Brand new rider/owner, looking for some info

[shaykane]

Hey there,

I just got my first bike a couple weeks ago, a 1997 GS500E. She's got some bumps and bruises, but it adds character. Anyway, the gas cap is missing the rubber seal/gasket. It was that way when I bought it, and my mechanic looked into it but could only find the whole gas cap for sale for like $160. Besides, then I'd need another key... Anyway, does anyone know if I can just buy a rubber gasket that will fit the cap? I have no idea what to look for because I haven't seen a GS500 gas cap that has the seal.

Thanks!

[Big Rich]

You may get away with using a "cut to fit" cork gasket available from most auto part stores. Or maybe from an online parts dealer such as bikebandit.com (there are many others though).

Welcome to the site btw!

[burning1]

Unfortunately, AFAIK Suzuki only sells the cap as an assembly.

What BigRich said. It's possible you could find a replacement on ebay for cheap; I found an after market replica cap on ebay really inexpensively. If you're not worried about fuel theft, you might also wish to buy a keyless cap.

Possible deal for you: I'd like to replace my aftermarket replica cap with a keyless cap (it's for a race bike.) If you can find one cheap on ebay, I'll swap with you.

[shaykane]

That would actually be a pretty simple swap... I think. I've been looking around on ebay at the keyless caps. I'm new to all this, is fuel theft pretty common? I'd be more concerned with someone putting crap in my tank than siphoning it out. What do you think?

[burning1]

It really depends on your neighborhood. If you park in a locked garage, fuel theft is a non issue. On the side of a busy city street it can be a problem. In practice, anyone can drain the tank from a GS500E by pulling the fuel line from the carbs. But, less common than siphoning from the filler.

There are some threads about keyless caps on the GS forums. There is some good fuel cap compatibility with other bikes, but I forget which ones off hand. The number of screws on the gas cap is a good hint, from what I recall.