Any XT500s out there?

[Moto]

The bike that started it all! My brother bought this '77 new when he was in high school, and I inherited it 10 years later. It's been stroked and bored a bit, and is around 560 cc now. I've rebuilt it from the tranny up and it's had several top-ends. Maybe has 60,000 miles on it (present speedo has 40,000, but is not original - bad crash on Pikes Peak Hill Climb). It's been raced a bunch, and before I got my T7 used it for ADV rides. Would be cool to know if anyone else has one of these! I still really enjoy it. If you have one, show off a story and pic!

[Montesa_VR]

Had a ‘77 also. Sold it after the Alaska trip. Still miss it. Best wheelies of any bike I ever owned. Sadly, there is nothing like it on the market today. 319 pounds with a full tank, stump pulling torque off idle, and that heavy flywheel. It was no motocrosser, but it would go anywhere and climb any hill. 

[Belgradian]

I had a '77 and a '80, and a TT500 that was fixed up and traded in for my DR650.

[Moto]

15 hours ago, Montesa_VR said:

Had a ‘77 also. Sold it after the Alaska trip. Still miss it. Best wheelies of any bike I ever owned. Sadly, there is nothing like it on the market today. 319 pounds with a full tank, stump pulling torque off idle, and that heavy flywheel. It was no motocrosser, but it would go anywhere and climb any hill. 

I agree on the wheelies! It's good. I've never looped this bike, but the other bikes I've done lots of wheelies on, like motocrossers and my XL600 I ended up looping them all out at some point.

 

Here's an amusing and nostalgic video on the XT500 - I love it!

 

[Cruizin]

18 hours ago, Moto said:

The bike that started it all! My brother bought this '77 new when he was in high school, and I inherited it 10 years later. It's been stroked and bored a bit, and is around 560 cc now. I've rebuilt it from the tranny up and it's had several top-ends. Maybe has 60,000 miles on it (present speedo has 40,000, but is not original - bad crash on Pikes Peak Hill Climb). It's been raced a bunch, and before I got my T7 used it for ADV rides. Would be cool to know if anyone else has one of these! I still really enjoy it. If you have one, show off a story and pic!

I used to have a 77. My son in law bought it ten years ago and still has it. It's in sad shape, needs to be rebuilt. 

[Moto]

3 minutes ago, Cruizin said:

I used to have a 77. My son in law bought it ten years ago and still has it. It's in sad shape, needs to be rebuilt. 

They're fun to rebuild. And not that hard, really, compared with newer bikes. I have an extra service manual if he needs one. PM me if you want it. I picked up a whole engine cheap on E-bay when I did my tranny rebuild as I got the gear I needed that way. When Covid hit and I had extra time at home I took it completely apart except for the engine and redid all the bearings and fluids.

[Drewdbell]

I have an 83 it490 that's plated for the street. 

 

I use that on adv/ dual sport rides that are on the shorter side milage wise.  It can drink. 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2020 by Drewdbell

[Moto]

Never rode an IT490, but they were/are legendary. Lots of travel.

[ClutchXT]

I have an 81' this is the only picture I the two generations in one picture, I'm in the process of getting some new rubber lined up for it and a carb refresh.

 

the T7 will be my 3rd XT as I sold my S-Ten to fund the jump to the T7. Went "small" to large to medium.

Edited November 16, 2020 by ClutchXT

[Moto]

ClutchXT - AWESOME! Another one out there. Yours looks nice with the original headlight/speedo/tach. I wish I still had that stuff for mine, as my headlight stinks. It all got smashed hitting a tree long ago. They're still fun, huh?

[ADVUSA]

13 hours ago, ClutchXT said:

I have an 81' this is the only picture I the two generations in one picture, I'm in the process of getting some new rubber lined up for it and a carb refresh.

 

 

the T7 will be my 3rd XT as I sold my S-Ten to fund the jump to the T7. Went "small" to large to medium.

 

Excellent. Must be nice living there...all the properties I could locate are ~ 1.5 Mil !

If you luggage without getting gouged I picked up a rear rack, 16T, lower crash bars, pannier rack  and Givi Trekkers (same as Yam cases) from Carpimoto in Italy for ~ 150 shipped.