How long have you been a GS rider, and why?

[MattCodder]

Since Wednesday. I picked my 05 up and I've already put more miles on it than I did my 77 Yamaha Triple in the last three seasons. I've been dying to ride, and I wanted a standard type riding position, but more I wanted an inexpensive, efficient, fun bike that I could just go out and ride without four hours of wrenching. I loved the triple, but needed something a bit more reliable.

It's been a good (almost) week. I like the 'naked' look better, so I'm considering removing the fairings. I bought a bike that had been dropped, so there is some minor fairing damage, but otherwise it's a beauty. It didn't bother me since I had visions of an 'E' conversion before I even laid eyes on the bike.

[DoD#i]

You can probably sell all the fairing bits (and mounts) you take off if you save them and put them up on the forsale forum. I think someone was mentioning wanting to go from E to F, so you could perhaps do a parts swap if that person wants to do a bit of plastic cleanup.

[average]

bought my GS track bike in 94 and had it ready in a weekend
rode it up and down the block 2 or 3 times before i went to race school
it's a good learner bike but most don't realize that the bike can do more than the rider
the ego gets in the way and they move up
two up.... nah
let the gurl get her own ride..... she will enjoy riding more than sittin on back
sent one or two others to race school on her also
still have her and will probably rob the engine out of her for friends' son's GS for street duty

still have a couple in parts
enough to build a nice stout street bike....(80% finished)
my other great street bike is a beat on F-3

it's not that beat on Treated me right when I got on her....the bike 

[blwnbwtie]

Been riding a GS since january of 2007.  I had gotten my motorcycle license a few months earlier and my friend was upgrade to an SV650 so i bought his 89 GS for 900 bucks.  I rode that for a few months, but it was pretty much a pile of crap.  I decides to buy a new bike, but my driving record is pretty bad so i stuck with a new GS to save on insurance.  Overall the GS is a great bike, handles pretty well for what it is.  I plan on upgrading in a few years once my record cleans up enough.  Got a quote for full coverage on an R6 and they want $10k a year.  ouch.

[yamahonkawazuki]

bought my first gs ( '97) in '03, jun, joine the twin shortly before. bought my second after i bought my harley, sold the second one ( a 92, and bought my 3rd ( another '97) in april, 3 days after getting out of icu ( kidney failure , temp. ugggh lol) long story), err anyhoo, i bought it them, because my 97 was my first, got my license on it etc et cetc , im kinda attached. bought my first set of forks, from either werase or jared, i cannot remember which one  , ya my first 97 was a wreck reconstruction, along with exhaust mod, fenderectomy, sprocket etc etc etc etc etc, and  a few more etc, etc.

[Toogoofy317]

Bought my '04 F last August. Have been riding it mainly when not in the hospital. Getting ready to hop on my "Flik" and go to yet another Doctor's appointment. It is great on gas and very forgiving to Noob's like me. Although, I wish it had a gas gauge on it  would have saved me a severely sprained ankle on a certain Good Friday. I'm gonna ride my baby 'till he dies or my heart gives out first! I'm 28 so I hope it is the bike first!

Anyways, it's easy to work on and easy to manuever even for a girl! And the guys seem to like a girl on her own motorcycle!

Mary S.

O-town rider. What part of Orlando do you ride in. I'm in the Kissimmee area. Maybe sometime we can do a ride!

[Teek]

Had my 2001 since November 2007. Had a '93 Yammie XT225 dual sport before that for 3 years. 25 years before THAT had a '78 Honda Hawk, then rode a 1982 Honda Silverwing. Had a few trips on a '84 XLH 883 Sportster, then just rode horses.

The XT was a funky little bike but was nice and light and very nimble. It gave me a chance to buff up my skill set somewhat. Rode a lot of tricky tight residential canyon streets (stop on a hill, u-turn on a hill, etc.) and then the Santa Monica mountain canyons later. My hubby in the meantime went from an old Honda XL350 to a much newer DRZ 350, to a DRZ400, to a DR650, and I just could not keep up with him anymore, and I was tired of trying. It was just power up through the gears beating the engine to crap, then slam on the brakes, no fun. Plus the bike was sketchy in the rear on turns, and the brakes were weak.

I went looking for something naked and like a "standard" old style moto from my youth, and the GS was the closest for the cheapest and a PO had already modded the seat so I could toe it. I fell in love with it and it came home with me. It let me really learn to ride to a better level because the performance is so much better and the bike is predictable and forgiving and stable. I still have plenty of room to improve on it as well. It's a blast to ride in our local canyons, and it's been a fun project too to work on and upgrade. Especially the carbs, once they were re-jetted it was a whole different bike. It has way more potential than I will be able to use up, so it's staying in the family as long as it will run. Unless I go for a supermoto.

I've ridden my friend's Honda 599 which I really like, but I can see that she can't fully enjoy it because it's too much performance for her style of riding. I outride her in twisties because my bike doesn't have all those horses chomping at the bit and ready to shoot out from under me or power me off a cliff if I hit a bump in a turn and accidentally twitch 1/32 of an inch on the throttle. That isn't my idea of fun. If she had been riding my bike through the canyons she'd be having a lot more kick arse fun. My GS is right there too when I ask but it's predictable and has room to be flogged a bit. Maybe someday I'll go to a race throttle though.

Also now that I can no longer afford to have a real horse after 30 years of them, this GS is my horse; it gives me a similar feeling of freedom and flying, and takes some skill to ride well, but I don't have to muck out a stall or pay exorbitant barn rent. I just miss the whinny when I show up to get her out.   

[miss kittie]

I've been riding my 06 GS since June 08 and the more I ride her the more I love her! My son has a GSXR 750 and my hubby rides a Harley Fatboy, and I have no trouble keeping up with them (of course they both have the good sense not to go 100mph when I am around )
I'm 5'4 and have no trouble flat footing it and holding the weight. It's easy to manuever in tight spaces and it takes the twisty mountain roads with  glee. I have ample power tackle city driving and I can get up to 75mph on the freeway with ease. The fact that there is plenty of power in the lower gears makes it the ideal bike for trips around town. I ride it to work every day about a 30 mile round trip and it handles rush hour traffic with ease.  Gee, I think that about sums it up
I started this season thinking I would prolly only keep it a season, but now I just may keep it for a few and just mod it out if I have the undeniable urge to mess with something.
I thought a middleweight sport bike would be next, but now I am leaning more towards sport touring somehwere down the road.
In the meantime I am just sorry that we get so much snow around here in the winter and I'll have to park it for a few months.

[SteveM]

I've only just bought a GS500 yesterday, in my case a used 2005 naked version in beautiful blue. I've been riding bikes for 30+ years now and have owned over a dozen different bikes in that time. I recently sold my '06 Bandit GSF650S and went looking for something more economical while still providing a comfortable ride for a full size adult. With fuel prices rising daily and the cost of insurance ever increasing I needed a full size bike that didn't cost an arm and a leg to own or operate. The GS500 seems to be the only ride that fits the bill and none of the other manufacturers make anything comparable. None of the other manufacturers make a standard naked bike with a reasonable riding position and affordable price.

Update June 18, 2009: SOLD my GS500 tonight and now don't have a motorcycle.

[mullethunter3]

I randomly settled on the GS500 a year ago minus two days. (It's almost our anniversary.) Being BRAND new to the bike world and having no friends with bikes, I merely started searching on ebaymotors for a bike that suited my taste in looks. I wanted no chrome and no plastics. How many bikes can have neither of those and still look good? Well, in my engine range, it was the GS500. I didn't want a 600 simply because they are way too heavy and being only a 150 lb girl, I can't lift much when it falls over (for reference, I can't even pick up the GS if it falls over. Luckily it doesn't do that too much.) I found a guy on craigslist that was selling the only GS in the St Louis area and I jumped on it. BEST $1500 I've ever spent.

Yeah, it had an ugly paint job and huge handlebars and a few other problems, but I was the owner of a motorcycle! Since then, I've spent countless hours wreching on it, taking it apart, putting it back together, taking it apart again, etc, etc. I don't think I'll ever sell this bike. I'll buy another, but I'm not selling it. I've recently repainted it the most beautiful blue ever and I can't let it go. It's too pretty.

[The Buddha]

Since august 1995. August 24th in fact. Nothing beats it as a commuter. Kept it till 05 Feb. Put 48K total on it.
Almost 10 years - only my truck even comes close. Just went over 10 years on it.
Since then I have had 14 GS'es. and 30 bikes total. I saw it for the first time in spring of 94. Never had seen one before or even heard of it. I mean, in India I knew of the Kawi ninja series, the GSXR's and the GS1100E's and FZR1000's and hurricanes what ever. Not heard of this till I saw a GS in the fred meyer parking lot by my house. It was purple too.
Cool.
Buddha.

[Ickaber]

Well, who can follow The Buddha in GS experience?   

Got my first GS500 (a red '91) in March of 1992.  Rode it for a year until I was forced to sell.  Bought another (ex-purple, now black of course, '95) in September of 2007.  It was sold as a parts bike for $300, but I'm only into it about $1000 total now, and it's running great.  Have had it and been riding and/or wrenching on it pretty consistently ever since I got it.

I've got a couple of other bikes in the garage -- 1998 Honda VFR, 1995 Yamaha Virago XV535 -- but enjoy the GS a lot.  Part of it is because it's nostalgic for me, since the '91 GS was my first ever street bike.  But, I've done more work on, and consequently have learned more about, the new GS than any other bike I've ever owned.  And that feeling of knowing it intimately makes it a lot of fun as well.

[The Buddha]

535 - had 2 of those. Exceptional bikes especially for beginners.
Cool.
Buddha.

[Ickaber]

The 535 is actually my wife's bike -- and she's a beginner; just got her endoresement last year.  I bought it as a fixer-upper to turn around and sell.  Picked it up for $800, spent about $4 putting new spark plugs in, and other than typical maintenance stuff (carb cleaning, fuel draining, etc.) haven't done much else to it.  It runs great now.  Anywhoo....the wife came out in the garage to help me clean it up, and as it started to shine, I started hearing mumbling from her side of the bike that made me realize it was never gonna get sold again.

When I really knew it was here to stay was when I got an earful after offering to let a friend take "her"  bike out on a trip we were planning.  So you'll notice that I said I had it in the garage, not that it was mine. 

[theGrinch]

Learnt on a GS 500 in 1999 (those where the days...) and bought one 6 months after passing my test. Loved it to bits, brilliant handling and enough power for me. Wanted to take her apart in 2007, just to get rid of the old rust, you know?
All of a sudden, parts from other bikes started accumilating in my cellar, ebay became my start page, ... everybody who got the conversion virus knows what I mean...
In the end there wasn't much of a GS left, but I still love her.
Now the handling is even better, but I start feeling this distinct lack of power on the straights... but the there have been thoughts about a motor with a bit more oomph... We'll see what 2009/10 brings
It'll still be the G²S²V²R² + there's a plan for another heavily converted GS... I'll let you know as it happens.

[OutlwWarrior]

The 2007 GS500F is the first bike I have ever owned. I bought the bike after taking the MSF cousre at the end of June and went and bought it the day after my birthday in July. Before the class I have honestly never even started a bike much less rode one. People were telling me about the GS as a great beginner bike and I absolutely agree. I love it. Handles great and has just enough power that I need for right now. I am looking at getting another exhaust put on it in a few months to give it alittle more purrr to it..

[Teek]

I was still looking for that 1998 535 when I got my GS, even though I wanted a standard there was something about the 535, I'd been looking for one for like 10 years.... Even after I got the GS I was riding my MTB and passed one parked on the street and had to stop and gawk, even though it was a bit of a beater...!

Now knowing that the Buddha thinks they are exCEPtional bikes, well!