New member intro, 500 Country owner

[vme250]

Hello
Just a quick intro, I recently acquired a 95 MZ 500 Country. I was interested in a dual-sport bike to be able to "go anywhere" but I spend most of my time on OLD bikes and I just can't ride the new off road bikes that are so tall. This bike is a good combo of traditional design and modern components. I just find it really easy to ride. It has low miles and so far I haven't found anything wrong with it! I've already picked up some good tech info from the other forums, thanks.
Larry

Seattle, WA , USA

other bikes: Ducati 250, Matchless G80CS, G15CSR, OSSA Phantom, Yamaha TY250

[iceman]

Welcome Larry,I hear you can go forever on a tank of gas on your bike.

[nikitino]

Welcome Larry.......I also have a 500 Country......I love the bike and plan on keeping it forever. Right now i'm working on either changing the setting on my rear shocks, changing them out for a spare pair that i have which are on the softest setting, or possibly buying a pair of hagon shocks for the rear......rear shocks are a little stiff for me right now. Let me know if you have any Country 500 specific questions and i'll help as much as i can.........I may be asking for some help soon myself regarding rear wheel removal which i am also in the process of doing.......Also, what are the other web sites that you speak of?

[vme250]

When I said "other forums" I just meant other threads on this one.

I got a (photocopy) of a service manual with the bike that covers everything except the engine, I'm ordering a manual for that from rotax.net

I've put a few miles on mine now and I didn't like that it wouldn't drop right down to idle speed when I let off the throttle. The linkage seemed to work fine so I ordered a carb rebuild kit from the "Bing Agency". I can't say I found anything wrong with it but I went through it pretty carefully, replaced all the o-rings, found some junk in the main jet (which shouldn't affect the idle anyway) and now it idles fine!

My next project is to adjust the valves. I'll report back on that. I really like the bike but I want to make sure I'm getting max performance from it, it seems pretty gutless compared to my Yamaha SR500. Not sure if the tach is accurate but it pretty much quits accelerating at 6000 rpm.

Does anybody have a part number for a replacement air filter element, OEM or aftermarket (K & N, Amsoil etc)??

more later,
Larry