thinking of selling my bike within the next few months

[04yellow500]

i just got my 2004 yellow 500 about a week ago and already i am pondering getting rid of it.  its a great bike and everything i just feel like i am going to want something bigger soon.  I have been looking into getting a gsx 600 or a yamaha r6.  ANyone have any opinions. everyone told me that i would outgrow the bike faster than i thought and i am starting to think they were right.  dont get me wrong but i absolutely love the bike but i can feel myself getting just a tad bored on it. only have had it one week tomorrow and i have 200 miles on it so i have been riding it for 7 days straight. i cant put it down.  Well just tell me what you guys think,  should i wait ?? Or act now before my baby loses its value which i hear it does really fast. Anyone interested in buying it buy the way??

[pantablo]

Keep it.

What you think of as "getting bored" is really only your comfort level rising.  Your SKILL level does not grow at the same rate as your comfort level. You need 6-12 months MINIMUM on the bike before you should even consider another bike, especially a sport bike.

Let me tell you something. I rode my gs500 for 9,000 miles in 16 months, most of those miles in the canyons. I upgraded to a 600RR and the first month I had it I was SHOCKED at the power. It was like learning all over again. I am a much better rider on the sportbike now because I rode the hell out of my gs500. When riding my GS in the canyons I could hang with pretty much anyone (to their embarassment). I was riding the RR to the tires edge pretty quickly because of the skills I learned on the GS.

Finally, consider these last 2 things: First, most EXPERIENCED riders will agree to stick with the gs for a time. Dont let your friends or your ego tell you otherwise. Second, there's an old motorcycle saying that goes something like, "A slower bike makes a faster rider."

[geekonabike]

It's a free country.  If you want to sell it here, you have to tell us where you are and maybe post on the for sale/trade/hot deals forum.  Whatever you decide, good luck.  

Till it's true that you really should stick with the GS for all the reasons already mentioned.  Maybe you can find a track where you can see what it can do on the maneuverability and not be so bored.  I've met guys who gave up the race bikes for dual purpose bikes with half the horsepower because they enjoyed the dirt and road maneuverability so much.  I also know a guy who has owned 40+ bikes and his favorites, now his onlies, are a CB250 and an S40 (formerly Savage).  He and others have talked about keeping up on the CB250 with some bikes costing 2-3 times as much on twisties.   I also had a friend who went to a track where cops train in their Crown Victoria cruisers (of the 4-wheel variety), and the last thing they did was let him try to outrun them in his old Datsun 510 (what, 120hp?).  See below for some examples:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2492323711
http://www.modernracer.com/features/fordcrownvictoriacop.html

They couldn't catch him.  He, and the cop in the passenger seat of the cruiser, were just giggling themselves silly.  While they might have gotten him on a straight highway chase,  he got them on the turns, big time.  FWIW.

--Mike D.

PS:  If I had the kind of $$ you seem to I'd buy it off you, but I doubt you'd take a trade-in on my '98 GS500E.  How about an '88 Nissan Sentra?

[Ed_in_Az]

 

[indestructibleman]

should i wait ?? Or act now before my baby loses its value which i hear it does really fast.

the value was lost the moment you rode it off the lot.

also, i'm curious as to how exactly you're getting bored.  have you been regularly scraping your pegs in turns?  are you regularly opening the throttle all the way?  are your friends on superbikes teasing you?

cheers,
will

[jag69]

Wow.  200 miles and you're bored.  I have had my 97 GS for a little over a year and have put about 8,000 miles on it and I have just decided to keep the GS for one more year.  Have you ridden in the upper RPM's ?  What is it about the GS that bores you?  You haven't even broken the bike in.  We all have friends that have the R6's, R1's, CBR600RR's, ........ and the list goes on.   Ride your own ride.  Enjoy the learning curve.  I know I have.  My wife and kids thank me for it.

Good luck on your decision .

[eyeWANAgs]

i have a perfect running/looking 2003 dual purpose im tryin to trade in the for sale section. i just put it up a couple hours ago. check it out. THANKS.

[Hi-T]

It doesn't take much to upgrade the bike- you'd be surprized what some radials and up'd suspension will do... then throw on an exhuast and a jet kit and BAM- the bike is a different beast.

I rode almost 6000 miles in 9 months and when I moved to the SV I really missed the GS.  The SV is a better bike but the gs made me a better rider.  

You are going to make some silly mistakes in the first the 6 months of riding- the GS is more forgiving and a whole lot less expensive to fix.  You will also miss the extra 20 mpg and the CHEAP insurance.

[Finprof]

last thing they did was let him try to outrun them in his old Datsun 510 (what, 120hp?). quote]

Now you made me want to bid on that 510 on EBAY. My first new car was a 1969 510 - 1600cc and 96 hp. Every now and then I dream that I still have it.

I also wish I had my Honda S90 back again. I will never love any bike like that one even with its 65 mph top speed.

[glenn9171]

Wanna talk about a drop in sale-value?  Try selling a motorcycle in the Fall or Winter compared to the Spring.  

I agree with Pablo.  Keep riding the GS until you stop improving.  If you haven't been riding for at least a couple years before now, you have learned nothing about "properly" riding in only 200 miles.  I had almost 10,000 miles on my '01 model in a year and a half riding as many curvy roads as I could find around here.  I was still learning new things each time I went out.  I also encountered lots of things that would have likely killed my if I had been on a "real" sportbike making the same mistakes.

[04yellow500]

thanks for all the replys guys.  I have been riding for some time now. i know i am not the expert or anything but i have ridden bigger bikes and manuevered on them quite well for little ol me.  I leared how to ride on my fathers hayabusa and rode that during the summer for transportation so i know how it feels to ride a fast bike.  I got the gs500 for the exact reasons you guys stated. and i cant lie it was an excellent purchase. the thing that made me start thinking of selling it fast was learning about its resale/ trade in value.  i know the value of any bike will go down once it leavs the lot but i wouldnt mind getting just a bit more for it by keeping the miles low and selling it before the year is up.  We will see though.  I am going through my senior year of college and i need to start saving money to be a "grown-up" soon.  Who knows i might just have to sell my new baby all together and save for another bike anyways.

[Dima26]

thanks for all the replys guys.  I have been riding for some time now. i know i am not the expert or anything but i have ridden bigger bikes and manuevered on them quite well for little ol me.  I leared how to ride on my fathers hayabusa and rode that during the summer for transportation so i know how it feels to ride a fast bike.

Learned how to ride on the busa?        

[charleym3]

My story is a lot like yours, but I'm a lot older.  Learned to ride on a Yamaha XS1100.  "Graduated" to a Kaw KZ1K.  Frightenly fast in the early 80s.  Had several other bikes and a 13 year break.  My son is 12 now.  In July I got back on a 91GS5E.  In a mere 2 month I graduated to a Bandit600S.  I've only put 200 miles on the Bandit and I'm sorry I got it.  The GS is 100 pounds lighter and infinitely more forgiving.  I wasn't done learning what the GS had to teach me.  Now I have two bikes and not enough time to ride one.
The equinox is fading in the rear view mirror and the price of bikes is already down 20%.  Ride it through the winter when ever the weather will allow, then sell it in the spring.  You will fetch a better price.  MUCH better price.  When the buds start coming out bike prices will jump.
There's a GS500F with around 1K miles about to expire on Ebay with a starting price of $3K, no reserve, and NO bids.  If you sell now, you're going to take a major beating on the price.

[MR_PINK]

As 04 GS owner as well i felt i may put my 2 cents in here.  This is my first bike also and i learned on a small 250 honda crusier, so driving this bike home from the dealer made me nervous because it was bigger and an unfamiliar bike to me.  I learned very quickly how to handle it but still have much more to learn.  I also have been getting bored with it only because of the break in procedure.  The bike doens't make any power under 5k and when i shift at 5k it seems like the power band is just starting.  So to me it seems pretty slow but can't wait till i can start opening it up.  Im at 250 miles.  My advice is to wait at least till the motor is properly broken in, it won't loose much more value with an extra 400 miles anywho.  Good luck

[Dima26]

I would agree. I crossed 500 miles last Sunday and it pulls way stronger after 6000 RPM. I cannot rev it higher than 8000 RPM till 1000 miles, but even this power is enough for me now. Starting from a stop is fun . I really like the bike so far and plan to keep it for a while.

[pantablo]

just wait till you guys get it into the 7500-9500 range...then the bike comes alive!

[Ed_in_Az]

Pablo knows whereof he speaks here. The GS will have no trouble keeping up with or pulling away from freeway traffic. I love on-ramps. I use them as dragstrips.  :mrgreen: Pablo's new super Honda thingy however will cost him his drivers license if he twists it too hard.

[scratch]

Break-in can be a chore, but you can't judge a bike by its cover, wait until Chapter 2: After The Break-in.

[scratch]

Break-in can be a chore, but you can't judge a bike by its cover, wait until Chapter 2: After The Break-in.

[geekonabike]

thanks for all the replys guys.  I have been riding for some time now. i know i am not the expert or anything but i have ridden bigger bikes and manuevered on them quite well for little ol me.  I leared how to ride on my fathers hayabusa and rode that during the summer for transportation so i know how it feels to ride a fast bike.  I got the gs500 for the exact reasons you guys stated. and i cant lie it was an excellent purchase. the thing that made me start thinking of selling it fast was learning about its resale/ trade in value.  i know the value of any bike will go down once it leavs the lot but i wouldnt mind getting just a bit more for it by keeping the miles low and selling it before the year is up.  We will see though.  I am going through my senior year of college and i need to start saving money to be a "grown-up" soon.  Who knows i might just have to sell my new baby all together and save for another bike anyways.

Hayabusa, eh?  All summer, and you just now decided the little bike won't do.  I'm not cynical by nature.  So please tell me this isn't a troll case and I'll probably believe you.   --MMD