Picked up first bike today (1999 GS500E) (Pictures)

[b00stin4days]

 What's up guys. Today I picked up my first street bike. I have been riding dirtbikes for quite a while and was ready for a street bike. I picked up a 1999 GS500e with 4100 miles for 1400 bucks.

I look forward to learning about these bikes from this forum and riding around my new bike!

List of modifications and maintenance from previous owner:

-Full Jardine RT-1 exhaust
-Uni pod filter intake
-OEM clip on handle bars from 1989 s500
-Carb rejet for exhaust and intake upgrades
-Aftermarket sport mirrors (Napoleon AJ GPX)
-New fuel lines
-2006 Petcock upgrade

[b00stin4days]

Woah, sorry, not sure why the photos are that big. Here is the link to the album : http://imgur.com/a/Bct7r

[lucas]

You can control the size of your images by specifying a width in the opening img tag.

Pretend the parentheses are brackets, your img tag would look like this:

(img width=600) image url here (/img)

You got a nice looking motorcycle there.  This forum is a great place to learn about your new machine.  Welcome.

[b00stin4days]

Thank you Lucas. I am very excited and very happy with my new bike. Appreciate the kind words.

[ShowBizWolf]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the bike!!  lucas is right, this site has everything... hope you stick around and enjoy. 

Your GS looks very clean and I've always thought they look really sharp in yellow like that 

[the_63]

Nice bike dude. I've got a '99 too. Your bike looks very clean and well taken care of

[cWj]

Hm. Good color. Nice price. Excellent choice.

Welcome. We look forward to testing your ability to effectively argue completely circular points about oil, spark plugs and which way is up.

😉

[b00stin4days]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the bike!!  lucas is right, this site has everything... hope you stick around and enjoy. 

Your GS looks very clean and I've always thought they look really sharp in yellow like that 

Thank you! Looking forward to learning! 

[b00stin4days]

Nice bike dude. I've got a '99 too. Your bike looks very clean and well taken care of

Awesome, how do you like it? Did you outgrow it quick? The bike seems like it was VERY well taken care of. 

[b00stin4days]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the bike!!  lucas is right, this site has everything... hope you stick around and enjoy. 

Your GS looks very clean and I've always thought they look really sharp in yellow like that 

Thank you! Looking forward to learning! 

Thank you! Really love the color, which is surprising, I never liked yellow bikes 

[lucas]

Well don't get too hung up on appearances because you will want to get all the bike-dropping out of your system with this first bike.  As a fellow new rider I'm in love with the gs500 and I feel like I'm not going to it grow it quickly.  It has plenty of power and I like being able to rip around at wide open throttle without reaching ludicrous speeds.

It looks like you got a tremendous value.  I spent at least twice as much on mine after I restored a basket case.  Judging from the external appearance I'd guess that we won't be hearing about any terrible wiring modifications or the like.

It is surprisingly attractive.  The yellow on gray looks extra fun.  Might have even more character with some scuffs on the paint though

[b00stin4days]

Well don't get too hung up on appearances because you will want to get all the bike-dropping out of your system with this first bike.  As a fellow new rider I'm in love with the gs500 and I feel like I'm not going to it grow it quickly.  It has plenty of power and I like being able to rip around at wide open throttle without reaching ludicrous speeds.

It looks like you got a tremendous value.  I spent at least twice as much on mine after I restored a basket case.  Judging from the external appearance I'd guess that we won't be hearing about any terrible wiring modifications or the like.

It is surprisingly attractive.  The yellow on gray looks extra fun.  Might have even more character with some scuffs on the paint though

I hope I don't drop it! Im very OCD about marks on my car and possessions. You think the price was a good deal? I looked on KBB and it said 1475 for one in excellent condition from a dealer. I figured I was right around a decent price.

I thought the same thing about it being attractive surprisingly, yellow usually isn't my thing lol.

[ShowBizWolf]

I think that price was a good deal! I paid $1000 for my '98 and it was banged up pretty bad cosmetically ( all fixed now ). Had around 11k miles on it then I think.

[lucas]

If you want to keep it scratch free you should install frame sliders and an engine cage.  When you do drop it the scratches will probably be restricted to these items, the pegs, and the bar-ends.

These things are the best insurance against cosmetic damage.

[the_63]

Nice bike dude. I've got a '99 too. Your bike looks very clean and well taken care of

Awesome, how do you like it? Did you outgrow it quick? The bike seems like it was VERY well taken care of. 

I laid it down a couple of weeks ago, but that was my mistake and to be honest it was about time I got punished, it's so forgiving. I live in a city and it's great for buzzing around, but out of the city it's very rural and it's got the grunt to get me from A to B faster than my car. I feel like I'm mourning now I can't ride, I really miss it.

I feel like it's quite a simple bike too so mechanically I'm up for getting my hands dirty. I've had people come up to me in town when I've been parked up and asking about the bike too. I love this bike, I paid £500 for it (just over $700) and so far I've spent nearly half that on tools and bits and pieces to fix and upgrade. To be fair my bike has had 14 owners so it probably does need some TLC to improve running a little as I have no doubt it's been dropped and theres nearly 15 years of grime building up that needs attention. In general the GS is quite fun. I love mine 

[b00stin4days]

I think that price was a good deal! I paid $1000 for my '98 and it was banged up pretty bad cosmetically ( all fixed now ). Had around 11k miles on it then I think.

Awesome! goodluck with it 

[b00stin4days]

If you want to keep it scratch free you should install frame sliders and an engine cage.  When you do drop it the scratches will probably be restricted to these items, the pegs, and the bar-ends.

These things are the best insurance against cosmetic damage.

Great, thank you, I will look into that! 

[b00stin4days]

Nice bike dude. I've got a '99 too. Your bike looks very clean and well taken care of

Awesome, how do you like it? Did you outgrow it quick? The bike seems like it was VERY well taken care of. 

I laid it down a couple of weeks ago, but that was my mistake and to be honest it was about time I got punished, it's so forgiving. I live in a city and it's great for buzzing around, but out of the city it's very rural and it's got the grunt to get me from A to B faster than my car. I feel like I'm mourning now I can't ride, I really miss it.

I feel like it's quite a simple bike too so mechanically I'm up for getting my hands dirty. I've had people come up to me in town when I've been parked up and asking about the bike too. I love this bike, I paid £500 for it (just over $700) and so far I've spent nearly half that on tools and bits and pieces to fix and upgrade. To be fair my bike has had 14 owners so it probably does need some TLC to improve running a little as I have no doubt it's been dropped and theres nearly 15 years of grime building up that needs attention. In general the GS is quite fun. I love mine 

Thats awesome, I can't wait to start riding. I just registered and insured it today. I need to get a helmet, does anyone know anything about the Duke DK-140 full face helmet? Or can anyone recommend a decent priced helmet I can pick up so I can start riding!

[Suzuki Stevo]

That yellow is da chit 

[lucas]

That helmet has good review on Amazon which is a good sign.  But realize that people's perception of the product is influenced by its cost - if it cost $500 or even $200 the stars might drop off as the bang-for-the-buck decreases.  As a new rider you should get some coaching on helmet sizing, people tend to choose helmets that are too big if left on their own.  You can either go to a local motorcycle gear store or look online for some info on helmet sizing.  A helmet that is too large can compromise your safety.  A helmet that is the right size might feel far too tight until you get accustomed to it.

There is a chance that if you buy through Amazon or eBay you will end up with a counterfeit product.  Best way to avoid this is to buy a reputable brand and if the product arrives and it doesn't look exactly like the photos, if the materials or construction don't look spot on, or if it has strong odors or flimsy face shield etc send it back.

As for a specific recommendation I bought an AGV K3 with the Dreamtime graphics and I am very pleased with it.  I had purchased a cheap helmet at first.  It had good reviews but lots of wind would come whistling past the visor while at speed and was intolerable.  It had less padding and was loose on my head which I learned later was not ideal even if it was nice and comfortable.  Another criticism I had was that the chin strap was a pain to deal with, the D-rings would flip around and get all sideways and not cooperate.  These are little details that become more important when you start riding with any regularity.

Note that the cheap helmet had 4.5 stars yet is basically garbage compared to my second helmet which cost twice as much.  So the stars don't tell the whole story.  If you buy this Duke helmet I hope it is a good product and also lives up to its safety claims.