Gs500f new profile >?

[hang man]

Just want to ask, if one were to buy a new Gs500f , could said one ride the bike for say 4 years without any repairs ?

Another question , does the bike have an alternator ? , or do you have to charge the battery once in a while ?

[nascarkeith]

It depends on how much you ride.  I have had mine for 3 years and have about 4,500 miles on it.  I have had to change the oil twice and I lube the chain every 600 miles or so.  I have done some other things like clean the air filter and put in new plugs but you could skip the plugs I just upgraded.  You could ride for 4 years with minimal maintainence. 

[DoD#i]

Depends a lot on you. If you don't crash, and don't do foolish things with the motor, 4 years with no repairs seems quite doable, so long as you don't confuse maintenance with repairs. If you crash, drop and generally screw up in a usual fashion for somone that has never ridden, could be less than a week to repair-city.

Check oil every week or every 3 tanks of fuel (or every tank if that makes it easier to remember) and keep it filled.

Clean & lube chain every 500-600 miles - check tension and adjust if needed.

Change oil and filter every 3000 miles.

Replace brake fluid every 2 years.

Air filter? I forget the service interval, varies with filth to an extent.

If you ride a lot, you might need tires and chains and sprockets, as well as bulbs and the like.

If you don't ride much, you'll be needing to clean the carbs a lot unless you bother to drain them when you are going to let the bike sit and moulder.

Yes, it has an alternator - it was first offered in 1989, not 1899.

[nascarkeith]

Well said.  I have had mine for 3 years and luckily have not had to "repair" anything.

[hang man]

Thanks for the replys , one more question for you , is it easyer to maintain an air cooled engine or is it easyer to maintain a liquid cooled engine???.....DoD#i you mentioned cleaning the carbs a lot , would it be just as simple as dumping some seafoam in the tank to do the trick?  , or would you have to take them appart?

[DoD#i]

Air cooled is a lot less fuss. No coolant other than oil. No water pump. No radiator. No thermostat.

Best bet is to ride the bike and carb cleaning is not a problem, or use the carb drains when you are going to leave it to sit so it does not get gunked up. Drain the tank and put the gas in the car is best, Stabil in the tank is better than doing nothing - but drain the carbs - it's easy, just takes a tube (or a cup) and a Philips screwdriver, a matter of a minute or so at most. Saves a lot of agony in the long run.

How much effort you need to put in to cleaning depends on how gunky you get it - sometimes a liquid product run though is plenty, sometimes it can't make a dent in the crud.

[yamahonkawazuki]

or jsut start and run it every few weeks, if you dont ride on  a regular basis

[dgyver]

The down side of an air cooled bike is that they will burn more oil, since greater tolerances required. Lack of oil will kill the GS motor faster than a squid on a busa.

Technically the bike does not have an altenator, it has a stator. Function is basically the same.

[DoD#i]

Technically the bike does not have an altenator, it has a stator. Function is basically the same.

Without the magnet rotor, the stator does nothing. Together, they comprise an alternator.

[dgyver]

Technically the bike does not have an altenator, it has a stator. Function is basically the same.

Without the magnet rotor, the stator does nothing. Together, they comprise an alternator.

Correct. The term alternator is typically not used on motorcycles.

[sledge]

Alternator; Mechanical device that converts rotary motion into electrical energy in the form of Alternating Current (AC).
Stator; Stationary element of an electrical machine.
Rotor: Rotating element of an electrical machine.

I think the confusion here may be coming from the fact that the components that make up the alternator of the GS5 are not asseambled together as a seperate unit in the way that the traditional belt-driven car or truck alternator is.

[hang man]

I see , so there is an up side and down side to both , unfortunatley now there is the same to my purchassing delema , so what would you all then recomend for my first bike GS500f or Sv650 (standard model) , i will be buying new and yes i know about the fact that it may be laid down in the first year but i'll have all sorts of protection for that (i can fab just about anything myself)

[theGrinch]

SV650 is way over the top for a 1st bike! Way too much grunt to handle for a newbie IMHO.

[TarzanBoy]

Air cooled is a lot less fuss. No coolant other than oil. No water pump. No radiator. No thermostat.

Doubtful.   Fuel injected with a radiator is the way to go if you want less fuss... especially if you ride your bike in the winter.

No carbs to clean, no choke to mess with, a lot less oil burned up and lost during hot days, and coolant only needs to be changed once every ~30,000 miles or so.

Best bet is to ride the bike and carb cleaning is not a problem

Cleaning carbs is a pain.  Not the cleaning so much as the taking everything apart and putting everything back together exactly as it was before.

[arbakken]

water cooled >>>>>>>> air cooled

[hang man]

Thanks for the input ...Humm , since I'm a noob i think I'll go with the GS500f             ....no sense in overdoing it , I'll post some pics when the time comes .......THANK YOU for your support

[hang man]

One more question and i won't bug you guys anymore .....What do you have to do to maintain the chain , another words what classifies as too loose and too tight and how do you adjust that ?

[DoD#i]

One more question and i won't bug you guys anymore .....What do you have to do to maintain the chain , another words what classifies as too loose and too tight and how do you adjust that ?

Clean/lube every 500-600 miles.
http://cgi.stanford.edu/~sanjayd/gs500/Maintenance/LubeChain

Adjust every 1800-2400 miles (ie, 3-4 cleanings)
http://cgi.stanford.edu/~sanjayd/gs500/Maintenance/AdjustChainTension

While it would be nice if you'd take the time to go look in the obvious places yourself for the obvious answers to the obvious questions before asking them again, there's no need to go away. Stick around and read what comes along, you might learn a few things, and know that's going on before it becomes a problem for you.

[hang man]

Thanks, i looked on the wiki and somehow missed it....I'll get back and post stuff next sring when i'l get the new bike