Major milestones: 100,000 miles!

[applecrew]

 


Bought her new in May 2008:



Here's the proof (today, one mile from home)


She's been a real workhorse: from 3 degrees F in the winter to 100 degrees F in the summer, day in and day out, rain or shine, unless there's ice on the road, we're off to work!

I have not lavished her with exceptional maintenance - just the basics, and I have been rewarded greatly! Will never regret the decision to bring her home! Three cheers to Suzuki for building a solid, dependable ride!

Who else here has taken their ride 100,000 miles or farther?

[Slack]

Nice!
Jack has done it twice.
I'm not sure of anyone else off the top of my head, who's on the forum.
I've got a measly 33,000.

[Big Rich]

That's awesome man! Proof that the GS is the little engine that could....

I try to rack up miles on my GS450, but riding to work is less than 4 miles each way....

[rg500gamma]

see  what happens  when you leave  a bike  in stock form , notice  stock  exhaust  , end-o-story

[ShowBizWolf]

That is soooooo awesome!!! And you got the picture too... excellent     

[anoopb]

god i'm so pathetic...

bought him used in 2012 (it's a 2001) and i've barely put 4k on him.

but... but... I have an excuse!

I travel for work. A lot. Like fly.
I also drink enough to not get on a bike.

congrats!

real milestone indeed!

[ShowBizWolf]

If I understood that sentence correctly, I totally hear ya there... if I didn't drink as much as I do I would be on my bike a LOT more 

[Bluesmudge]

Congrats!
I have only personally put 20,000 on my GS and that feels like a lot (its mostly in-city driving though). 100,000 seems crazy for a GS.

There are not that many GS500s that get over 50,000 miles out there. They seem to end up being totaled or modded into oblivion before that.

I know you say you did just the basics for maintenance, but I'm hoping you could elaborate more.

Did you keep it all stock?

How many times did you change the air filter? Chain? Tires? Stick to one kind of oil or oil filter? What kind?

How often did you check your valve clearances?

Does the bike still run good? Have you ever checked or changed any of the bearings?

[applecrew]

The bike is essentially all-stock. Only one mod made for safety reasons (see below). No suspension mods - have never bottomed out the front end. I cruise on the highway around 65-70 actual. Love twisties and am not "gentle" on her, but not a real performance rider either. Kind of moody in that regard 

My maintenance:

Oil change approx every 4000 miles. Stock oil filter; I've always used Castrol 10W-40
After the OEM tires wore out, I moved exclusively to Avon RoadRiders (AM26) in stock sizes. I'm on my 7th rear tire and 3rd front.
Ive tried a variety of chains but have settled on DID 520 VX2. Used 5 chains (and sprockets) - stay away from cheap ones. The cheapest one snapped on me after only 6000 miles!
Stock air filter changed yearly.
Moved from stock brakes to EBC HH series. Been through three sets.
Valve clearance check: Not as religious as I was. Now I check annually (14000 miles). I am over-due and the gasket is leaking, so I will take care of that soon.

Other items:
Re-jetted carbs at 63,000 miles: Went +1 on both pilot and main jets. Riding at temps in the 20's became dangerous because lean condition caused SERIOUS loss of power on the highway, and where I commute daily, that can be dangerous. Gas consumption has increased, but I no longer care that much. Still have a flat spot between middle jet and main, but not too concerned about it.
Rebuilt front caliper recently put in new seals. One piston was almost frozen and front braking was compromised. All is well now!
On my third odometer drive gear. They just do not last!
Replaced front wheel bearings @ 80,000 miles (All Balls)
Replaced battery with AGM @ 62,000 miles (Scorpion High Performance)

Cheers!

[applecrew]

Oh! And because I am anal about this, I have used 1,732.58 gallons of gas over 441 fill-ups. Overall consumption has been 58 MPG. Compared to my Ford Taurus, this has resulted in a savings in fuel costs of almost $10,000 (9,978, actually).

[sledge]

Despatch riders in London are (or were) racking up 30,000+ a year on them.

http://yewemmgee.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/suzuki-gs500e.html

[Big Rich]

AC, which odometer drive gear did you replace? I'd guess the one on the wheel....

[applecrew]

Correct. The one at the wheel. Damned inconvenient when that happens!

[The Buddha]

I managed a measly 40+k myself in 10 yrs on the 89 (bought august 95 with 8k sold april 05 with over 48K maybe as much as 50k).
But Through most of that time it shared the garage with as many as 4 other GS'es as well as Vulcans, eliminators, nighthawks, KZ440's, katana's, virago's and so on. I probably have over 150k on bikes total. But never made over 48k indicated on anything.
Cool.
Buddha.

[gsJack]

My 02 GS500 has about 101k miles on it now.  I bought it in 03 with about 4k miles on it and put on the rest myself.  Bought it when my 97 GS500E that I bought new was totalled.  I put 80k miles on the 97 and restored it after the accident and gave it to son JP who put a used engine in it at almost 100k miles and later parted it out with about 120k miles on it.

I'll just post my service logs on the 100k mile 02 GS for the record.  It only had 2 somewhat major repairs.  A tight bucket stuck open one freezing cold morning at about 20k miles and broke an exhaust valve.  I repaired it and went the rest of the way to 100k miles without any further engine work.  Had a loose starter clutch last spring at 100k miles and repaired it.  Riding year around here in NE Ohio salt capital of the universe I replaced front and rear calipers, front rotor, and rear shock at close to 100k miles as noted in logs. 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/GSvalvelogs_zps7kdr1yyh.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/GSbrakechainlog_zpsxhij7ktz.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/GS500tirelogs_zpsyi3yryom.jpg

While trouble shooting the loose starter clutch last spring I checked compression and still had 140 psi in both cylinders:

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=67148.0

[GS500Schultz]

my gs only has about 20K on it and i've only put about 1.5K of that on it...been to busy welding, cutting and making a custom cafe bike.. clearly a mistake as i miss riding.

[DesertFox]

Nice!  I rolled over 50K on my '97 last weekend.

[twocool]

That's absolutely fantastic!

And some real good news for the rest of us!  I mean, with basic routine maintenance and only the slight possibility of minor repairs...these are 100,000 mile bikes!

I'm just about ready to turn 48,000 miles on my '09 which I bought in July '10...

So it looks like I'm good for another 5 years at least!


Cookie

Bought her new in May 2008:



Here's the proof (today, one mile from home)


She's been a real workhorse: from 3 degrees F in the winter to 100 degrees F in the summer, day in and day out, rain or shine, unless there's ice on the road, we're off to work!

I have not lavished her with exceptional maintenance - just the basics, and I have been rewarded greatly! Will never regret the decision to bring her home! Three cheers to Suzuki for building a solid, dependable ride!

Who else here has taken their ride 100,000 miles or farther?

[Slack]

If I understood that sentence correctly, I totally hear ya there... if I didn't drink as much as I do I would be on my bike a LOT more 

Funny, I'm the opposite. How often I go reaching for a beer and say to myself, "Nah, I may want to go for a ride in a bit." Then get a glass of water instead.

[Suzuki Stevo]

Congratulations! 

First off, I could never do that with just one bike, I got an M50 in February of this year and I am already thinking about an M90, I get bored with bikes way too easy