13K too many miles?

[throwback]

I am looking at a 1992 GS500E with 13K miles.  Is this high mileage on these bikes?  Also, owner says they are notorious for having too small of a battery and can be annoying with trouble starting....this true.  Don't find many of these in my area....should I look at another year for any reason?

Thanks, I am looking forward to ownership.

[NightRyder]

into claus: i may be wrong , do a search too.

I don't think that 13,000 miles is too high. if its been taken care of somewhat its ok.
I don't think the battery is much of an issue as long as the bike is in good condition.
I don't think these bikes should have issues starting unless theres something wrong.
I don't think that 1992 was much different from any other year, other then the colors.

[scratch]

13k miles is okay for a 13 year old bike.
I think the owner is covering up something by saying the battery is too small. Shouldn't he say that the battery is not powerful enough? In which case, I suspect that he didn't take care of the battery. If he's saying the battery is too small for the bike, I'm guessing he bought an incorrect battery just to sell the bike.
13k miles also means that the bike hasn't been ridden that much, and has been sitting for long periods of time. Difficult starting may be due to the carbs being gummed up, but he's blaming the battery.

[RVertigo]

My '01 has 13k on it...

13k isn't high for a '92.  1000 miles a year?  That's nothing...

As long as it hasn't been sitting for a long time or neglected...

[jdmbuilt]

my 94 has 13K miles

[Jace009gs]

always go into a buying situation with worst case scenerio about maintence. 13k miles is just about the time for the major tune up. [assuming he didn't do them since he cant even get the right size/power battery :lol: ] but even then a new CORRECT size batter is only $40ish.

you need to consider these as well for bad starting/state inspection
Carb Clean and Sync
New spark plugs
oil change
New Air Filter
Brakes [includes both pads/rotors/fluid possible lines]
valve job/clearance check
tires
fuel lines [if their orginal]
+ anything that you see that is broken on the bike [plastics, turn signals etc.]

If you have a stealership do all the work looking at the ball park figure of $800ish...


FYI my 94' GS500E had 24k miles and was running like a champ  The engine is bullet proof given you take care of it.

[gs500fromnb]

I got over 25000 miles on my 2003.....

I would be ready to say that 13K miles is not ENOUGH for that bike.... which means it could even be worse than having it at 30k-40k miles because that means 1000 miles a year IF it was ridden every year...

that means that being parked alot leaves alot of room for crappy maintenance, forgotten things, old hydrolic fluids, old tires, old chain, rusty gas tank, oil that could of been in it for years! Gummed up carbs, dry/cracked hydrolic lines, fuel lines, bad cables, pitting of the crankshaft (possible with old bad quality oil sitting in it for too long)... etc etc etc etc ....

[ShadowFire]

Check your sprockets and chain too. ( I may have missed that in the other post) I didn't and wound up having to replace that ALONG WITH new rear brakes....new rear tire....fresh battery...uhm and soon I'm going to need new fork seals.

My sprockets I found out were NOT safe. they were pointed into sharp little tips. not rounded like they SHOULD be.

My bike is a '93 and 14k on it. It runs well but just needs stuff.

[scratch]

+1 brake fluid; if it's not a light yellow, it needs to be changed. Ask the owner when was the last time he changed the fork oil and what kind of oil did he use. Irregardless, fork oil will need to be changed as it is the most neglected service on a m/c (should be changed every 2 yrs). The last valve adjustment should have been done at 12,000 miles; ask him if he did that.

[Lee from Toronto]

My 2004 GS500F has 13K miles on it!  :lol:

[RVertigo]

My 2004 GS500F has 13K miles on it!  :lol:

Sweet!!!

[stefman722]

My 2004 gs500f has 15,000 kilometers on it. I know its not miles, but man, dont u find it alot for an 04? in my opinion i bought it to ride it, so w.e.

[gs500fromnb]

My 2004 gs500f has 15,000 kilometers on it. I know its not miles, but man, dont u find it alot for an 04? in my opinion i bought it to ride it, so w.e.

my 2003 has 40000kms on it.... I find that it isn't alot (realisticly I would like to be around 50000kms on it at this point)... a local rider here has 65000kms on his 2003 ZX6R.

Bikes are made to be ridden, not parked. You abuse your bike more by leaving it parked all year.

[stefman722]

My 2004 gs500f has 15,000 kilometers on it. I know its not miles, but man, dont u find it alot for an 04? in my opinion i bought it to ride it, so w.e.

Bikes are made to be ridden, not parked. You abuse your bike more by leaving it parked all year.

I agree 100%

[Cal Price]

When looking at used bikes I recon anything under 3000 miles per annum is fairly light. 13k is nothing to worry about at all. (except possibly the problems of under-use)

The battery remark is odd, it probably requires a new battery. In the 70s and 80s some bikes that were kick-start only did have smaller batteries as they did not need to turn over the starter, I have heard these refered to as "too small" but never heard this in the GS context, sound like BS to me.

[ukchickenlover]

Maybe the bike has trouble starting and he is using the battery as an excuse.

[erijin]

I just hit 12k on my 04gsf

[tdan553527]

And 15,000 miles on my 04