I was looking for something to do tonight, so I decided to check out a few things on the 500. First off, just for fun, I measured the stock 495's to see how tall they were. Still ok tread left, and they measured like 24.5" on the quad and 25.5" standing free without the quads weight on them. So much for the idea of a straight 26" every time you talk about your tire size and ground clearance.
Next, it was time to check the brakes. I've done this before about 400 miles ago. Close to 1200 miles now on it and all brake pads still have tons of life in them. Thats something considering what I've heard about some other manufacturers brakes wearing out every 300-500 miles. I'm not hard on them though. While I had the wheels off, I went ahead and bled the brake lines and then adjusted the footbrake (something I half-heartedly performed when I bought it and never fooled with again). The footbrake has always sucked in my opinion. I didn't ride it afterwards, but I'll have to see if it is any better now. I checked out all the boots and all were fine. Only thing bad was a bent tie rod on the right front, and I knew about it already. I did that over a year ago when I hit a large pothole unknowingly at high speed. Just about took a spill that day.

So far, this is more or less what I've got now.

1999 Arctic Cat 500
2000 lb. warn winch
Arctic Cat 4" front rack extension
ATVStuff.com rear rack bag
Oxlite Brush Guards
Kimpex continuous tube front bumper

I have an itching for the highlifter performance kit, but thats not likely to happen due to the price vs. performance gain. Checking out the possibilities of rigging a rear light up (small and concealed), as well as possibly a couple auxilary lights in behind the kimpex bumper. Definitely will aquire either 27" Bi/Tri-Claws or Vampires within then next month or so. Still not sure on which. Probably the Claws because the Vamps have no real centerline for trailriding comfort. I also have to get a rack extension for the rear now to balance out the looks.

If I go vampires, I'll get them on ITP black and chrome from National Tire and Wheel. If I go Claws, probably the tires from Cawood Tire and the ITP chrome wheels from Rocky Mountain ATV. Pricewise, those are the best combinations I can find. Highlifter is too expensive on their wheels, and Rocky mountain carries neither tire.

 

Andy,
You can tell that your cat has been taken care of....It sounds like it has mucho life left. It is amazing to see the brakes holding up esp after all of the squeeking that they do.
Do you like your oxlites? I'm going to get a set of CV protectors this week and dont know what to get, wichever set I get in going to ovverlay them in diamond plate (I have it left over from the skidplate) to make them look better.

 

I had both stick stoppers and oxlights at one time new off the bike and put one on top of the other and the stick stoppers offerd better coverage(so I gave the oxlights to my friend) for what its worth . I am sure they are both good ...

 

I have 2300+ hard miles on my brakes and they still work VERY WELL. They don't stop as good as they did when new on hard surfaces like cement or roads, but (because of tire wear) they stop better on loss surfaces like gravel and loss dirt.