New guy

[BarePaw]

Hi. I'm new. I just bought my first bike, a 1993 GS500. The paint's  a little faded and she needs a new chain, but  otherwise she seems pretty sound. It has about 11,000 miles on it. Anybody know how much mileage I can get out of a bike like this? Anything I need to watch for? After I feel comfortable that I'm not  going to drop it, I'll repaint it. I'd also like to replace those Mickey Mouse ears with some bar end mirrors. Here's how it looks now:

[ohgood]

Welcome to GS land.

Love the orange.

Don't worry about dropping it. You'll likely only scratch the front signal, mirror, and maybe the fork leg unless you have some velocity when you do.

You can get ALOT of miles out of it. Folks have 50-60K and a few 80K on this forum. Change the oil, get a Clymer manual and follow the maintenance guidelines. It's easy, cheap, fun, and cooler than a mohawk.

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

If you're worried about dropping it (like I have), get the SW-Motech case guards from twisted throttle accessories. $120, but they'll protect the engine/cases against just about anything (including a 30mph end over end flip)

[BarePaw]

Love the orange.

Actually it's red. That's how faded the paint is. Thanks though. Would you recommend the Clymer over Haynes?

[scratch]

Welcome!

Bike looks great!  Even with the mirrors.

[pandy]

Welcome!!  I think the MM ears are kinda cute.... 

[BarePaw]

Here's another pic from today:

It's a crappy cell phone pic, but I like the setting. It actually looks red in this picture, too. 

[Mayoke]

Awesome! 
Welcome aboard. (I just recent joined myself.)
I get my GS next weekend!
Mine is red as well.

My first bike was a GS before the one I'm getting.
You'll enjoy it. (At least I enjoyed mine enough to want another one.)

[Cal Price]

Welcome, a drop is not exactly welcome but it ain't the end of the world, worst thing is a busted lever (the end ball bit is designed to snap off) unless you are really unlucky. Hurt pride and looking a prat are the biggest worry, I've done it and so have a lot of others.

Clymer v Haynes, difficult one as they approach things slightly differently, Kerry who used to be a major contributor and mentor to this board always reconed that Clymer was probably technically marginly better but Haynes was set out more logically and things were easier to find. I inherited a Haynes with an old project Yamaha and got on OK with it, see if you can get a look at both, for any old bike or vehicle, and decide which suits you best. Good bike, it looks a nice well cared-for machine.

[natedawg120]

Welcome to the forum.  The mirrors aren't that bad...

[pbureau69]

well look at this way, you have 11,000 on a 1993, I have 14,000 on an 05....and plenty more guys out there I am sure riding with more than 50,000 on their GS500.

Nice bike.. get your legs on that color, and once you nice and comfy, get it paint, go thru withdrawl while bike is being painted, moan about it on this board, get bike back, tell world on Gstwin board, mass spaming boards all over  world about new paint color of you bike, finally get on ride, enjoy day, get back hom, turn engine off, step off, and watch bike fall to the ground because you forgot to put the stand down.... go back to begining of this paragraph and repeat (grin)