I own an ugly bike

Ransom recently upgraded to an Aprilia literbike and over beers a few weeks ago he pointed out that it would really be easier for him to sell his old bike to me than to get it up to snuff for a craigslist sale. I agreed and the next weekend got a call from someone I didn't know saying they had something to drop off for me.

And now I have a POS 1988 EX500.

At some point in its past it received a Muzzy 2 into 1 exhaust (which has sacrificed its packing) and it looks as though someone took it to GP suspensions to have the forks worked over. Not that it matters anymore as the seals are shot and it feels VERY low on fork oil.

The plan is simply make it a commuter. Repack the baffle to quiet it down, fix the forks and set the springs to my weight and ride it. Perhaps later I can make it less ugly.

Fork seals on order now. The bike also came with a bag of fresh packing for the baffle and a thermostat and gasket, so I am assuming it needs those too.

These things are surprisingly quick, aren't they? Looks like a nice little project

Considering I am used to 250's, yeah it has some jump.

I haven't ridden in a few years so I am taking it easy. It will be a while before I can see what it will really do.

I dug into the closet for my gear, dusted it off and rode for an hour last night. i need to hit cycle gear tomorrow for a lighter jacket to cope with the high 80's weather we are seeing.

What the heck is the cable going to the front axle?

Speedometer cable

It's not that ugly - it just needs stickers to hide all that white! Really, it doesn't even look that dirty. Re-seal the forks and you are good.

Hey, I had a fugly EX500, too. PO seemed to have dropped the whole thing in a vat of flat black. Still rode the heck out of it. I say they are one of the funnest dirt cheap bikes out there.

You can buy that packing material for about $8. (better performance with it in) Put on a chin spoiler, paint it your favorite color and drive the fur off it.

I really enjoyed my EX500. Very tossable little bike.

Ugly bike or no bike. I'll take an ugly bike.

Pull the plastics and spray paint or plasti-dip them. That will get rid of all the white. Or on the flip pull the tank and paint it white. Then you can call it White-lightening, Flash, or some such...

Also I think they made a lower valance for that model as well. If you keep the bike that might look kinda cool.

Streetfighter. Do it.

Is that rust? Just make sure the brakes and suspension is good, then ride the crap out of it. Take the rest of the money you'd spend on it, and get another motorcycle later.

Which Aprilia did he get?

Nice. I had an EX500 when I got back into motorcycles a many years ago - it was purple-ish with those 90's-era light purple/pink wet-paint "splash" stripes. WAAAAAY uglier than yours.

Good thing someone went through the fork on yours. The fork on my EX500 was so bad that when I replaced it with an SV650 I actually thought the crappy stock fork on the SV was a huge improvement. Live and learn.

Jumper K. Balls wrote: Speedometer cable

How quaint.....must be before the advent of the electrical sensor on the front sprocket cover.

rotard wrote: Which Aprilia did he get?

This one

Don't know the model myself

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: It's not that ugly - it just needs stickers to hide all that white! Really, it doesn't even look that dirty. Re-seal the forks and you are good.

Actually I was considering painting the tank to match the pearl white of the plastics.

It is the shadow left by the glue of the stickers and mismatched tank with a patch of clearcoat peel from gas spills that makes me think it isn't so hot looking. A bit of elbow grease will have it looking much better.

Appleseed wrote: Streetfighter. Do it.

yes, the EX definitely is an ugly bike, but they're capable, cheap and fun. My son removed the fairing on his, and it looks a lot better. I'm trying to talk him into replacing the side panels with sheet aluminum. Drop down a tooth on the front sprocket. Makes a big difference.

Jumper K. Balls wrote:

rotard wrote: Which Aprilia did he get?

This one Don't know the model myself

That's an RSV1000R. They're nice bikes, but I'm biased since I have the street-fighter version of it. Mine is the red one.

Nice! I think it will clean up nicely. I'd vote for the white tank before going all blue. If only we had nice riding roads in this area... Where to next; out past Marcola? Triangle Lake?

Great vintage racer!

In reply to Appleseed:

That was my first thought as well. I was actively shopping for sv650's when this fell into my lap. I love the understated look they have.

I decided that it would cost more than I anticipated because I would also need a different gauge cluster and nixed the idea. After my first ride at night I noticed the gauge face on there is quite deteriorated and the light leaking through the black areas makes it difficult to see and I need to replace it anyway.

Sigh.... money pit. But a fun money pit.

Fork seals on their way via Amazon. Mesh summer jacket on its way via cycle gear.

I dislike Rustoleum's plastidip type thing. Goes on like spraying milk on a surface and sags right away. But this was just a test to see how I felt about an all white bike

Looks better. Not sure how much I actually like it but it seems more cohesive.

My issue now is. My right hand goes numb pretty quickly. I think it is the angle of the brake lever. I can't loosen the clamp and twist it down any further or it interferes with the throttle cables causing them to stick.

What are my options here? New brake lever/master? Can you safely bend a dogleg into these aluminum levers?

Can you rotate the throttle assembly as well? I don't think I'd bend the lever. Some of he cheap chinese adjustable levers might do the trick as well. Better grips also tend to help.

IIRC believe the handlebars a have a hole drilled in them that corresponds with a nub on the controls. Remove the bolts completely and you should be able to verify and rotate.