Newbee manual question

[Franky500]

Greetings all...this is my first time on the site. I started riding this past March on a GS500F and I love it! Last weekend I went to get my owner's manual because I want to change my own oil and I can't seem to locate it.

My question is this: I want to buy a Clymer or Haynes manual instead of getting another owner's manual but the most recent manuals for the GS500s are dated '89-'02. Being a newbee, aside from the fairing, is the rest of the ' 04 basically the same? Will these manuals teach me what I need to know and if so, is one better than the other?

...and what's the best way to remove the factory stickers from my fairing? I want to get rid of some of the decals and all of those "warning" stickers.

Thanks much!

[tdan553527]

The clymer manual up to the 02 will work for most everything, the only differences on the 04 are the oil cooler, fairing, and front forks. This info will not be in the clymer manual. You should be able to get a supplemental manual from your dealer to cover those new things. I have an 04 also, the clymer is great, the dealer gave me the supplemental manual for the rest.

Welcome to the site, lots of great info here, and lots of knowlegable people.

Use some goo gone, available at auto stores or walmart, to get the stickers off.

[Cal Price]

You can by a Clymers or haynes on this site, just click the Icon on the homepage.

The manual up to 02 will be fine, obviously the 04 F is not featured but the addition of the oil cooler increases the oil volume, I have seen something about that on this site, try search or wait for a Guru who will be along at any moment. On the homepage there is a maintenance schedule and somewhere there is a "how to" if you can't find it try Kerry's-Pantablo's-Srinath's(?) hints and tips on their sites. On the UK site www.gs500e.co.uk there is a reasonable "How to" section that you may find useful.

Removing stickers can be tricky, factory stickers/decals will be coated with the final coat(s) of clear laquer and you may wish you had not started, another job for search. If they are stickers put on after final finish, by the importer or dealer or Joe Bloggs they can usually be removed fairly easily. if they have been on for a while borrow a hair dryer(I'm assuming that bikers don't own hair dryers here) and warm the sticker up gently, this will soften or melt the glue and hopefully prevent it removing any paint etc when you peel it off, get it nice and warm but don't cook it and it's easy enough. Hopefully some of the warnings will be put on by the importer as these things vary from country to country.

[Kerry]

For the maintenance schedule, use the "Go To:" drop-down control in the upper right corner of this page.  Choose the "Maintenance Schedule" entry and you're there!

For information on Clymer vs Haynes, give this a shot:

* Click the "Search" link at the top of this page

* Enter

clymer haynes index in the "Search for keywords" box

* Choose the "Search for all terms" option

* Click the "Search" button at the bottom of the page[/list:u]This search will currently give you 3 message threads to read through.  (It will give you 4 as soon as I post this message.  )  I just skimmed through each one, and I think you will find them useful.

Oh, and here is a link to the "How To" pages that Cal mentioned:

http://www.gstwin.com/how_to_pages.htm[/list:u]