New Rider on Cali Central Coast

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Led Head
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun May 08, 2016 2:13 am
I ride: '07 Black Vulcan 500 LTD

New Rider on Cali Central Coast

Postby Led Head » Sun May 08, 2016 2:26 am

Hi, new Vulcan 500 family! It's great to be part of The Tribe.

I'm returning to cycling in my early 50's, making my first excursion in street bikes. Honestly, I never though I'd make the plunge--but here I am!

My former bikes were a 1968 Hodaka Ace 90 and a 1975 Honda Elsinore 125. My new Vulcan is a different beast altogether.

I'm sure I will have plenty of questions along the way. I am already struck by how few aftermarket parts there are for the 500 LTD.

What are some of the easiest performance mods that most people recommend? K & L filters? Iridium plugs?

Cheers,

Led Head

GeorgiaRider
Posts: 168
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2010 5:51 am
Location: NW Georgia

Re: New Rider on Cali Central Coast

Postby GeorgiaRider » Sat May 14, 2016 5:56 am

Welcome to the forum Led Head. I love the Vulcan 500. Plenty of power stock in my opinion, but there are others here who can help.
GeorgiaRider
2006 Vulcan 500

Kuryakyan Foot Peg Extenders and Pegs
Memphis Shades Alley Cat Windshield
Saddlemen Large Slant Saddlebags
Powersports Mini-Tachometer
Kawasaki Luggage Rack
Kuryakyan Iso-Grips
Airhawk cushion
Marlin's Clock

User avatar
Triangles
Site Admin
Posts: 819
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 10:35 pm
I ride: '94 Black Cherry Vulcan 500, '06 Candyfire Red Vulcan 500 LTD
Location: Toledo Ohio
Contact:

Re: New Rider on Cali Central Coast

Postby Triangles » Tue May 17, 2016 8:01 am

Welcome to the forum. Don't waste your time with performance mods unless you just like to tinker for the sake of tinkering. You'll waste more time and money than you would have if you just had bought a bigger bike. With that said. The Vulcan 500 is tuned for more low end torque. Tuning for low end torque sacrifices maximum horsepower. Somebody correct me if I am wrong on the numbers, I'm going from memory. The EN500C (second gen Vulcan 500 '96-'09) has about 40 HP. The EN500A (first gen Vulcan 500 as well as Ninja 500) had about 50HP. The engines are more or less identical other than the cams and pistons. Also it goes without saying the ignition curves are different. So you could put Ninja 500 or EN500A cams in and get a little more pep but lose some low end grunt. You could also try swapping in the ninja/EN500A pistons which are higher compression. Not sure how well this would work with the different ignition curve though. Personally it would probably be easier to just swap in a whole EN500A/ninja engine and figure out how to wire in the ignitor from the donor bike as well.

I would recommend iridium plugs. They don't really do anything for performance but the appeal is that they last a long time. The stock filter is pretty free flowing as is. K&N filters are nice but don't change anything and if they did you'd have to rejet and retune the carb which is not easy.
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