1
I tried the 500 for a dual sport day, and that bike (and me) felt hella stressed out doing 85...squirrely bars...very high strung out...All my pavement day trip rides from home involve 1-2 hours at 80-100. The 690 was *just* enough to comfortably handle the slab; the 500, I'd do only if I was skipping all freeway (kinda like RTW paul). If you're smashing 80% of your miles on pavement all summer, the 500 is the wrong bike IMHO.
and yes, the forks need to come off to swap the fork guards:
they wrap all the way around the fork
a lot gets trimmed off to clear the 17's:
the front wheel is especially wider than the enduro wheel:
but it works:
everything clears and fits
the kickstand is a little too tall, but I have the W9 replacement
kickstand switch dongle installed and bike fires/runs.
Carrying some extra fuses, and going to do some local rides to make sure it doesn't pop.