Any year 500 will work. They are all pretty much the same. I agree about buying the whole bike. I picked up a 2001 running in good shape for $1800. It real helped with the wiring and the plumbing. The only major things that you have to change are the intake (which I found that a intake from a Preditor has almost the perfect angle and fits right on) and the exhaust has to modified to fit. We have put a couple hundred miles on it and it is working great. Could use some tuning on the cvt but it is working fine the way it is.