Well I couldn't help myself - 1983 500 XC

As for your mid range jetting...if it has the 44mm and not the later 40mm carb, those 500s were notorious for that mid range blubber, Husky went to a smaller 40mm after '83 because it was nearly impossible to get it to run right. There was a "secret" special needle jet for that 44mm carb, but I cant recall what number it was now. If you have a Lectron on the way, personally, I would not waste any time fiddling with the Mikuni.

Yes, many do sing their praises, but I know quite a few people now who will never buy another set of them.

I will tell you how I decided RT Emulators didnt really do anything. I had ridden several bikes with them and every one felt very harsh in the mid range of the fork stroke, and just overall too stiff on the damping. At the first Unadilla vintage race in 2012 I borrowed Craig Hayes' '82 250WR for the cross country race. I raced the bike to a 2nd overall. After the race, he asked me how I liked the suspension and I said "It was fine". I weigh 150lbs and Craig is at least 350lbs, so I thought he was asking if it was too stiff, then he said "Its got Emulators in the forks". After thinking about it, those forks, which were the only forks I had ever ridden with Emulators that I did NOT think were worse than stock forks, were absolutely nothing special and if fact felt just like stock Husky forks. I decided then the best Emulators would do is get you back to stock performance, and that was after Craig spend months dialing in the pop off spring rate a pre-load ending up FAR off the settings Race Tech recommends. If the best you can out of Emulators get is what Craig got, then most people end up with far worse than stock. This is the bike.

thanks for sharing...nothing beats real world experience

Well, keep in mind I am admittedly in a distinct minority, almost everyone will tell you they are fantastic.

Don't mean to hijack your thread Kelly...

My experience with Gold Valves (insert your own slang term) is limited to 2 bikes and 83 XC250 and an 84 AE500.

Each time I gave my suspension to a reputable suspension guru. He did work for the Husky importer in Australia years ago, tunes a lot of peoples suspension in Australia and has travelled the world tuning suspension for people but mainly superbike teams.

The 250 just had a service as the springs were already correct, the 500 needed springs and a service.

I believe you can notice the difference pushing on the forks and when riding, but just my opinion. 83 - 84 vintage forks are pretty basic tools standard.

My specification for set up was 'I need to be able to hit sh#t at speed' and I weigh 'x'.

I get the front forks and rear shocks serviced at the same time - it makes a hell of a difference to have a balanced motorbike. expensive yes, but you get what you pay for.

Now technically I haven't done a true test of the emulators by themselves, so they could be a placebo, the mind is a powerful tool (the argument could go both ways) but I doubt it.

A bad set up with or without emulators is still a bad setup.

Carby
My AE500 runs a 38mm Mikuni standard and is set up to the original Paul Rooney settings to keep the beast cool (rich). Kelly i'm sure you're a whiz at setting up carbys; but you may not want it to be crisp in the mid-range to help keep control of the beast

I agree the mind is a powerful thing, that is why the incident at Unadilla convinced me. I had no idea the bike had Emulators in it, so I had no preconceived idea of how good or bad it should have worked. I thought it was a stock Husky fork, and thats exactly what it felt like to me. If I had got off the bike thinking it was superior to what I was expecting, and then he told me it had Emulators, then I would have come to the opposite conclusion, that they work great.

It will for sure clean up that mid range blubber, thats what Lectron carbs do best on these old bikes.

Enduros in Australia use to be Around 80klm (50 miles) between fuel stops, which they managed easily.

I'm curious what riding area this is ? I need to expand my riding areas.

isn't there a DIY fork mod on Andy's 300WR thread ???

apparently replacing the old forks with the last evo forks is a big improvement. you can run a disc as well.

If you want to be pre 85 legal, you can grind off the disc mounts and weld back in the rib to give that old slider look...

I bought a pair of these for my rebuild.....haven't used them but just couldn't see how my big size 12 feet WOULDN'T slip off the skinny original pegs.

I haven't tested them yet but they certainly look the business

ive had no drama with stockers but im a size 9 and i rebushed and resprung them back to new