to the Kymco, while the Burgman mirrors were OK. The added benefit is that the mirrors won't hit the big Givi windscreen, as I've read about here.
4) Kymco's larger front wheel (15" vs. 13") makes the Kymco REALLY want to stand up and STAY vertical. It takes significantly more counter steer to lay the bike over. Feels more substantial, despite only 10 pound wt. difference, and handles bumps better.
5) Kymco under-seat storage can't compare to the Burgman ... not even close. I'll be adding Givi top case AND side cases, SOMEHOW!
6) Kymco REQUIRES the high Givi windshield. At highway speeds, the SCOOT was solid as a rock against the wind, WHILE I was getting buffeted like crazy from the shoulders up. It actually felt like I might get blown off the scoot, while IT continued smoothly down the road.
7) The Kymco seat is unpleasantly hard and wide, as is the Burgman. I'm going to do SOMETHING about that. I'm thinking about sponge rubber, not gel or memory foam. Go feel a Goldwing seat, sometime. I might change the cover to suede naugahyde - I love the stuff - feels soft and breathable, but grips you.
8) Kymco is very "tight" on the throttle - first twist at 1000 rpm = movement. The Burgman, which I have fitted with a J. Costa variator needed about 2200 rpm before movement. This could not be from "age" - the J.Costa variator was less than a year old. I think J.Costa simply builds it to require higher rpm on takeoff to yield that little perception of extra power. I haven't been impressed with it.
9) I won't have to add a buzzer to the turn signals of the Kymco (as I did to the Burgman), as the Kymco comes with a good "clacking" sound.
10) I haven't GPS'ed the speedometer, yet, so I don't know if I'll be adding a Sigma bicycle speedo. Boy, are they accurate.
Conclusions:
I'll miss the low seat and nimble handling of the Burgman, but I prefer the stature and substance of the Kymco.
I'm very happy with my purchase. And if I can sell my Burgman for what I paid for it (actually, pretty likely due to upgrades), the 500 will only have cost me $3,000. The Kymco needs a little customizing, but that's my thing, anyway.
Q: What's the story with the different mirrors?
I looked at 500's that had fully molded mirror mounts, which require removal of a piece of tupperware to get at two bolts, while mine are standard 10mm stem mounts.?.?.? I'm not really complaining, just curious. This WILL allow my to easily mount a Shark radio/usb/mp3 player, that features speakers IN THE mirrors, plug-in tweeters on top of them and a woofer in the under-seat area. (That will allow space under the seat for a pair of gloves, one set on goggles and a do-rag .. but let's not be bitter!) I stick the remote to the left brake fluid cover with double faced foam tape... works great.
Anybody else have a similar experience? ... or different? Welcome a newbie.
-
..Welcome to the forum Dave!
..congrats on your new scoot!
peace
-
Absolutely DaveRinPA, Welcome aboard Bro! What a great write up! Fair, and honest. I have recommended to many people here to have their seats re-done at a good Auto Upholstery shop. With good results I might add. The entire Kymco line is known for their firm seats. I also like the Mods. you have in store. The 500 is right at home w/ the larger "cruisers" once it is properly dressed up. Keep us informed! I think your adventure will be quite well received here, as there are alot of 500 owners that would love to dress up , and go out on the town for 1/5th the price of the other cruisers. Welcome aboard...
-
Yes, I had very similar experience.
I compared a new Xciting 500 (carburetor) against a rarely used Burgman 400 K2 or K3. They had nearly the same price!
And though the Burgi has much more trunk space, the more economically engine (I assume) and less servicing, I chose the Xciting for his superior riding. I love his seat and space for the driver - like the Tmax and even better than the Burgman 650.
The new Burgman 400 with his stronger fuel injected engine and 14" wheel might perform much better than the old one and comparable with the Xciting - but it was and is more expensive than the Xciting too.
My old Xciting has his mirrors far down (even lower than handle bar) on the panels with 2 bolts on each side.
The newer Xciting has the mirrors mounted on the handle bar.
-
Congrats on the new X500. Mine is just a couple of months old.
My mirrors are on the handle bars. They seem to give me a good rear view.
You won't have a problem finding top cases, but the only side case moutung hardware I've found is from Kymco Germany. There is a "hard case" thread here in the forum. That's mine. One ts1 found the URL.
http://www.kymco.de/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/zubehoer/KYMCO_ZUBEHOER-ZWEIRAD_0902.pdf. (http://www.kymco.de/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/zubehoer/KYMCO_ZUBEHOER-ZWEIRAD_0902.pdf.) There's a lot of choice in soft cases.
Both Piaggio and Kymco have 250's with 16" wheels. I wish they would put 16s on the X500.
As for the windshield, I'm going to ask around to see if the "old" clear stock windshield will bolt up to our model of X500. I think it is taller than our "sport" windshield, and might not have the problem with the handlebar mirrors.
I agree.. the seat is HARD. But the material dries in minutes after a rain. Still, I'll have to look into redoing my seat, too.
I disagree with Zombie's "right at home w/ the larger "cruisers" once it is properly dressed up". I don't think it needs much at all to be "right at home" :-)
And, BTW, i weigh in at 255... ah, well.
Happy scootin'
-
Well I wouldn't throw it out of bed Naked! Just a little bling...
-
Thanks for the attaboys, and welcomes.
While you were talking among yourselves, I:
1) Mounted my trailer hitch for my 20"x32" Croozer (bicycle) trailer to the left rear lower shock bolt.
2) Mounted my Burgman TomTom adapter plate to my yoke (handle bar holder-downer) bolts. All four holes lined up perfectly AFTER a little squeeze in the vise. I trimmed (!) the handlebar cover to refit over the adapter. I managed to save the lower center tupperware catch to keep holding the piece in original alignment. One problem - the adapter plate was set too far forward when attached to all four yoke bolts (as on my Burgman), so I just attached it to the rear two. Now it looks right up at me and smiles! Boy, those lower screws for the handlebar cover sure are at a weird angle! And I haven't dealt with where to wire it or plug it in (it came with a hard-wired DC male plug - cigarette lighter) ... I'll probably either hard-wire it under the handlebar cover, or mount a DC adapter in the left glove box. PLEASE don't ask me where I got the adapter - I don't know! I tried to look it up for hours last week, assuming it wouldn't fit the Kymco, and couldn't for the life of me find where I got it. JUST GOT LUCKY!
3) Mounted my garage door opener through the rear slot of the spark plug access cover (center of the hump - one bolt) by trimming a 3/4" slot of the underlaying plastic lip out. Nice and tight using the visor clip - not going anywhere - and no visible means of support. Electrical-taped the raw end of the visor clip so it won't mar the access panel.
TOMORROW morning - - - > THE TRUNK! Then I'm going to ride the dam&ed thing! 65-70 degrees and sunny ... don't expect to here from me!
p.s. - Missed my calling - should have been a surgeon.
Thanks again for the welcome. When I feel I have it up to speed, I'll post before and after pix.
-
Oops - slipped my mind!
I also mounted the Givi windshield ... WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Didn't ride it yet, but it looks just as tall as the Givi on my Burgman, and also has the hand-deflectors. On my Burgman, those lengthened my riding season by at least a month. Instead of a jet blast on your hands, you just get a gentle swirl. THIS is worth the price of the windshield for us Yankees.
OK - I'll give up now.
-
get an Air Hawk cushion, its a must, I made new extended mirrors up out of cheap car side mirrors took them apart for the mirror and glued them to smaller after market mirrors and tarted them up to not look too home made. The speedo will be waaay out if its like mine, need to be modified or a bike speedo set up ;D
-
also replaced the muffler..the stock muffler weighs 18.5 lb!!!. changing that improved the handling, which I hadnt expected but it was noticable after it was changed how it handled better
-
Alex - Already ordered my "production" mirror extenders - $24.80 delivered. One catch - he eMailed me back to say his shop would be on vacation until the 18th, but they would definitely ship by the 20th ... from HONGKONG!
If you haven't gotten anything from HongKong - it's a trip! Shipping is usually less than a week, but they frequently wrap your package in a bow(!), and mark it as a gift on the customs form to avoid duty!!!
I can't recommend the Sigma speedometers enough. A magnet on your front hub (I use epoxy) - rig the receiver off a nearby brake line clamp with a bent scrap of aluminum painted black and your in business - it's battery operated. It's just a matter of routing the receiver wire up to where you mount the speedo - double-faced foam tape, again. You just measure the circumference of the front wheel and input it into the Sigma, and your good.
I've been looking at the cushions, but I'm partial to a permanent solution. I want the seat narrower, too.
Thanks for the feedback.
-
Alex again -
Which muffler? From who? I'm not looking to sound like a Harley, but I've read about the weight issue here, before.
-
Wow we were all busy! That's alot of cool goodies.
-
Welcome and thanks for a great review. There are definately some things I would like to do with my scoot but unfortunately there are so few on the road around here and very little support and backup available. The one that I'm keen on right now are those fancy gas shocks that I see on the global and the USA site. I have been testing various settings on the originals and seem to think that the higher pre-stress settings are contributing somehow to that tank-slapping handling problem at the top end. I like the firmer settings for the handling and was convinced the slapping was purely from the quality of the front suspension. Now I'm not so sure. Have been riding with the back shocks set on 4 and up to about 140 km/h it's hard and fine but over that it gets a bit scary. Then I set the shocks back down to 1 and seem to think it's a bit more stable up there around 150-160 km/h. Or maybe it's all in the mind. Anyway those shocks are not available here and I'm thinking to import them would likely cost me at least two to three months rent. Can't see a price anywhere. Our money is not worth much when converting to the dollar. Does anyone have them and if so, how have they changed the ride? Regards from Durban RSA.
-
Oh that hard seat, yeah, the Xciting 500 seat is hard. I found a guy in San Antonio who makes custom seats for scooters and motorcycles, even makes it while you wait if you're from out of town. He gets foam from Germany that is superior to gel and memory foam. After it was made more narrow and cut down lower, comfort improved a lot. Here's some pics of mine:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bongo420 (http://picasaweb.google.com/bongo420)
-
I don't want to hi-jack daverin's thread so I'll keep it brief for brians ?. The front end may need to be raised to improve the geometry. If you loosen the clamps on the front shocks they can be lowered (in the clamps) perhaps 1/4"-3/8" giving a shallower attack angle. If you want to start a new thread on this I would be happy to go into it further .
-
Day two of the build ... but mostly I rode!
Put the Givi trunk on. 47 liter. It's probably one size too big for the scoot, but I NEED THE SPACE! It looks like it would hold TWO full face helmets PLUS a lot more.
A more accurate description of the install:
1) Bracket Install: Wrestled the upper shock bolts off ... thank God I had a 14mm offset ratcheting box wrench! Harbor Freight - three in the set - a life saver. I should have just taken off the rear tupperware, but N-O-O-O-O, I had to follow the #$*^-ing directions! The bolts went back in easier than they came out. The rest was uneventful.
2) Top Case: Used the template to drill holes for the backrest. No problem, except I had to thump it pretty hard to latch it to the adapter plate ... just new, i guess.
3) Stop Light Kit !!! - WOW - what an evolution ... something like childbirth, I imagine. Take the top cover off the case - "build" the light strip - drill here, knockout this plug and that plug - knit one - perl two - etc, etc. Actually, it's an ingenious design: through spring loaded contact points, power is led from the case lid to the boay, and from the body to the mount plate. You can just rip off the trunk without worrying about any connectors, and there's even a little cover for the exposed contacts on the mount plate. Good luck keeping THAT in your possession for more than a month!
4) NO instruction on how or where to lead the wire into the brake light area for hookup. After the completeness and precision of everything else, I was surprised by this laps. No big deal - I'm not hooking it up until I decide whether I'm adding an LED stop light strip in the vicinity - probably on a flasher. They supply two piercing snap couplers for final hookup, but I'm a solder and shrink-tube kind of guy.
I put the trailer on, spent half an hour flattening all my cardboard (a month's worth) and towed it about 20 miles to recycling. Made a BJ's run (like Sam's Club) on the way back. The trailer wanted to fishtail with the cardboard, 'cause it was evenly loaded, but trailed straight as an arrow with the groceries front loaded for weight. Fastest I did was about 65 mph - no problems ... and a few smiles and comments on the trailer. One guy at BJ's told me he was watching me pack the trailer and didn't think I'd get it all in ... BUT I DID!
Another "comparison" note I left out of my original post:
The dual front disc brakes of the Kymco are FAR superior in ability and agility to the Burgman. I feel more secure on the Kymco.
Observations from removing the seat storage pan: I sure looks like they could have put a little bigger gas tank in .. and THEY SHOULD HAVE!
Also looks like the rear wheel would take a taller tire ... there's a full inch or more of room between the stock tire and the engine stuff (actually, I think it was the starter motor ... I forget). Maybe the fender is the limiting factor - I didn't check it. Learning as I go.
Anybody try a higher profile tire on a 500Ri yet?
-
Alex - Your muffler info, or your life! I must be part cat - my curiosity is getting the best of me, i.e. You're killing me!
Thanks to others for sending me in some other directionsl
Next rainy day, I'll be adding a T-Handle to the top case to open it - too awkward as is. And a weatherproof external DC Outlet to plug in my trickle charger - which is a $40 solar panel from Harbor Freight mounted on the front of my garage at an appropriate angle with the pigtail dangling from the ceiling for easy hookup. I only worry about it through the winter.
I'm not going to worry about any performance stuff this year - it's too new, and I'm busy elsewhere.
-
The fish tailing on the trairer is due to the weight being aft of the axel. That creates a negative tongue weight. Tongue being where it attaches to the scoot. 40 years of trailering boats, and the like has proven this. Keep the weight foward of the axel, and it will not be a problem. I have seen TRUCKS flipped from the fishtail effect at highway speeds. Sounds like you really got it goin' on tho! It's great to see others enjoy their scoots as much as I enjoy mine! Different purposes, but same effect.
-
Mufler was a Kelkevic, nicely made looked good , packing cant cope with the heat and melts . tried alternatve fibreglass stringy packing same thing melts into hard potato chip like flakes just next to the steel perforated core ..intend to take apart again and fit stainless steel wool packing
-
Go to any fiberglass supplier, and ask for FAB MATT. Short for fabrication material. Stainless will reach a critical temp. and ignite! It could potentialy explode the muffler once it is "soaked" w/ combustion by products. The fab matt is more stable than the "angle hair" as it is woven vs shreaded. I have been using the fab matt for 30+ years w/out it blowing out. It will get carbon encased, and the tone will sharpen, but it will last several thousand km. (every third oil change or so will do it) Cost is about $9.00 US a year!
-
With regard to trailer loads, different coumtries have different rules, in Australia it is tongue load is to be 10% of load weight up to 160kg for 1600kg load. After that I dont know.
-
The result is the same... The weight HAS to positive on the tongue. Neutral or negative is BEGGING for trouble.
-
soooo any pictures of your mods? curious to see it with the give and trailer
-
Sorry for not responding sooner - been busy riding and mod-ing.
1) Added an LED stop light bar to the back, tied in with the top-case light on a blinker. I blinks four times then goes solid. The contacts between the top-case and its' lid wasn't good, so I just hard-wired the inside of the top-case to get the light to work in the top-case.
2) Added a turn signal light bar (1-1/4" steel angle, on purpose) mounted under the rear bolts of the top-cased mount plate. Also made a "washer" out of the same material for beneath the front bolts so everything is still "true". Turned out to be just the right point to attach my home-made side-case mounts ...
3) Added side case mounts. Basic construction is of 1-1/4" aluminum angle, with a 1-1/4" vertical at the center point of the cases. That piece has another strip off the bottom to reach the tubular part of the stock top-case mount. Front fixed point is the front bolt of the sissy bar - rear is my steel angle-iron turn signal bar. Dropped it about 3" below the rear of the angle iron with threaded rod. Third point was an aluminum extension off the bottom of the mount that is J-hooked around the stock top-case mounting frame. Got the side cases from JC Whitney at $145 for two - couldn't afford the Givi's ... and I paid the price: one of the latches doesn't hold! It snaps in fine, but any "angular" pull at all and it pops off in your hand ... or you arrive home with the case hanging cocked off of one lower bolt! Wound up buying a third one.
3) Added the T-Handle to the top-case.
4) Added the Sigma speedo. Started with the new-fangled wireless model. Worked great in my garage - wouldn't even register on the road. I think it's electrical field interference from the engine running. Went back to the hard-wired model and NO PROBLEMS. My stock speedo reads 4-5 mph fast at 60, and gets worse as you go up. Sigma is dead-on with GPS, after a couple of circumference adjustments. Plan on putting it just below the instrument cluster ... when I put the radio in. Right now it's bungee-d to the right mirror stem.
5) Radio coming. It's the Shark Mirror Radio from gooddeals18.com. I can't really recommend it - I've had three of these in my hands (going back to my Burgman) and never got the powered woofer to work ... not once on any of them. In my frustration I ordered tow PAIRS of speakers from the same good-for-nothings (Model - SHKMSA100) and though it comes with a 100watt amp (which I also can't get working) I'm just going to use the Shark Radio to drive them. Mounting two up front on the mirror stems (they come with adapters for this) and the rear two to my custom side case mounts. Serendipity, again. So, if you count the plug-in tweeters on the mirror speakers, I'll have an eight-speaker system! (with no base response!)
Had my 600 mile service done at the dealer (almost 2 hour away) at 1,000 miles. No reported problems, but they charged me $116.00! They won't be seeing me much!
When I get the radio in, promise pictures. And I'll pay special attention to the turn signal bar and the side case mounts, 'cause I'm sure there will be some interest.
Can't ride on this perfect day ... my back went out three days ago. Hoping for an injection tomorrow.
Not riding is a BUMMER!
-
Forgot one minor, but handy mod:
Bought a TMD018 Water Bottle Cage from BikeSomeWhere.com and mounted it (two screws) between the ignition and the glove box. Quite handy ... and adjustable. I use it as a mail slot, too.
-
good idea about the water bottle cage. I will be doing that!
-
I just got the same model water botelcage from REI. Instead of mounting it between the ignition and glove compartment. I just removed the hook in the middle there and mounted it there with the existing screws without drilling!!! Seems as though kymco should make a cup holder in that exact spot!
-
I owned a X-500 for 2 years and 33000 miles, seat hight and stiffness, gas milage,and not being able to read the speedo was my biggest problems. Was power of the 400 any less than the X-500,and what was your rpm at 70 to 80 mph. Thank You
-
I owned a X-500 for 2 years and 33000 miles, seat hight and stiffness, gas milage,and not being able to read the speedo was my biggest problems. Was power of the 400 any less than the X-500,and what was your rpm at 70 to 80 mph. Thank You
[/quote
No Info???????]
-
I owned a X-500 for 2 years and 33000 miles, seat hight and stiffness, gas milage,and not being able to read the speedo was my biggest problems. Was power of the 400 any less than the X-500,and what was your rpm at 70 to 80 mph. Thank You
[/quote
No Info???????]
ONE MORE TIME,THANKS