So torn...

[jabbajosh]

i ride a bandit 600 my friend mat is on a gs500 he eats me alive in corners its fricken amazing, i keep up in straights but no matter how crappy that rubber is on the gs that damn thing just keeps leaning over and over, shaZam! you can almost ride with the fricken bar end tapping the ground and not lowside

[scratch]

There isn't much in the aftermarket for the gs to get a little bit more out of it.

I love the bike dont' get me wrong, but there's just instances that you want extra power available on that special occasion.

Did I say my bike is stock? Maybe massaged a little. Carbs rejeted, Progressives with no spacer. BT45's.

Power does not compare to skill.

[cernunos]

Before I got the White Owl I would read about people who race GS500's and I would think...wha...? You gotta be kiddin'. Now I can understand why some people race the things. Love the little bike and the forum.

C.......

[gitarman]

I'm not tryin to sound like a jack@$$ chinos but I really dont think you "conquered" the GS in 550 miles. I go with scratch and say BEAT THE PISS OUTTA IT. My friends have an R1 and GSXR750 and I followed them with a camera mounted on my tank. When we watched the video I realized the GS was never under 6k, and I was havin fun. If you go blasting and really wring the bike out I GUARANTEE you will have a smile on your face and might wonder if its really the same bike.

[pianopraze]

lmao ......  

dude.... i have owned two bikes... my gs500 and a hyabusa....(like say 1300, kick ass of anything built).....

let me tell you at 500 miles you haven't even BEGUN to understand your bike.... listen to these people!  The GS is the little bike that could... i have kept up with r1 on big sur twisties!...

This bike will teach you to ride. The more you push the more it goes.... Rev the SHI. out of it and it has power to spare.... yes the busa is fun for going at insane speeds, but it can't handle worth a darn... it's a speed demon, and nice for long rides, but for twisties i would rather be on my gs500. With the bigger bikes you need all the skills you can learn on the gs.

[nl_carey]

Last weekend I was on a ride and out of 20 bikes, only two were going faster than me in any sort of corner - an R6 and a GSXR1000. Now, frankly I don't know what their corner speed was because they were into the horizon after the first two corners, but they hammer enough to have no tread left on the outside of their tyres (track days). On rides, my GS is rarely below 7000rpm, often between 9-10,000. Use your gears and you'll find the ~40 horsepower in the meaty bit of the powerband will do most of the things you want.
I did feel a bit lacklustre in some high-speed transit sections, but these were over 100mph and frankly, I think it's good I couldn't go faster. I had to crouch down on the tank to avoid wind buffeting as it was. I had comments about how people behind me knew how much I was hammering it due to little puffs of black smoke when I downshifted to aid in passing. They are going close to starting up a collection to stop the merciless abuse I give my engine.
All this, and I still have chickenstrips on the tyres.
Power is good for high-speed overtakes and two-up touring. Otherwise, our little GS does everything it needs to. If I could have two bikes, I'd not upgrade and by myself a R1200 or something just for touring on the weekends. I don't, so eventually I'll upgrade, but only after I really feel the GS can't teach me any more. And if I had a GS500F, I wouldn't be hankering after a fairing at high speeds.
And these comments after 6,000 miles. Probably another 6,000 to go...

[pantablo]

... learn to ride fast and you start dusting 600's on twisty roads and you are waiting at the stop sign, going what took you so long? I'm on a 500....

Thats when I decided it was time for a sportbike. I put 9,000 miles on my gs in 16 months...almost all were canyon miles. I'd hold on to the gs500f for a bit longer. Unless you can do what it says above, or are consistently dragging hard parts you dont really need a bigger bike.

You'll be better off sticking with the gs and learning more. It forces you to do things right, instead of hiding it with horespower.

I'm noticing that there are two types of people that usually recommend serious time spent with a smaller bike like the gs when starting out.
a) the mature, experienced riders and,
b) the new riders who started out on 600 sportbikes, and who scared themselves. One guy on the 600rr forum said it best when he said he wasn't learning to ride, he was learning to survive...

[pantablo]

Power does not compare to skill.

I like that!
Reminds me of the saying "the faster the bike, the slower the rider"...

[chinox22x]

ok...i'll keep the little devil  

[The Buddha]

Oh now look at what y'all have done... I was going to buy an 04 cheap... and y'all fooked it up...
Cool.
Srinath.

[scratch]

One guy on the 600rr forum said it best when he said he wasn't learning to ride, he was learning to survive...

Question; please clarify: He was learning to survive on what? A 600?

BTW, great write up, Pablo!

Makes me think about getting a Ninja 250 and exploring that 14,000rpm redline.

[pantablo]

Yeah, 600rr as a first bike. He wasnt learning to ride it, only surviving being on such a powerful machine-basically riding scared. How is someone going to learn to push their personal limits if they're afraid the bike's going to bite them?

My 600rr rear tire speaks for itself...The edges are near the tread wear bars and the center is near new, thanks in whole to the learning I did on the gs. The guys I ride with all comment on how smooth I am. THAT is the key to good (ie fast) riding, being smooth. I still feel I have lots of miles to go before I consider myself a good rider (ie experienced) and thats with 11,000 miles under my belt.

----
There's one guy in particular this makes me think of from the about.motorcycles board. He came on asking if an R1 was a good first bike. Pretty much everyone said it wasnt and he should at least consider a 600 instead. he insisted he was a "mature" rider and would "respect the bike" blah blah blah...maybe a month later he comes on and says he "dropped" the bike. Turns out he target fixated in the canyons and tossed it over the edge, dropping it 20-30ft down a ravine. uh, dropped it-yeah right. Everyone gave him grief for trying to minimize it. He later came online and fervently warned others against an R1 as a first bike. What do those guys usually do? They go to the R1 forum where they'll find someone who'll tell them with "respect" they can do it. Bugs the shaZam! out of me.

[scratch]

Respect is a learning tool, and respecting the unknown is wise, but if the wisdom of others who are experienced, or the knowledge of the unknown, is unheeded, makes respect useless.

I had respect even before I purchased my first bike, and learned a whole 'nother type of respect after.

[nl_carey]

http://www.beginnerbikes.com/editorials/makingtransition.htm
I read this yesterday, and it's related to all this sort of stuff, comments from a guy moving from a ninja 250 up to an FZR600.
I think a lot of it is from the fact he hadn't ridden for 6 months before the new bike, but many comments seem valid. I actually really enjoyed my first 600cc bike ride (TT600), found it soooo much more stable in corners and being a 4 cyl, the power was easy to manage based on gear selection and throttle control. Steering was harder though, and doing a U-turn was far more difficult... the thing I loved the most was better acceleration off the line  

[johncam4]

get the sv