Article about the gs and the 500r interesting read, check it

[pprider]

http://www.mcnews.com/mcn/model_eval/NinjaGScomparo07a.pdf

[cernunos]

The best way to tell is ride and decide. I've had HD, Triumph, Honda and some other stuff...the Baby G is a fun little scooter. Maybe my testosterone levels have dropped as I get older. I love the little GS and the forum.

C.......

[pprider]

o hehe dont get me wrong i own a GS  i love the thing jsut thought it was a interesting read

[john]

Very objective.  I was only surprised about the fuel economy.  Even rejetted our GS got over 50mpg.  Very strange.

But Suzuki chose to leave the motor alone.  My suspicion is that they can't punch out the mill any more than it has been (remember it was originally a 400cc mill).  Plus making a new water cooled motor would add big engineering costs into the bike and add variable product cost.  This means higher price and I think $5000 is topps for a GS.

Is it possible Suzuki will do something about the motor for next year?  I wish.  A smidge higher compression and fuel injection would go a long way.  We'll see.

[Blueknyt]

revamp the clutch cover just a tad, to add a waterpump drive off the crank, or even CB shaft. molding and sleeving jacketed CYL wouldnt be hard or expensive for factory and adding on a madua 1200 head (4 valve)  one head handles 600cc.  600cc GS wouldnt be hard for SUZ inc to put out.

[pprider]

WOOT John replied to another one of my posts muahaha

[geekonabike]

MCN got one very important detail wrong, which makes you wonder about the rest of the article.  That is, the valve adjust interval on the Kawa is 12,000 km, not 12,000 miles.  They then used that to calculate that the GS has higher maintenance costs.  True that is significantly longer than the GS500, but my understanding is that it is not something you can do yourself on the Kawa so easily and should cost more per.  

A friend bought the Ninja, and this article at first gave him some comfort his decision was right at the time.  When he found out about this little detail, he was most displeased, especially since he actually subscribes to that expensive mag.  He also didn't quite believe their mileage comparison, and all that said, was rather outraged that they would jump to the conclusion that total cost of ownership on the GS would be triple that of the Ninja.  

A weaker point to follow up on is:  If you make it naked, the GS can survive many a fall that would leave the Ninja with very expensive plastic to replace, but I'm not being quite fair (no pun intended) when I make that case.  I was thinking about my E, not the F.  But then again, I'm not sure you could chop the Ninja's fairing off so easily, or that you'd want to, but the GS looks good that way.

I agree with an earlier post-er, that you have to decide what you personally like.  I fit the GS better (and don't do twisties really), while my friend who is close enough to my size likes the Ninja's ergos.  With that mindset, it is hard to read this article with so many categories going "Advantage: Kawasaki" and then the paragraphs talking about how close the call was.  Reading just the headings, you'd think THE GS IS OUT, AND THE NINJA IS IN.  WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD BUY A GS?  Well, then you read and see how the plot thickens.

My friend wrote a rather diplomatically scathing letter to them to print a retraction on some of the information.  We'll see.

FWIW,
Mike D.

[sprint_9]

I think it is a bunch of BS, such little things making the Kaw a winner.   Also, since when does the GS redline at 9,500?

[jiggersplat]

yeah, and in addition to having the redline way off, they also claim the top speed was < 100mph.  i'm sure almost everyone on this board has gone faster than that.

[bikenut]

Wonder how much that article cost Kawasaki?

I'm sure the Ninja is a fine bike, but I think the water cooler stickin out the front is downright ugly, and when I sat on it, I was very uncomfortable.  I love the riding position on the 2004 GS and I (and all my co-workers) think it is beautiful.  I average 50mpg and the bike is stock.  I've gotten the speedo to 115 in 6th and wasn't at redline.  Don't know how fast I actually was moving, though.  Cycle world has tests of lots of bikes at the end of their mags and they've got an 01 GS @13.64 in the 1/4 and the EX @12.81.  Hardly a second and a half difference.

Besides, if I was looking for a bike to race around town like an idiot, I'd have bought an FZ1.