Yesterday I purchased a 1979 Honda XL500s from Craigslist. The people I purchased it from were very nice. The bike spent most of its life in Toledo and Newport. There is some surface rust but the bike is generally sound. I believe that I will need to do a little work to the compression release mechanism (don’t know the proper name yet) that ties to the kick starter and prevents kickback. It’s hard work kicking over a 500cc single banger without that pressure relief valve.
The bike has just shy of 7000 miles on it. Not too shabby for a 32 year old bike. This is a full drum brake bike. No disks here. It stops just fine but will suffer from brake fade if more than two panic stops are made in a row. There are options to upgrade to disk by swapping the forks to a more modern set. I might do that in the future depending upon how much I like this bike as-is.
The (6 volt!) battery is shot. My buddy Drew has a spare battery from his Honda XL185 conversion project (throwing in a Lifan 200cc engine) that I will be swapping in. I am going to have to track down a 6 volt trickle charger to keep the battery topped up.
The (surprisingly powerful) headlight and blinkers.
Original Honda seat cover.
6791 original miles on the odometer.
A bit of rust on the springs.
Kick-start only!
This is a nice old single-banger. Need to make an adjustment on the kick-back valve still.
Yes, a drum brake up front.
That’s a big front wheel. Love it!
Three bikes all in a row. 🙂
Wonderful fun bikes. I’ve got an 80 XL500S myself. Love it.
Study a wiring diagram, the setup is pretty neat. There are three seperate charging circuits, and they are not at all interconnected. One for the ignition. Another for the headlight. The third is for the turnsignals, brake light and horn. So, you actually can ride with a dead battery. The battery does nothing for the headlight.
I need to spend some quality time with my XL500S… There is a short in either the horn or turn signal circuit that causes the main fuse to blow. That’s no big deal as long as I don’t need turn signals or a horn 🙂
I’ve also discovered a pretty good oil leak coming from (I think) the valve covers. Need to get some O-Rings on order so I can fix that. I should clean the oil screen and change the oil, too… All for the want of time and covered shop space!
Have you found any information on the stock exhaust? I am wondering if it is rated by the Forest Service as an approved spark arrester or not…
Did you ever get info on your stock spark arrestor? I have an ’80 XL 500s that still has the stock muffler & arresotor. A few months ago a US Forest Ranger stopped and inspected our bikes. Maybe he was only concerned about whether we had valid California DMV “Green Stickers,” but he didn’t say a thing about my bike.
Recently, my front wheel hub developed a squeaking noise. It sounded like it was coming from the speedo cable, so I sprayed some WD40 inside where the speedo cable installs into the hub. The squeaking noise weht away for a day but came back on the next ride. Do you know if I’m supposed to use grease on the speedo gear, and if so what kind?
Hi Forrest,
The stock spark arrestor seems to be in a bit of a gray area. Since it isn’t stamped (as far as I could tell), you would have to take it to a forest service office (probably the district headquarters) and ask them to look at it and give you some sort of letter saying that they approve its use. After that it will depend upon the ranger you run into if they bother inspecting the spark arrestor or not.
You might want to pop apart your front wheel and put some axle grease on the speedo pickup gears and cable end. Also shoot some lube oil (cable lube if you have it or else engine oil if that’s what you have) down the speedo cable. That should solve speedo squeak problems. It could be the front drum brake that is making the noise, too. Mine made squeaking noises after riding it through deep water for a few days. It finally went away but did squeak for a while.
I actually sold this bike a few months back. It was a lot of fun to ride but I just didn’t have the time to ride it and all of the other bikes I own. Now I’m down to three. All three of them are in the garage for the winter not because I can’t ride in this weather but because I’m too busy with work. Such is life!
Happy riding!
Douglas
I learned to ride on an ’80 XL500S. I still have most of what is left of it. I picked up an ’81 last year. Although rough, it is mostly complete, but the front forks, fuel tank, and some other parts were damaged. Luckily, the ’80 is being a great donor.
Anyone had any luck with the compression release mechanism? Mine pulls out of the top of the head, which of course is not good. Can’t ride until I get that fixed, it belches oil from around the release lever. I plan to disassemble the one on the ’80 carefully, hopefully I’ll learn more about it.
Hi Tim,
It sounds like you lost the pin in the head cover that is supposed to retain the compression release mechanism. I think it’s REF #15 on the “Cylinder Head Cover @ Decompression Cable” page of the microfiche for the 1981 XL500S. Without that pin you won’t ever get valve lifter (compression release mechanism) to stay in the head cover. While you’re fixing that, I would suggest replacing the seal (REF #16 on the same microfiche slide) around the valve lifter. Depending upon how far into the engine you go, you might want to replace the valve seals and other gaskets. Especially if the engine has sat for a while, it will be worth your trouble.
Hope that helps!
Cheers!
Douglas
I am restoring a 79 XL 500. Just bored out .20 over (10.1) and found an excellent head,cam,rockers on craigslist. Having trouble finding out why the tail light and stop lights blink with the turn signals and have looked at everything I could think of twice! Yes, I have good wiring diagrams. Just purchased the front brake light switch and have to figure out how that configures. I’m not sure I have the proper brake lever. I have painted the bike black and it shows well and runs really well. A colorado bike I picked up for $300. that I probably have $1000. into by now, but that’s much less than a new one. I still have to dig the end of the odometer cable out of the front brake plate as someone JB welded the end in. May have to look for a new plate with odometer gears attached. I sometimes hate ebay and sometimes it ok. lol! It’s been fun tho…starts first kick.
Hrm. You must have a worn through wire that is making contact somewhere. The brake light shouldn’t be connected to the turn signals at all.
I just sold my XL500S yesterday to a guy a few towns away. It is his first bike. He’s going to love it! Now I have to think about what I will get to replace it…
…and then after rebuilding forks and getting the XL in good shape, the rear wheel locks up solid at about 60 miles an hour. Tried it twice, same result. Local shop can’t find problem either after clutch tear down. Hmmm. Next step is to take out rear brake shoes and see if I’m picking up a wild vibration that shimmies the shoes together at high speed? (staying away from the curves) Ran the bike at high speed up on a stand and rear wheel didn’t lock, so body weight seems to have an issue with the rear wheel locking… hmmm. (won’t let it beat me)
Hi Rich,
That sounds a wee bit dangerous! I never had any problems like that with my XL500s while I owned it. Does the engine also stall when the wheel locks up? Maybe it’s a binding chain and a faulty freewheel unit in the rear hub?
Cheers!
Douglas
Doug
Chain and sprockets are new. Will have to look into the freewheel unit, as I am not familiar with that issue? But then why didn’t it happen when it was up on the stand under high speed operation? Bike operates fine until I hit the higher speed. When bike comes to a stop, it then releases the lock and starts right back up. Engine is off when I come to stop. Both times it happened there was only the ‘oh s___’ factor and didn’t think to pull in the clutch lever. I’d certainly like to find the obvious before I try it again. Have so many other things going on right now, the bike is on the back burner of things to do. Thank you for the tip. 🙂
These XL ‘s really seem to be a cult bike now-too bad Honda could not do another run of parts! I have a buddy who has 5 of them and I have a 1980 XR 500 and 1981 XL 500.Bikes that shorter people can put their feet on the ground! I am 6’ 1″ not an issue here.
There are many Honda bikes that I wish they would run another batch of parts for!
HI:
Were is the best place to get new parts?
Are you interested in selling?
Thanks,
Michael
Hallo Douglas
Nice website you have.
I am a mature 😉 59 years boy from sweden
I bougt one XR500 – 82 and another XL 500s -81
sommer 2014.
I have resored the XL and working hard on the XR right now
Well be ready ( i think ) in a mounth.
The summer is soon coming up in sweden ( north Europa )
Is there anything I can help you with according to your bike ?
wbr Leif Mårtensson
Hi Leif,
I sold my XL500s a few years ago. Now I only have two motorcycles in my garage. One day I might get another dual sport…
Cheers!
Douglas
Nice ride. I have the same bike with 926 original miles. Bad pulse generator, been put down once other then that its pretty close to new condition. Hope you have fun riding. Great old bike.
Hello:
I was interested in getting one, in case you like to sell.
Best,
Michael
Howdy Michael!
I sold this bike several years ago. E-Bay is the best source for used parts these days. servicehonda.com is where I get my new parts from.
Cheers!
Douglas
I know this is an old post but did your friend ever do the XL185 Lifan swap? I’m considering doing it myself since I have the frame and an extra Lifan sitting around. Did it just bolt up? Thank you.
Howdy Steve!
He finished the swap, rode it around for a few months, and then sold it to move on to his next project. It rode pretty well. As I recall, it bolted right up. Might as well give it a shot if you have the time and the motor sitting around.
Cheers!
Douglas
Thank you for the quick reply, I was hoping you’d say that, I was worried if the counter shaft would line up right. Looks like I have a project this weekend. Thanks again!
I have just bought an XL500s 1980 and was so excited but it has a couple of issues that have dampened my excitement. The bike pops and dies once warm if you open the throttle from tick over than struggles to start again?
It has a nasty rattle from the generator cover side of the engine.
I was hoping for some trouble free plods around the lanes but it seems that I will have to get down and dirty with it.
Any ideas?
Hmm sounds like you need to open the generator cover and see what that noise is. The carburettor could be dirty and the jets might be clogged causing your bike dying. You might try running a bunch of Techron or Seafoam through the fuel system to clear the jets.
Just purchased an 80′ xl500s in very decent shape. Lot of fun to ride, starts 1-2 kicks. Would like to convert to 12v, and put a smaller (21″) rim in front only because of the lack of 23″tires offered. Also has a couple of oil leaks I need to address. Looking forward to long-term enjoyment with this bike.
They’re great little bikes! I know a few years ago, there were a couple Chinese tire manufacturers that still made rubber for the front wheel. Reviews were decent. Price was right. Have fun with your bike!
Hello, I just bought a 1979 XL500 for $800. It runs good! The brakes are a bit soft and the drive chain needs to be tightened, but I’m happy with it for what I spent. The seller threw in a brand new battery and an additional set of off road tires and a front wheel.
The one issue I’m concerned with is the lights are very dim and blinkers barely blink at idle. the lights brighten up some when I throttle up. Can you tell me what the most likely issue could be?
Awesome! You’ll love the bike. With a little TLC it should continue running for years to come.
I own a 1979 Honda XL 500S which I purchased new. Feel free to write with any questions. Regarding the decompressor, you need to kick all the way through to the very bottom of the kick. Otherwise you can get a kickback, which is not fun. Wear boots when starting.