Weekend Racer

WEEKEND RACER

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR VERSATILITY IN A MOTORCYCLE, belly up to Kawasaki's bar and order a straight shot of EX500. A hit since its 1987 introduction, the affordable, easy-revving EX functions equally well as an economical commuter, a respectably quick sportbike, an excellent solo sport-tourer and a fine Twins-class roadracer. A roadracer?

That’s right, as I found out during two seasons of club competition aboard the black EX500 pictured here.

Twins-class racing at the club level is an ideal place to hone the craft of riding a motorcycle at speed. Unlike the competitors in some classes. Twins racers tend to be older, with families, mortgage payments and careers to get to on Monday morning, so aren’t as likely to argue track position with the same vigor as is an 1 8-year-old FZR600 pilot bent on proving he’s the next Kevin Schwantz.

And the EX500 is a great way to go into battle, though it does require some modifications. Obvious are removal of mirrors, sideand centerstands, and turnsignals. Numberplates were added, headand taillights taped over, and various drain plugs, brake fasteners and coolant clamps were safety wired, as per club rules. Most race organizations also require the running of straight water in liquidcooled bikes, as spilled anti-freeze solutions are as slick as ice and don’t evaporate quickly.

Preliminary performance modifications centered on tires and suspension. The EX’s 16-inch wheels—once a popular size, but now rare—limited race-compound tire choice. Luckily, Metzeler has its front ME33 Laser and rear MEi tires in 16-inch sizes and a soft, Comp K compound. The $153 140/80 rear and $122 120/80 front mounted with no clearance problems. Besides being surefooted, the Comp Ks, presented with the less-than-awesome power characteristics of the EX’s 498cc verticalTwin, were long-lived, as well. Typically, the rear tire lasted through two race weekends (which included Saturday practice and up to three races on Sunday), while the front was good for three weekends. Compare this with the big-bore classes, where some of the top riders change rubber after every practice session.

Works Performance (8730 Shirley Ave., Northridge, CA 9 1 324; 8 1 8/701-1010) came to the rescue in the suspension department. Keeping a moderate budget in mind, 1 fitted the company’s steel-bodied Street Tracker rear shock, a $280 item that is adjustable for spring preload only. WP’s head honcho, Gil Vaillancourt took down my weight, riding skill and the bike’s intended use, then valved the shock accordingly. The Tracker bolted on with no fuss, and after some initial preload tuning, wasn’t touched again. Up front. Works supplied its $90 Pro Series dual-spring fork kit. A couple of practice sessions were spent dialing-in the springs’ cross-over point, and that was the extent of front-suspension tuning for two race seasons.

Preferring to ride rather than wrench, 1 didn’t touch the engine’s internals. In fact, other than oil changes every other race, the motor asked for nothing, not even fresh sparkplugs. Had I raced another season, I’d have treated it to a fresh valve job and perhaps oversize pistons and a cylinder bore, but in nearly 2000 miles of at-redline use, the engine didn’t as much as hiccup.

A 2-into-l Kerker K Series exhaust ($260, available through most dealers and shops) replaced the stock system after a low-side crash damaged the right pipe. The Kerker mounted easily and didn’t require carb rejetting, but, as far as I could tell, added little in the way of outright performance. It sounded great, though, and weighed less than the stock setup, even if it did mean that my days of moonlighting in the stock 600cc class were over. I continued to get extra track time by racing in the 600cc modified class, however.

On track with the Little Bike That Could

If a racing EX has an Achilles heel, it’s the front brake. The stock single disc is taxed by repeated halts from high speeds. One EX owner I raced against went to the effort of fitting an entire front end from a Yamaha FZ600, just to get a dual-disc setup. I took a less expensive, less drastic route and called Storz Performance (1445 Donlon St. #18, Ventura, CA 93003; 805/654-8816). Storz carries Italian-built Grimeca brake components and produced a nifty, $ 1 75 kit that includes a single, dual-piston Grimeca caliper and hanger, which mounted in place of the stock caliper. A steel-braided line topped off the brake project, which gave both better feel and better stopping power than I had before. This kit would be a worthwhile modification, even if you weren’t going to roadrace your EX500.

Storz also chipped-in with the final modification to the EX racer. The Kawasaki’s seating position is streetbike ideal, but a little too upright for the track. Storz’ $112 rearset kit moved the footpeg position up and back, and, combined with 3-inch-lower handlebars from an early Ninja 600 (a bolt-on proposition, $65 each at Kawasaki dealers, considerably less at junkyards), made for easier tucking-in at the 120-mph speeds the bike is capable of.

And there you have it. Team CWs EX500, which brought home its share of trophies in two years and was as reliable as a rock in the process: A low-bucks approach to having loads of fun. —David Edwards.