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Pictures, pictures please. 

Will take a couple of snaps soon MJ...stay tuned.

After about a couple of months of owning and using a motorbike for my daily needs, it dawned on me that a motorbike was not really a fit for my needs and style of riding.  So, finally took the dive to get my first maxi and traded in my motorbike for a 2009 Xciting 500.  I must say I'm loving the feel of the 500.  I believe this will be my ride for quite a while before I switch to a newer model.

As the 1st owner was an old bloke, and treated the 500 like a 50cc moped.  The 500 was not in a perfect state aesthetically, mechanically its sound aside from the non-working speedometer gauge and pulsing front brakes, it runs like a dream.  Not sure if the mileage is accurate though, it reads 22790 kms, but with a non-working odometer and speed gauge, who knows the exact mileage on this thing.

Now down to business in bringing her up to par with all of my previoud rides.  First order of busines is the speedometer.  I read up all I can of how the speedometer works on this thing and read up as much as I can and this SITE, helped me understand what Im dealing with.  With this knowledge, also read up on a topic, SPEEDOMTER PROBLEM, about this specific problem of non-working speedo on the xciting 500 and its quite a common problem.  Armed with a multitester, checked the continuity of the three wires of the speedo sensor.  Sure enough, the black wire was the culprit.  Had to splice open the sensor harness and find where the black wire broke off.  Within minutes, found the break in the line midway.  Soldered the break and installed the sensor and tested it...working speedometer done.

Now for the pulsing front brakes, my money was on a warped disc.  As I've checked and cleaned up the brake rotors and calipers, I notice a slight ding on the right caliper. The hit must be hard to knock the disc and warp it.  Jacked up the front end, removed the front fender and spun the wheel, and sure enough, the disc is bent, not much but enough for you to feel the pulse on the lever.  Will be ordering a disc as soon as budget permits.  For now, I did a temporary fix and tried to true the warped disc as much as I can without stressing it out and have the disc fail on me.  Did a good job, as the pulse was almost non-existent.  While I'm at it ordering the disc, might as well order a battery cover.  Found out just now that it did not have any as the first owner misplaced it.

Using the 500 now everyday for work and what not and weekend trips up the twistie backroads.  Now I noticed what these guys were talking about the speedometer being off by a lot, topic I read here 2007 Xciting 500 How to Recalibrate Speedometer?. Mine is off 10kph linear, at 60kph displayed I'm at 50, at 80kph I'm at 70, at 100 I'm at 90.  Did some digging and found this  https://www.jaycar.com.au/corrector-speedo-module/p/AA0376, it's basically a (SPEEDO HEALER) or (SPEEDDRD), but without the outrageous price tag.  Most of the guys here in Australia swears by it and have it installed it on their motorbikes with great success.

This will be at the top of my bucket list below the front disc rotors ofcourse.  Will update this thread as I progress to working out the quirks on my 500.

With much trepidation, especially after reading about Sissy Mary's horrifying experience with Dr. Pulley sliders, I decided to install a set of 28x22 30 gram Dr. Pulley sliders into my 2009 Xciting RI ABS.  I have 3 words to describe the difference - "Night and Day".  The bike is much faster throughout the entire power band. I no longer have to 'gun' it to get out of a jam.  I have read things like "eats my belt", "loss of engine breaking" "decreases mpg" but weirdly enough I only read these things on this forum.  No negatives on the EU or Asian forums re: Dr Pulley sliders. So I wanted to post my experience as a counter to all the negative reviews.  Let me address the negatives one by one.

'Eats My Belt'

I have no doubt that it happened to Sissy Mary, twice apparently. But I am highly skeptical the mechanic put his variator on correctly. The Xciting's variator is a PITA.  There are three washers, each one has to be in exactly the right position. The bevel on the inner washer HAS to be facing the engine. The next washer slides on next to the belt, and you have to torque it down slowly and just right so that the belt rides up above that washer allowing it to get squeezed in between the two variator plates. Only then can you torque it to spec. And an impact wrench doesn't cut it. You should really use a torque wrench and a variator tool to torque it to 135 per the manual. The first two times I used the impact wrench it SPUN off at high rpm on the center stand.  So I learned my lesson, I hand wrench the variator nut while looking in between the variator plates with a flashlight so I can SEE that the center washer is compressed tightly between the plates and the belt is free. Then I torque down the nut.  No problems since.

'Loss of Engine Breaking'

I can imagine this happening more with the 26 gram sliders, but with the 30 gram sliders I noticed maybe 5% less engine breaking. Nothing that bugged me and certainly worth the sacrifice for the huge increase in quickness up to 6500 rpm.

'Decreases MPG'

The 30 gram weights do not decrease my MPG at all, if anything it increases MPG by 1 mpg or so. With the sliders, you just have to learn to drive it different. You only need to gently roll the throttle and it is much more responsive throughout the entire power band. No need to gun it, ever.

With the 30 gram sliders you will wind out about 300-500 rpm higher until you reach the highest gear ratio of the CVT then it will be exactly the same as stock for a given speed. At 70mph you will be exactly the same as stock rollers only you will get there much quicker without having to gun it.  Where it does get tricky is at 55mph. At 55 I used to run at about 5200 rpm. With the 30 grams sliders it runs at about 5800 because it hasn't moved up to the higher gearing yet. The trick to alleviate this is to rev up to 62mph or so and slowly back off the throttle till you get back down to 55mph. The CVT will stay at the higher gearing at that point and the revs will drop way down. It's another step and a bit annoying but it works and for me a fair tradeoff for the extra quickness.

Around town it's massively more responsive and safer as I can power out of a jam with just a miniscule amount of throttle.  At 65mph-75mph, rpms are the same as stock but you get there a lot quicker with smooth throttle response.  I now slowly roll the throttle to quickly get to 65mph rather than gunning the throttle to get to 65mph.  I also run a pair of Nelson Rigg soft saddle bags (CL-955s) and they're huge (27 liters). The added torque from the higher revving sliders really helps counter the wind resistance from those bags up to 65mph.

If you want more power from your 500 and feel confident getting your variator back on correctly, I would suggest giving the 30 gram (or even the 31 gram) Dr. Pulley sliders a try.  It's well worth the 55 bucks and a helluva lot cheaper than a pipe or an air box.

I know another member complained his sliders were shot after 8000 miles. For the kind of speed and fun factor increase I'm seeing, I'm happy to change my sliders every 4000 miles if necessary.  The newfound oomph on my 500 has stopped me from coveting the My Road 700 or the BMW 650, so I figure I saved a few thousand right there.

Just my 2 cents. I will report back when I have 4k on these sliders. 

Many thanks to all the great posters on this forum! I wouldn't have taken a chance on this scoot without the resources available here.

Will be picking up my xciting in a few days.  Researching about the xciting as much as I can.  Thanks for the feedback and the detailed explanation using the dr pulley weights.  So that's why its specified on the service manual that the washer goes one way and not the other.  Will take a note of this.