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my 98 EX500 has a hose attached to that stem. and as far as the other question, I dont know. I have taken my 500 to 120 before and then I shut it down.

 

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Never had this kind of problem, but my uneducated guess is it might be running rich and getting too much gas. Try retuning the carbs, Aftermarket mufflers and jet kits could affect the mix if thats the problem, do you know what the previous owner did to it?

 

Seeker, I can get my 05' to go 130+ and it's stock. I would take Prom's suggestion and check carbs air/fuel mix especially if there is aftermarket pipes.

 

In addition to the previous excellent suggestions, I would buy or borrow a copy of the factory service manual and check the routing of the vaccuum hoses. If the previous joker (er, I mean owner) removed the fuel-tank vent hose, he probably removed/disabled some other hoses that are better left unbothered. A disconnected vaccuum hose could certainly account for this.

Stuff like this drives me crazy. Why do some of us feel the need to tinker/destroy the perfectly balanced machine?

Good luck and let us know it goes.
Peace!
-Chris in Carlsbad, CA

 

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Bingo! There's your problem.
Mr. Yoshimura knows a lot less about making a motorcycle go fast than Mr. Kawasaki. And they both know a LOT-LOT more than this guy diddling with the exhaust.
Did the bike come with the original pipes? I predict when you put those back on, the bike will spool right up to 125mph lickity-split, (as long as that joker with the soldering iron hasn't effed up the jetting too.
If this bike didn't include all of the original, stock equipment, I hope you got a good deal on it. These previous tinkerers have thwarted Mr. Kawasaki's best intentions and debauched and defiled one of his beautiful children.
Disagree? Go out and have a top-end contest with a bone-stock 500R.

I'd return everything to stock. Not only will your bike perform better, I predict it will get better mileage too.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Peace!
-Chris in Carlsbad, CA

 

hahaha calamarichris, I can see that some things are amiss here as well. I can also see where a two into one exhaust may be ok depending on how the ride was tuned, cams, jetting and ignition to meet the riders uses. I F*** with my rides to meet my needs. Just because a corporation needs to fill/meet everyones' needs with one product ie Kawasaki. Then add the extra little goodies(factory parts) that are available. Does not mean that one product is perfect for just one rider. But not knowing how everything works as a unit and just use something that looks cool lets say or that cannot be used for that riders style can be disastrous if not tuned properly.

 

I've got almost $900 in suspension/mirror/noise-damping upgrades to my 500, but I still must respectfully disagree about exhaust-diddling being "upgrades." What needs does a louder exhaust pipe fulfill? It ~might~ actually add one or two horsepower, but it almost always does this by shifting the powerband from the midrange to the high-rpm max-hp (which is seldom as useful on public roads, except when you're running from the police.)
And as soon as you install a louder pipe, you've upset the delicate hydrodynamic balance that Kawasaki's engineers and PhD's have worked long and hard to perfect, and made it a less efficient machine.
And what's the next step after you've put on an aftermarket pipe? Of course now that you've screwed up the backpressure and meticulously-metered and engineered flow, you must correct the carburetor jetting. And we civilians and non-PhD's simply do not have access to the know-how or the tools that KHI does to ever recover that delicate state of balance again. Sure, we have dynotuners, but these guys are basically salesmen with a very pliable instrument that they can easily manipulate to overcome any post-purchase ambivalence.
Proof? How come hp-numbers fluctuate so greatly that magazines are often quick to point out that the claimed and actual hp numbers are always going to vary? Because a dyno-tuner can do little things here and there like tire pressure, throttle settings, ram-air fan positioning that will make it appear as if your bike was a slug when you brought it in, but they magically transformed it into a stronger, faster engine!
I've never heard of ANYone who actually got better mileage after going to a dynotuner or installing a jet-kit, and fuel economy is indeed an indication of efficiency and proper tuning. The only way I'd trust a dyno-tuner is if he had an O2 meter and got permission to braze ports into your header pipes. BUT NONE OF THEM DO THIS. Why? Because it's much easier and cheaper to take a short-cut with a Dyno's settings than it is to do it correctly.
On the other hand, I have seen engines that died premature deaths because of carbon build-up on the valves and on piston crowns; carbon build-up resulting from over-rich conditions. And every aftermarket jet-kit essentially solves any aftermarket-induced carburetion problems by simply throwing a richer mixture at them.

Remember those "carb-o-meters" of about 5 years ago with the red & green colored lights that were supposed to directly measure the fuel-air ratio in your intake throat? How come you never see those around anymore? About the most sophisticated method of determining jetting is the throttle-chop method.

I believeWalMart, Starbucks, AT&T, Nestle and Coca-Cola deserve our mistrust just as much as any mega-corporation, but screwing with something as intricate, delicate and (to us) unmeasurable, as the fuel-air ratio is foolhardy.
If it please the court, I submit the current state of this poor guy's bike as exhibit-A.

Peace!
-Chris in Carlsbad, CA