What do you say when people ask you if you ride a sportbike?

[Wrecent_Wryder]

Nobody has ever asked me that. Around here, I've never heard ANYBODY use the word "sportbike", or phrase "sports bike".

The cruiser people all use the term "crotch rocket", and mostly they use it as an insult. ANY "sports  bike" is a "crotch rocket", and they don't care to know any more about it. Anything with a fairing will get called a "crotch rocket". I've even heard a Gold Wing referred to as a "BIG crotch rocket".  If you ride a "crotch rocket" you're one of "them".

They tend to be a little puzzled by my naked GS, and they've referred to it in my presence as "almost a crotch rocket". Given their limited system of taxonomy, that's probably pretty accurate. None of them have ever asked for the model name.

The "sports bike" riders do know, and they don't use the term either... they just ask what bike you ride, meaning the specific model. Mostly, they don't seem to recognize the model, but they hear "500" for sure, and are not impressed.

I've tried using the term "standard" too, and nobody has a clue what I'm talking about.

[TarzanBoy]

In this crazy world of race replicas, full fairings and fuel injection....

No.  The GS-500 is not a sportbike (IMO).   At all.  Not even the fully faired ones (does putting a body kit on a Civic make it a sports car? lol!).

Just look at the stock hardware.  Crappy shock, horrible single rotor/caliper front brake, and a decidedly un-tuned (compared with today's standards) 500cc air cooled engine.

There certtainly are 500cc-and-and-lower sportbikes (like the Cagiva Mito 500 as seen in this post and assorted other bikes by Aprillia... most of which are not available in the USA), but the GS500 is certainly not one of them.

[Egaeus]

If they've actually seen the bike and still ask that, then they aren't worthy of a response.  I just give them a wedgie.

[spc]

+ 42.6

[ShowBizWolf]

OLD THREAD I KNOW haha but it was an interesting read!!

Plus, there are so many newer people on here now and I am curious... anybody get asked what kind of bike your GS is? What do you say?

[gruntle]

"just a 500 twin"
if pressed further, that you have to seriously thrash the bollards off it to get it to shift arse, but it'll happily bunnyhop away at the lights (and thoroughly embarrass fancier bikes with it's sprightlyness hehehe )

[Jespenshade12]

Well I guess it is a sportbike, but not a crotchrocket. Unless people ask, then I usually go into the speel of "Well the GS was a standard bike until 2004, when the put fairings on it, to make it look sportier". I myself consider the GS500F a sheep in wolves clothing.

JG

Putting fairings on a bike has nothing to do with making it look sportier. Look at the Triumph speed series. They have never had fairings and that has always been a sportier bike. Personally, It is a sport bike due to the way your legs hug the tank, the way you use mid controls, The rake, the type of wheels. You dont see someone on a M109R with full radial tires with wear from edge to edge. you see them with the laid back, high bars, wide rear tires, and saddle bags. Dont get me wrong, I love the M109R and always will consider it my favorite bike ever produced, but there is a huge difference in riding stance.

[Slack]

I tell them it looks like a sports bike, and handles like a sports bike, but only has 25-50% of the HP of a sport bike, so I still get 60 mpg.

[akapellen17]

It's not when people ask me if I have a sportbike that bothers me. I hate when they ask me...
1. How fast can it go?
2. How much power?
3. Can you wheelie?
Now, it's not that I don't like those questions because the GS is a smaller bike. It's the fact that if they had any knowledge of bikes, they wouldn't be asking those questions. I don't mean that they don't know every bike's specs, it's that those are the questions that people ask because they think every bike is a rocket ship. It does give me a laugh when they try to talk bikes like they know everything but they have absolutely no clue!
My answers to those questions are usually...
1. Fast enough
2. Enough to have fun
3. Any bike can wheelie if you try hard enough.
And also, I recently switched to saying "sport" to "standard" because I took off the fairings. Everyone thinks I got a new bike and they all love it! And I love the looks on their faces when I tell them it's the same bike!

[anoopb]

my friend likes to give me shaZam!. Calls it a crotch rocket.

Which i know it isn't. But he's short enough that it's a stretch for him. Stumpy mofo!

I've only had one person that described it correctly. It's kind of a sporty standard. not exactly sporty and not exactly standard upright either.

[Suzuki Stevo]

Just tell them the truth, that it's a UJM, that will leave them with a puzzled look on their face 

[cWj]

"No, a standard."

"Oh, you mean, like, an old bike."

_ _ _ _

"Nice, what year is that?"

"A 96".

"What's that, like, a 600?"

"500."

"Oh, well that ain't too bad."

"Yeah, it does what I need it to."

[W201028]

Its funny for me, many times non-bikers call my GS a Gixxer, 600 or 1000 or whatever.
Then others who ask about my speed triple act suprised when I say the motors in the 130hp area. For some reason, if a bike is naked, it cant be powerful.
But Im sure if I said the GS was a 180hp motor, those people would believe it!

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

some1 of you think that a bike that can reach 130mph stock. and much more with some mods, 6 gear trans, power enough to do a wheele (not recomended), etc... is not a sport tbike? what you think !!! its a cruiser.. lol i want to see you do a wheelie an a Warrior or a Bulevar jejejeje. or running a constant speed of 110 mph on the highway. i got a yamaha 650xs special. and in speed over 100mph i just can't control the bike bc the way I am sitting on it ...

so its a sport bike, less power than super sport bikes but still a sport one !

the MX bikes come from 50cc to 600cc and all of them still MX (scrambers)

Yes Suzuki started with what's technically a sports bike, twin spar frame, short wheelbase, torquey motor, six speed box.  It looks the goods standing still, and yes it is good for 200km/h if you're running dead straight for the state line.  Where it loses all sporting credibility is in the cross ply tyres, front forks that feel like a rubber band in a tube, a front brake that requires a written application to stop in a hurry and a rear shock might as well be from a cruiser it's that soft.  Brake late as you tip in to a corner and then try and get on the gas and the bike will shift around like a mexican low rider. 

That said the GS taught me to be smooth, It's good for torque right across the rev range, so you can pick a gear, crack the throttle as you tip in and keep rolling on.  My ritual was to get my braking and shifting done, then slide my feet back away from the rear brake and shifter, both to take my weight on the balls of my feet and also to remind myself that whatever gear and speed we have, that's our entry into the corner now.  You make your decisions early on a GS cos the suspension won't handle any indecision from the rider. 

I really miss my GS, I'm working on bringing her back to life now.  Updates to come.

[bombsquad83]

some1 of you think that a bike that can reach 130mph stock. and much more with some mods, 6 gear trans, power enough to do a wheele (not recomended), etc... is not a sport tbike? what you think !!! its a cruiser.. lol i want to see you do a wheelie an a Warrior or a Bulevar jejejeje. or running a constant speed of 110 mph on the highway. i got a yamaha 650xs special. and in speed over 100mph i just can't control the bike bc the way I am sitting on it ...

so its a sport bike, less power than super sport bikes but still a sport one !

the MX bikes come from 50cc to 600cc and all of them still MX (scrambers)

Yes Suzuki started with what's technically a sports bike, twin spar frame, short wheelbase, torquey motor, six speed box.  It looks the goods standing still, and yes it is good for 200km/h if you're running dead straight for the state line.  Where it loses all sporting credibility is in the cross ply tyres, front forks that feel like a rubber band in a tube, a front brake that requires a written application to stop in a hurry and a rear shock might as well be from a cruiser it's that soft.  Brake late as you tip in to a corner and then try and get on the gas and the bike will shift around like a mexican low rider. 

That said the GS taught me to be smooth, It's good for torque right across the rev range, so you can pick a gear, crack the throttle as you tip in and keep rolling on.  My ritual was to get my braking and shifting done, then slide my feet back away from the rear brake and shifter, both to take my weight on the balls of my feet and also to remind myself that whatever gear and speed we have, that's our entry into the corner now.  You make your decisions early on a GS cos the suspension won't handle any indecision from the rider. 

I really miss my GS, I'm working on bringing her back to life now.  Updates to come.

If you get your GS back to life.  I would suggest some new front springs and a at least tighten the preload on the rear shock.  You might be amazed at how the bike handles.