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.
